Dear Eric: I have tried unsuccessfully using potato and rice flour to make the crust for pizza because of my allergy to gluten. Could you please advise on how can I make a soft, chewy pizza crust for people with gluten sensitivity?
Rex Yuan
Dear Rex: I’ve developed a few gluten-free recipes over the years. While doing so, when making things requiring dough, I have come to strongly believe what many gluten-free baking guides say on the subject. That is, that the gluten-free flours you must use are not like gluten-rich wheat flour, so you cannot expect the exact same results and consistency.
Rex, given your question, that might not be what you wanted to hear. But it appears to be something that you have found yourself when trying to make a satisfactory gluten-free pizza crust.
When pizza dough is made with wheat flour, the gluten in the flour makes the dough stretchy, elastic and chewy when baked. It helps to create a crusty exterior, while the centre is soft enough to bite through. Pizza dough made with wheat flour is something you could roll, or something you could toss in the air while it’s spinning — if you’re sufficiently skilled.
When it comes to gluten-free pizza dough, most recipes I’ve tried are much wetter than wheat flour-based dough, and for good reason. Gluten-free flours soak up a lot of moisture, and if your dough is too dry at the start of the process, you’ll end up with a pizza crust that’s like a cracker rather than soft and chewy.
In my testing, the main dry ingredients for my first few batches of gluten-free pizza dough was gluten-free flour blend, made with ingredients such as rice flour, potato starch and tapioca starch. I had good luck creating something that was easy to mould into a crust, but after baking, I ended up with an unimpressive, stodgy crust.
Things got better when I decided to use gluten-free garbanzo and fava bean flour as the main dry ingredient. It has quite a nice flavour, worked well with the yeast in the dough, and gave the crust a nice golden colour and texture with a little chewiness.
To balance things out, in my dough I also used some of that flour blend noted above. I also added xanthan gum, a plant-based powder often added to gluten-free dough to promote elasticity and help gluten-free flours hold together.
The garbanzo and fava bean flour, gluten-free flour blend and xanthan gum can all be found in the baking- supply aisle of most supermarkets.
Because the dough is much wetter than a wheat-flour pizza dough, it’s scraped from the mixing bowl onto the pizza pan, and then pressed into the pan. To ensure it does not stick, it’s important that the pan is oiled first and that the pan you use is a good-quality, non-stick one, which you’ll find at most stores selling kitchenware.
Once the dough is in the pan, it’s par-baked until just set. It comes out of the oven, is topped as desired, and then set back in the oven until crisp on the bottom and golden around the edges.
Rex, I hope the crust is the style you were looking for. To my other readers, if you have a gluten-free pizza dough recipe you would like to share, please send it to [email protected]">[email protected]. I’ll pass it along to Rex and with it, and my recipe, he’ll be sure to get his pizza fix when needed.
Gluten-Free Pizza Crust
Wheat-free pizza crust you can bake and top, as you like. Recipe could be doubled.
Be sure all ingredients sourced are, indeed, gluten-free.
Preparation time: 20 minutes, plus resting time
Cooking time: 14 to 16 minutes
Makes: 1 (12-inch) pizza crust
1 cup lukewarm (not hot) water
1 1/2 tsp instant yeast (see Note)
4 Tbsp olive oil (divided)
2 tsp granulated sugar
1 3/4 cups plus 2 Tbsp garbanzo and fava bean flour (see Note)
1/2 cup gluten-free flour blend (see Note)
1 tsp xanthan gum
3/4 tsp salt
• pizza sauce and toppings, to taste
Place the water, yeast, 2 Tbsp of the oil and sugar into the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix until well combined, and then let yeast mixture sit 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, place the garbanzo and fava bean flour, flour blend, xanthan gum and salt in a medium bowl and whisk to combine.
After the yeast has soaked 5 minutes, add the flour mixture and beat on medium-high speed 4 minutes. Use a spatula to push the thick and sticky mixture into a mound in the middle of the bowl. Cover the bowl, and let the dough sit 75 minutes.
Brush 11Ú2 Tbsp of the remaining oil all over the bottom of a 12-inch, good quality, non-stick pizza pan. Place the last of the oil into a small bowl.
Scrape the dough from the bowl into the centre of pan. Dampen your fingertips with the oil in the small bowl. Push and evenly press the dough until it entirely and evenly covers the bottom of the pan and partially up the sides. During this process, dampen your fingertips with additional oil as needed. When done, let crust rest in the pan 15 minutes.
To bake, preheat the oven to 450 F. Bake the crust in the centre of the oven 8 minutes. Remove from the oven and let sit a few minutes. Now carefully run a thin spatula or lifter under the crust to ensure it’s not sticking.
Sauce and top the pizza crust as desired. Return to the oven and bake 6 to 8 minutes more, or until crisp on the bottom and rich golden brown around the edges.
Let pizza rest a few minutes, and then slice and serve from the pan. Or, if desired, work a thin spatula or lifter under the pizza to loosen it from the pan. Carefully slide pizza off and on to a cutting board. Cut into wedges and enjoy.
Note: The garbanzo and fava bean flour I used was Bob’s Red Mill brand. The gluten-free flour blend I used was Robin Hood brand all-purpose Nutri Gluten-Free Flour Blend. Instant yeast is sold in bottles and packets in the baking aisle of most supermarkets.
Eric Akis is the author of the hardcover book Everyone Can Cook Everything. His columns appear in the Life section Wednesday and Sunday.
