Monday, December 30, 2013

Gluten-free Pizza Crust! And hello!

Hello from Davis!



The promised gluten-free pizza crust recipe! Since it has been over a year since I last posted on this blog, and since I have little time before 2013 morphs to 2014 and I lose the chance to write anything in this calendar year, and since so many people expressed interest in the recipe, and since I might want to be able to find it myself later (since I'm leaving the originals with my mom), I thought I'd actually just type it up here.

In other news: still alive, moved back to America, living in New York state, still singing, glad 2013 is almost over (weird year; many sicknesses and deaths despite many other joys).

The recipe is from Gourmet magazine's November 2005 issue. I have been going through all my old magazines, culling interesting recipes and recycling the rest, in order to free up some space around the house, so that's how I found it.



The recipe begins with a rice flour mix that is used for a few of the recipes in this little bundle.

Brown Rice Flour Mix
Makes 3 cups

2 c    brown rice flour
2/3 c potato starch
1/3 c tapioca flour

Mix up, store what you don't need. When I was making this last night, I thought it seemed silly and wasteful to mix up a lot of something and the potentially never use it again, or not for a long time, but the pizza dough recipe is small enough that you might actually want to double it, particularly if you're baking for a crowd. And it's good! So you will make it again.

Pizza Crust
Makes one smallish pizza crust (served three adults last night)
Start to finish: 1.5 hr

1 c                   brown rice flour mix (see above)
1/2 c                millet flour (may be a little hard to find, but Bob's Red Mill makes it)
1 tsp                xanthan gum
1/2 tsp             salt
2 tsp                sugar (don't omit! I think the yeast needs it, and it doesn't affect the flavor much)
2 1/4 tsp          dry active yeast (or one packet)
3/4 c + 1 tbsp warm water
1 tsp               olive oil
                       olive oil for brushing and preparing pan; cornmeal for sprinkling

Oil and sprinkle cornmeal over your pizza pan (or cookie sheet).
Mix dry ingredients (flour mix, millet flour, xanthan gum, salt, sugar, and yeast) in a bowl until combined. Add the warm water and olive oil and mix until combined. The recipe recommends using an electric mixer; I found that a wooden spoon did the trick without any trouble. I also found that my dough was not as sticky as they predicted. It came together into a nice ball, though of course the texture was different that glutinous bread. I oiled my hands and then pressed the dough outwards into the desired shape, and to a thickness of about 1/8 in.
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees, and place the rack on the lowest level.
Allow the dough to rise for 40 minutes (until doubled).
Pre-bake the crust for 12-15 minutes, until golden brown.
Remove from the oven and decorate as you choose!  I used tomato sauce, zucchini slices, onion, spinach, and garlic, along with mozzarella, romano, and pepper jack cheeses.
And bake until everything is heated through.

Yum!  It turned out to be an excellent crust. I think it's on par with "regular" crust! The one drawback, perhaps, is that it is not particularly filling. If you're making it for a crowd, I'd recommend doubling the recipe.

This packet of recipes also includes recipes for chocolate chip cookies and a lemon layer cake.
Here's the recipe for the cookie: http://gourmet.com/recipes/2000s/2005/11/ultimate-gluten-free-chocolate-chip-cookies
And here's for the cake: http://gourmet.com/recipes/diaryofafoodie/2007/01/lemonlayercake

I haven't tried these ones, but I bet they'll be good!


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