Pizza

Pizza

I decided to make pizza after a long day in downtown Birmingham, despite being exhausted (I'd also done an early morning swim). Not only was it a huge hit , but it was among the best pizzas I've ever made and enormously satisfying after the long day. Also, it was fun catching up in the kitchen as we assembled the pizzas, waited for them to cook, then devoured them. I followed Karina Aldrich, aka Gluten Free Goddess, for the crust with a few tweaks (and I inadvertently left out the baking powder Aldrich uses, but I liked the results):

For Crust:

1 cup tapioca starch
1 cup oatmeal flour (coarsely ground old fashioned oats is fine)
1 cup potato starch
1/2 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup GF millet flour
2 teaspoons xanthan gum
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
3 tablespoons honey
1 cup warm water
1 teaspoon honey - for proofing yeast
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup beaten egg whites
1/4 teaspoon brown rice vinegar

Suggestions for Toppings
Here was our pizza-making bar last night:

sugar-free pizza sauce from a jar 

sliced tomatoes

sliced black olives

cut up grilled red peppers

cut up grilled jalapeños 

grilled mushrooms

grated fresh mozzerella

grated parmesan 

grated feta

Italian salami, cut into one inch squares

marbled bacon, fried and cut up into small pieces

Instructions:
Grease pizza pans or baking sheets. I used three -- one for each member of the family. Dust lightly with gluten-free rice flour. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the GF flours and dry ingredients. 

Proof the yeast in 1 cup warm water with a small teaspoon scoop of honey.

Add the proofed yeast and water to the dry ingredients. Add the oil, eggs and vinegar. 

Beat the dough until smooth and sticky. Add a bit more water if you need to. The pizza dough should be creamy smooth and not too thick- it's not sturdy like typical bread dough. It almost borders on batter. 

Divide the dough into as many pizzas as you'd like to make (3, in our case). Scoop each onto the center of a prepared pizza pan. Using clean, wet hands press down lightly and flatten the dough to create a thin, even pizza shell. Smooth out the dough with wet palms.  Crust can be thick or thin, as you fancy.

Set the pizza shells in a warm cozy spot to rest and rise a bit- about 15 minutes. 

Preheat the oven to 400ºF or so.

When the oven is hot, place pizza pans in the oven (may need to go in shifts or use both racks (switch spots midway through) if pans are too large).

Bake for ten minutes till golden. Remove from the oven. Preheat the broiler.

Flip the pizza, so that the down side is now up. Brush the top of pizza shells with olive oil, if you like. Season with sea salt and whatever else you fancy. Sprinkle with Italian herbs, if you like. 

Each person who is partaking tops with preferred fresh vegetables, herbs, sauce, cheese, cooked meat, etc. (My to-die-for combination last night: sliced tomatoes, mushrooms, olives, red peppers, jalapeños and a goodly amount of bacon, baby, with mozzarella and feta sprinkled atop).  

Broil briefly to melt the cheese, 4-5 minutes.

How many pizzas made depends on the size and thickness of the crusts!