Easy Gluten-Free Pizza Crust

Two of my blogging friends, Iris and Brittany, released their amazing gluten-free cookbooks last year (2012 was a pretty good year for lots of my blogging friends). I was lucky enough to get my hands on a copy of their books The Essential Gluten-Free Baking Guide, Part 1 AND Part 2.

These guides are pretty amazing – and essential for those of you starting 2013 on a gluten-free diet. Brittany and Iris show you all there is to know about how to use: Amaranth, Almond, Quinoa, Garbanzo, Millet, Coconut, Sweet Rice, Sorghum, Buckwheat, Teff, Cassava, AND Potato Flours. Thus, the reason for Part 1 and Part 2!

Here’s some highlights about these guides:
  • Learn how to bake gluten-free goodness with 12 different and healthier gluten free flours.
  • Learn how to best substitute each flour (perhaps my favorite part).
  • Learn the basics of baking without eggs, corn, soy, and dairy.
  • Learn the ins and outs of unrefined sugars and how to use them in your baked goodies.
My favorite recipe is the Vegan Pizza Crust.  We’ve made it many times, and I’ve made a few changes to their recipe, based on what ingredients I always have in my kitchen.  Here’s my version of Iris and Brittany’s pizza crust.
Ingredienst:
  • 1 ½ cups almond flour (plus extra for dusting)
  • ¼ cup nutritional yeast
  • ¼ cup tapioca flour or arrowroot starch
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • ¾ teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 tablespoon ground chia
  • 1 tablespoon whole psyllium husks
  • ¾ cup boiling water
  • 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Instructions:
  1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.  Set aside a baking sheet.
  2. In a large bowl, sift together almond flour, nutritional yeast, tapioca flour, baking powder, and sea salt.
  3. In a small bowl, stir together ground chia, psyllium husks, boiling water, and olive oil.  Let sit for 5 minutes.
  4. Once the chia mixture has rested (it will thicken up), stir it with a fork to make sure ingredients are combined.
  5. Add chia mixture to flour mixture and stir until mixture comes together to form a ball of dough.
  6. Transfer dough to a lightly floured piece of parchment.  Lightly flour the top of the ball of dough and press with hands to desired thickness.  We like ours to be about ¼ inch thick and 9 inches round.
  7. Place dough (on parchment) onto baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes at 400 degrees f.  Flip after ten minutes and bake another 10 minutes.  We top ours withpesto once the pizza crust is ready.  You’ll need to adjust your baking time if you’re topping with cheese or if you want a thin crust.