Gluten-free pizza is known for being a bit granular, almost powdery…perhaps chalky, almost certainly tasteless, and either with the texture of cardboard or so crumbly or floppy you can’t pick it up. And that’s refined flour pizza crust!
Try to get a whole grain or partially whole grain gluten-free pizza crust and now you’re in the realm of chewy and dense along with the potential crumbly and tasteless problems.
My successful grain-free chickpea flour pizza crust has none of those issues, but it’s NOT crispy, so there’s room for improvement.
The bar for gluten-free pizza crust is set pretty low, and I’d already had one foray into GF crust that only went so-so this month. I was so nervous about trying another, but as you may have read in my “seeking a perfect freshly milled flour pizza crust” post, I was jumping in with both feet one weekend.
This crust was inspired by Recreating Happiness and chosen because it was the quickest gluten-free crust of the 8 I was pondering – I hit a time crunch that surprised me in spite of knowing days in advance that Saturday was “crazy pizza making day.” I pretty much just play an organized Supermom on the Internet, and I don’t really even do that very well! 
I made so many changes that I was literally petrified it would be a hot mess that day, but the results were shocking – and amazing!
Crispy crust.
Totally pick-up-able (promise that’s a word when you’re doing official freshly milled pizza dough testing).
Delicious flavor.
And I didn’t even get my hands dirty.
Score!
I give you….
Gluten-free, Almost Whole Grain CRISPY Pizza!
Best Gluten-Free Crispy Crust Pizza
- Prep Time: 90 mins
- Cook Time: 10 mins
- Total Time: 1 hour 40 mins
- Yield: 2 rectangle pizzas 1x
- Category: Main
Description
The elusive CRISPY gluten-free pizza crust! This recipe uses mostly whole grains and NO gums or fillers. Woot!
Ingredients
- 1 c. water, 100-110F
- 2 1/4 tsp. active dry yeast, or one packet (I like the SAF brand)
- 1 tsp. sugar or maple syrup
- 3/4 c. (70g) freshly ground millet flour
- 1/2 c. (50g) freshly ground sorghum flour
- 1/2 c. (50g) freshly ground quinoa flour
- 2/3 c. arrowroot powder (or flour, same thing)
- 1/3 c. tapioca flour (or starch, same thing)(use the coupon KS10 for 10% off!)
- 1/2 tsp. whole psyllium husk
- 1 tsp. gelatin (use the coupon KS10 for 10% off!)
- 1 tsp. Real Salt
- 1 tsp.oregano
- 1/4 tsp. garlic powder
- 1 egg
- 2 Tbs. extra virgin olive oil(use the coupon KS10 for 10% off!)
Instructions
- Arrange oven racks to the top (or 2nd from the top) and bottom positions. Preheat oven to 500F and put 2 pizza stones in.
- Heat the water (or use warm tap water). You know it’s about 100F if it feels warmer than your body temp, but not at all painful to leave your finger in for more than 5-10 seconds.
- In a large bowl, whisk the water, yeast, and sugar/maple syrup until combined. Set aside for 5-10 minutes to “proof” the yeast. (That means you should see bubbles.)
- Weigh and grind the grains.
- In a smaller bowl, whisk the flours, psyllium husk, gelatin, salt (Use the code kitchenstewardship for 15% off of your first purchase), oregano and garlic powder.
- Add the egg and oil to the water/yeast mixture and whisk until uniform (or use a mixer).
- Add the flour mixture and whisk or mix very well, at least 30 seconds, until all flour is fully incorporated. Don’t worry if it looks like a thick pancake batter; that’s what you’re going for. Gluten-free baking is weird like that.
- Rest about 10 minutes (if you have the time).
- Remove one stone from the oven at a time and carefully spread a bit of fat (like refined coconut oil (use the code STEWARDSHIP for 10% off at that site!)) across the surface. Not too much as it will melt immediately!
- Quickly pour half the batter onto the stone and spread with a wet spatula as thinly as possible. It will start cooking right away. Don’t be afraid to scrape some runny batter off the part that’s cooking over to any empty parts of the baking stone, leaving an inch or so around the edge.
- Place baking stone 1 into the oven and set a timer for 2 1/2 minutes. Try to repeat the greasing and spreading of the batter in just that amount of time. (Ready, set, go!) This is a great time to mention that this isn’t a kid-friendly recipe at this part!
- When the timer goes off, move the stone that has already been in the oven to the other rack and add the second stone. Set your time for another 2 1/2 minutes. Make sure your toppings are prepped!
- The next time the timer goes off, take out baking stone 1, move baking stone 2 to the other rack, and set the timer for 2 1/2 minutes again.
