This is one of those gluten free recipes that I have put off posting. I wanted to get it just right, the trouble is that gluten free pizza will never be quite right and I had to come to realize that.
You can make a really good gluten free pizza crust, but it will never be quite the same as the pizza crust we all remember. You can not get the same chewiness, the same crispiness, or the same texture without the gluten.
But you can get a good gluten free pizza crust. It can taste good and it will be good, but in my opinion a gluten free pizza crust is one of those things that will never be quite the same.
This recipe though is really good. It is our favorite gluten free pizza crust the I have tried. In fact it is so good, that I am now making it almost weekly. Our weekly pizza night is back thanks to this pizza crust.
So, although it is not quite the same, it is still very very good.
Now, I will say this pizza crust took me almost two years to get right. Pizza is a favorite in our house and I used to make it all the time.
I love to experiment with different toppings and try new things, but after going gluten free it was not quite the same. I had many failures and many crust that were okay, but nothing that was so good I wanted to keep making it.
In fact, I pretty much gave up for a while and started occasionally buying gluten free pizza crust to keep on hand for quick and easy dinners.
When I was buying pizza crusts though, I found one brand that had a really good texture. The taste was a bit ricey for us, but we loved the texture.
I read through the ingredients to see what made this pizza different and the only ingredient that seemed strange to me was sweet rice flour. Now, sweet rice flour is not strange, I use it in my cookies and cakes all the time, but I have never used it in a dough like pizza crust. I was certainly willing to give it a try though if it would help the texture of my homemade pizza crust.
So, I played around with a few recipes. Tweaked a few things and what I came up with was a gluten free pizza crust that we love.
And I am loving being able to play around with all kinds of pizza toppings again. I recently made a cheeseburger pizza that we really enjoyed. (I will post the recipe soon on my main site.)
One thing about this crust though is that it is best made in a mixer. I used my Kitchen Aid and it works well. Many recipes say that you do not need to mix the dough for long because there is no gluten in the recipe, therefore no kneading is needed. Well, I agree that there is not gluten and the dough will never need kneaded like regular dough, however I disagree about mixing the dough.
Sometime I will do a whole post on my thoughts about gluten free dough and why I think it needs mixed well, but for now be sure to follow the directions and let this crust mix about 6 minutes in the mixer. This is a similar time to what I would let a regular pizza dough mix and I think it is one of the keys to getting the texture right and producing a less grainy dough.
I hope you enjoy the pizza as much as we do. Now go make some pizza.
Gluten Free Pizza Crust
Homemade gluten free pizza can be easy and delicious with this gluten free pizza crust.
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cup brown rice flour
- 1 ¼ cup white rice flour
- 1 ¼ cup sweet rice flour
- 1/3 cup potato starch
- 1/3 cup cornstarch
- 3 tablespoons xanthan gum
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 1 egg
- 2 ¼ cup warm water
- 2 ¼ teaspoons yeast
Instructions
- In a small bowl combine yeast and warm water. Let sit for 5 minutes.
- In the bowl to a stand mixer combine the dry ingredients.
- Add yeast/water mixture and the oil and egg.
- Beat on low speed and gradually increase speed to medium. Beat for about 6 minutes. The dough will turn out better if you do beat for 6 minutes. Scrape down sides as needed while the dough is mixing.
- Remove the bowl from the mixture and cover the bowl with plastic wrap.
- Let sit for 45 minutes to 1 hour.
- Lightly oil 2 cookie sheets or pizza pans.
- Wet your hands down and with wet hands spread dough out on the pans. You do not want your hands too wet, but the wetness will keep the dough from sticking to your hands as badly.
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
- Let the dough rest 15 minutes while the oven is heating.
- Bake dough for 8 minutes without any toppings.
- Remove from oven and top as desired and return to oven and bake an additional 8-10 minutes.
- If you want a crisper crust bake the pizza directly on the oven rack for the second part of the baking.
- Enjoy!
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
12Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 267Total Fat: 6gSaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 5gCholesterol: 16mgSodium: 278mgCarbohydrates: 48gFiber: 2gSugar: 0gProtein: 5g
Nutritional values are approximate and aren't always accurate.
Those look yummy! I agree. We’ll never be able to duplicated gluten pizza crust, but I have had a little luck with using Expandex, however, it is a modified tapioca starch. I only use it when absolutely necessary. The one I like most you don’t have to wait for the dough to rise, but you need to grill it. The secret to all pizza making is a really hot oven and what better place to get that than your own barbecue grill. If you’re interested, here’s the link: https://glutenfreerecipebox.com/grilled-gluten-free-pizza
I love grilling my pizza and have been doing it that way a lot with all the hot weather we have been having.
