M A K E S 6 S E R V I N G S ( 1 2 - I N C H P I Z Z A )
Although store-bought gluten-free pizza crusts such as those from Whole Foods are a great timesaver, nothing beats a homemade pizza. Because gluten-free doughs are very, very sticky, you have to pre-bake them for 10 minutes to dry out the dough a bit before topping or freezing them. If you and your family love pizzas, make extra crusts, bake 10 minutes, then let cool. Freeze the cooled crusts, tightly wrapped in wax paper and foil, for later use.
If you want to use this basic crust recipe for your own pizza inventions, after you pre-bake the crust, brush it with sauce (if using) and arrange the toppings. Bake the pizza at 425°F on the middle rack of the oven 15 to 20 minutes more or until top is nicely browned. Remove pizza from oven and let stand 5 minutes. Brush rim of crust with olive oil before cutting and serving.
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
2½ teaspoons sugar
2⁄3 cup warm 1% milk (cow's, rice, soy, potato, or nut)
2⁄3 cup potato starch
½ cup Sorghum Blend
2 teaspoons xanthan gum
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon onion powder
¾ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 teaspoons cider vinegar
Shortening for greasing pizza pan, such as Spectrum Vegetable
White rice flour for dusting
Directions
1 In a small bowl, dissolve yeast and sugar in warm milk. Set aside to foam 5 minutes. In a food processor, blend yeast mixture, potato starch, sorghum blend, xanthan gum, Italian seasoning, onion powder, salt, oil, and vinegar, until ball forms. Dough will be very soft.
2 Generously grease a 12-inch nonstick (gray, not black) pizza pan with shortening. Do not use cooking spray-it makes it harder to shape the dough. Place dough on prepared pan. Liberally dust dough with white rice flour; then press dough into pan with your hands, continuing to dust dough with flour to prevent sticking as needed. The smoother the dough, the smoother the baked crust will be. Make edges thicker to contain toppings.
3 Place a rack in the bottom position of the oven for the pre-baking and another in the middle position for the secondary baking. Preheat the oven to 425°F.
4 Bake pizza crust 10 minutes on the bottom rack, until crust begins to brown on the bottom. Remove from the oven. The crust is now ready to be used as per your recipe, or one of the following recipes.
