This pizza crust has a nice crispness to the edges and a satisfying chewy denseness to the parts under the toppings. It is not like the light and airy wheat-based crusts I used to make, but I like it anyway. My true love likes it enough that when I made him his own wheat-based crust, he forgot and ate my gluten-free pizza instead. I forgave him, eventually, but stopped bothering to make him a special crust and stopped bothering to keep any wheat flour in the house at all.
A single recipe will make a fairly thin (less than 1/2") crust in a 9 x 12" rectangle that yields six slices. I usually make two pizzas at the same time so I can freeze the leftovers, but when I do this, I mix the two crusts in two separate bowls. This could just be superstition on my part, but it also could help ensure two equally nice, evenly mixed crusts. Anyway, it seems to ward off waste and other disasters. Besides that, the dough is soft and sticky enough that I would hate to have mix up twice as much. I have little patience with unclogging my mixer's beaters when they get full of gluten-free dough.
Really, this crust is better than I'm making it sound so far. And the cooked version doesn't taste as much like beans as you think it will when you smell the dough.
1 pkg (1 tbsp) yeast
1/3 cup brown rice flour
1/3 cup chick pea flour
1/3 cup corn flour (like fine cornmeal)
1/2 cup tapioca flour
1/4 cup flaxseed meal
2 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp gelatin powder
1 cup warm regular milk (110F) or soy milk
1 tsp brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp cider vinegar
1 tbsp olive oil
a handful of cornmeal
Preheat oven to 400F.
Blend dry ingredients in a large bowl. Set aside.
In a small, warm bowl, sprinkle yeast over warm milk and sugar and set aside until frothy. Add vinegar and oil and combine with dry ingredients. Beat on high speed of an electric mixer for 3 minutes or until tired of unclogging the beaters.
Add additional warm water, about 1 tbsp at a time, if you like a softer dough. (Softer dough will rise a bit more but may be harder to spread on the pan.) The dough should resemble soft bread dough.
Grease a baking pan by brushing on olive oil. Sprinkle on a handful of cornmeal. Spread the dough on the cornmeal to make a 9x12” rectangle with slightly thicker edges. (Dampen your fingers or spatula with water or lightly grease them with oil to make the spreading and shaping easier.) Allow to rise 30 minutes, or until slightly puffed.
Top the pizza and bake for 20 minutes at 400F. Or, for a crispier crust, bake the crust 10 minutes alone before adding toppings, then add toppings and bake another minutes, or until nicely crisp and browned.
Our favourite toppings are these, applied to the crust in the following order:
a small amount of pizza sauce (absolutely no more than half a small can)
a sprinkling of herbs -- especially oregano, basil, and crushed fennel seeds
a sprinkling of freshly grated parmesan
a few slices gluten-free pepperoni
a slice or two of cooked bacon
a quarter of a red onion, diced
half a red pepper, diced
half a can of artichoke hearts, drained and cut into sixths
four big mushrooms, sliced
lots of grated mozzarella