A bit late in my reply, but here I am, stumbled upon your site again. I grill our pizza during the summer as well. I use one of my recipes that contains sorghum flour. We love it. Carol Fenster contributed a recipe on my blog that everyone loves. It’s a chewier, heavier crust, but similar to good gluten pizza crust. I still enjoy the sorghum one myself. I’ll have to give your recipe a try. I forgot all about it. Sweet rice flour is great because it has a higher starch content compared to other gluten free flour. You can use less starch in your recipes.
Enjoy blogging, baking, etc. You do it well!
Thanks. I will have to try Carol Fensters recipe. I have not used much sorghum in my pizza recipe, but I will have to experimenting with it.
Did I read correctly that it’s 3 Tb of xanthan gum? Wanted to make sure before I try the recipe, it just seems like a lot for 4 cups of flour. Thanks 🙂
Yes, that is right. I know it is a lot more than normal, but I really think it helps give the dough a much better texture.
Thank you thank you thank you sooooooo much. Yes!…a bread recipe that includes the chewiness of products made from sweet rice. This ingredient was next on my “try to tackle list” for making bread, cinnamon rolls, and pizza crust, especially since all of these use to be our staple for breakfast or lunch at our house. I used sweet rice flour all my adult life for making mochi, so I know how to work with this ingredient. The drawback of foods made with sweet rice is that it turns hard as rock once cooled or refrigerated. Then, it needs to be stovetop-steamed or microwave-steamed (i.e. I generally wrap a damp paper towel around the food item for microwave reheating) to get the texture back to the foods’ original state. My mind is now churning on how to reheat left-over pizza in the microwave (i.e. the cheese will stick to the damp paper towel)….hmmm.
Ok, I’ve never used my mixer to make dough before. I have a Sunbeam one and not a fancy one ;-}
Do I use the dough hook that came with it or just regular beaters?
Thanks,
Moe
p.s. I was a Tombstone pizza gal before GF.
I have a kitchen aid and it does fine with this dough. I am not sure on a smaller mixer, but yes that is what the dough hook is for. I would suggest making just half this recipe or maybe 1/3 it. I am not sure what your mixer can do, but you don’t want to overwork your mixer and dough is harder to mix. I hope that helps.
Yep, I’ll definitely have to try this one. No-wheat husband LOVES pizza. Happy recipe!
So glad I have the pizza recipie! I have resorted to buying gf frozen pizza and ready mixes for crust. I was a big Papas fan and pizza and doughnuts were my weakness. I am new to the gluten free lifestyle and was a decent baker prior to being gluten free. So, please I could use a little help with technique. Also can it be frozen? And do you pre bake it first or can you leave it in a dough state?
The dough is stickier than most regular non gluten free doughs, so it is a little harder to work with, but just be patient with it. I do freeze this after I partially bake it, about 8-10 minutes depending on the size of the pizza. Then I take it out and top it and bake it again.
Carol Fenster’s pizza crust calls for rice flour: https://glutenfreerecipebox.com/gluten-free-pizza-crust-sauce . The recipe I use for grilling calls for sorghum flour: https://glutenfreerecipebox.com/grilled-gluten-free-pizza Let me know which one you try. Enjoy!
Thanks for the links.
You bet! 🙂
Do you grind your own flour or can these be purchased? I have a source for brown rice flour but not the other.
I do both. I have a grinder and do some of my own rice flours, but overall I still buy most of my gf flours. I order a lot of mine from amazon or through a food co-op.
I don’t have sweet rice flour…do you think I could substitute brown rice flour for it, or would that be a bad idea?
I love your site; thank you so much!
In this pizza recipe did you use instant yeast or active dry yeast?
I appreciate your help, when you have a chance to reply. I have read you are a busy lady.
Francine
I use the Instant yeast. It is usually what I have on hand. I hope that help!
I’m ready to take the dough out of the bowl, it says wet your hands with wet hands. Do I wet them them with water or oil?
I usually just use water to help the dough not stick to my hands. If it is super sticky you can also use gf flour blend too like you would with a regular dough. I hope that helps and that you enjoy it.
looks good. any suggestions to replace the sweet rice flour? I don’t have any on hand. thanks
Sweet rice flour works differently than other flours, so there really isn’t a good substitute. Do you have any Bob’s Red Mill 1 to 1 gluten free blend? It contains sweet rice flour and I have used it in place of all the gf flours in this and it works. The individual flours are my favorite way to make it, but Bob’s Blend does work ok. I do use the blend plus a little gum, since this recipe has more gum than others. And this is another pizza crust that I love to make that uses a blend not individual flours. I hope that helps. https://www.lynnskitchenadventures.com/thin-crust-gluten-free-pizza/