a pizza crust to keep!

one of the things i miss about being gluten free is pizza. most everything else i don't care about. it's funny--these days, the smell of some baking things just make me feel sick to my stomach, a true reminder of how bad i used to feel :( but not pizza... luckily, there is some great gluten free pizza out there. some of you might remember the wonderful gluten free pizza and jojos that i had in ohio upon a visit to my family. i will go to altieri's again! and there is a fantastic place here called zing in porter square. my favorite at zing is the blue october: a pizza with squash sauce, spinach, caramelized onions, and i substitute feta for the blue cheese. heaven!

in any case, i like to make pizza sometimes too, and i finally found a crust i can work with. don't let the long ingredient list scare you! this particular pizza that i made was spread with ricotta (and the tiniest amount of pizza sauce on top of this), sauteed apples, browned onions, cheddar and sage. YUM!


a good pizza crust (adapted from gluten free mommy)
yield: 1 crust

1/4 c millet flour
3/4 c white rice flour
1/4 c sweet rice flour (called mochiko in asian stores)
3/4 c tapioca starch
2 tsp xanthan gum
3/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp additional sugar (for proofing the yeast)
1 packet active dry yeast
3/4 c warm water (about 115 degrees)
2 tbsp ricotta cheese
2 eggs
2 1/2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp honey

1. place pizza stone or pan in the oven and heat to 170 degrees.
2. mix olive oil, ricotta cheese, vinegar and honey in a measuring cup and set aside. allow to come to room temperature. do not use cold ingredients!
3. combine all dry ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer. give a couple of whirls with the paddle attachment (NOT DOUGH HOOK) to aerate.
4. heat your water.
5. in a small separate bowl, add yeast stirred with the tsp of sugar and 1/4 c of the warmed water.
6. let it sit for a few minutes so that you can see it's active. it will get all foamy.
7. whirl your dry ingredients again and add your eggs and then the ricotta mixture.
8. add the yeast mixture and then gauge your liquids... the dough should look like a stiff cake batter. it should still hold the twirls from the mixer well and should be shiny. add additional heated water as necessary to achieve this. i only added an extra 1/4 c of water, coming to a total of 1/2 c of warm water. the original recipe writer used a total of 3/4 c. it depends on how dry your flours are--but you'll have to play with this one!
9. turn the oven off and remove your pizza stone/pan. cover with parchment paper. spread dough over the top. i used wet hands to spread over the stone. i might use a rolling pin and some wax paper on top the next time to make a thinner crust. but do whatever you feel comfortable with :)
10. put stone back in the OFF oven and let rise for 40 minutes. (full disclosure, i only let mine rise for 25 because i was hungry!)
11. once it has risen, turn oven to 375 and prebake for 10 minutes.
12. remove and add your toppings. bake for an additional 7-10 minutes.