- Flip over the pizza crust that is out of the oven so you can see the browned bottom on top. Spread your sauce and toppings quickly. You’re on a timer!
- Put pizza #1 into the oven and take crust #2 out, repeating the flip/toppings process with another 2 1/2 minutes on the clock.
- Got the pattern yet? Move pizza #1 to the other rack and put #2 in the oven. In 2 1/2 minutes, pizza #1 is done (if the cheese is browned to your liking) and pizza #2 gets 2 1/2 more minutes on the other rack.
- Serve and enjoy!
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Here are the changes I made from the original if you’re curious how gutsy I was:
- decreased sugar
- increased millet flour by 1/4 cup
- replaced teff flour with quinoa AND increased the quantity (I was out of teff but what a blessing!)
- swapped arrowroot powder in for potato starch, haphazardly without even researching how different they might be
- swapped psyllium husk (whole) in for xanthan gum
- completely changed the way it was baked
Check out how crispy the crust got:
Our contributor, Mary, has made a gluten-free pizza crust for years that is also dairy-free and can be egg-free (the egg-free version was even crispier, she reports, so I’d be all over that!).
Where to buy Gluten-free Whole Grains to Mill
This recipe was made with 100% freshly ground flours, which means I buy the grains in their whole form first (with the exception of arrowroot and tapioca powder/starch, the reason this pizza crust isn’t 100% whole grain).
Sometimes purchasing those things you’ve never heard of is tricky and overwhelming!
Let’s start with the mill – my new favorite:
Mockmill has a great offer for Kitchen Stewardship® readers!
- Free US shipping
- Full 6-year warranty
- Info/ebook about freshly milling grain and recipes
Click over to Mockmill using this link for the free gifts.
Sourcing whole grains isn’t hard either – thank you, Amazon. 😉 And many other fine choices as well, both locally and online…
Always check your “per-ounce” cost, because it can vary widely!
- Sorghum: Bob’s Red Mill on Amazon (this is exactly what I ordered for the Mockmill challenge)
- Millet: Bob’s Red Mill on Amazon, and we had a 5-pound bag from Country Life Natural Foods already
- Quinoa: You can find qunioa almost anywhere including ALDI and Costco – be sure to look for “pre-rinsed” which is true about the Kirkland brand we used in this recipe (sold on Amazon too!)
- Teff: Originally in this recipe, teff is super dark brown and tiny – you could try it in place of quinoa. Price check Amazon and other favorite stores.
- Buckwheat: I buy this in 25-pound bags from Country Life because of this gluten-free flatbread recipe (no mill required) and a favorite egg-free pancake (although our little guy grew out of his egg allergy, alleluia!). It’s also on Amazon, prices vary widely!
- Hint: Never ever buy buckwheat flour – this is one you must mill fresh! It’s just not the same! The commercial flours are bitter and have black flecks throughout. Truly gross.
More Grain Grinding Challenge Series Posts
The Grinding Challenge Series is getting me to use my Mockmill grain mill! Here’s what we’re covering:
- Intro to the challenge and a video of setting up the Mockmill for the first time
- How to Translate Whole Wheat Recipe to Einkorn (and an interview with an einkorn farmer)
- Bio-Individuality – why it’s both the new face of health and the genesis of this whole project
- How to Translate Baking Recipes to Weights
- Why Baking with Weights is the Best for Kids
- Testing Pizza Dough with Freshly Milled Grain: Whole Wheat, Einkorn, Gluten-free (whole grain and not-whole-grain)
- Interview with a Master Gluten-free Baker
- Testing Tortillas with Freshly Milled Grain: Whole Wheat, Einkorn, Gluten-free
- Why Mill Your Own Gluten-free Grains?
- How to Make a Gluten-free Sourdough Starter
- Whole Grain, Gum-Free Gluten-free Flour Blend (& a bit on whether xanthan gum is bad for you)
- Interview with a Grain Milling Expert
- The Official Kitchen Stewardship® Mockmill Review
Plus where to find einkorn and unlock your special offer on the Mockmill HERE.
Recipes We’ve Worked on in the Series:
- Spelt Banana Muffins
- Einkorn Applesauce Muffins (with peanut butter variation)
- 100% Whole Grain Gluten-free Tortillas
- Whole Wheat Pizza
- Crispy Crust Gluten-Free Pizza (amazing!)
- Einkorn Pizza Dough
- 100% Whole Grain Gluten-Free Pizza Crusts (no gum!)
- How to Make a Gluten-Free Sourdough Starter
Don’t worry, if you don’t have a grain mill or couldn’t imagine yourself grinding grain yourself, I’ll be sure to address when any of these CAN’T be done with commercial flour. Usually, recipes are very compatible!
