Gluten-free Pizza Crust the Whole Family Will Love!

When they find a cure for celiac disease, you can guarantee that one of the first places I will go will be Pizza Hut.   Since I am still waiting for the cure, I have worked hard to develop a pizza crust the whole family enjoys.  It is more of a thin crust style because that seems to work best.  Pardon the butter knife in the photo, but I forgot to take my pizza cutter (of all things!) to my cooking demonstration.  See the pizza crust recipe below.


Happy 4th of July to everyone!  Since it is the 4th, my husband pointed out it was very important that we have a barbeque...and I agreed.  My chicken enchiladas got moved to tomorrow (our 18 year-old-son said it was important that I make the enchiladas soon since he loves them!).   A few years ago when our friends owned a restaurant, they served Southern Belle Grilled Hot Dogs. We couldn't resist making them tonight!

I tried using my roll recipe (see previous blog entry) to make gluten-free hot dog buns.  It was a fun experiment.  I scooped some roll dough into a plastic bag and cut the corner of the bag at a diagonal.  I tried  to squeeze the dough out on a greased cookie sheet in the shape of a hot dog bun.  I knew the dough would expand, so I tried to make them a little smaller than a hot dog bun.  They ended up being huge!!  I sliced the buns in half lengthwise, and vowed to make them just bigger than the size of bread sticks next time.

We like the all-beef hot dogs and feel they are worth the extra money.  We added coleslaw, barbeque sauce, and diced onion (fried until tender in butter).  MMM  good!  I am not a coleslaw fan and you wouldn't think the combination would be good, but it is awesome!  Try these Southern Belle hot dogs sometime.  :)  Well, off to the fireworks to celebrate our wonderful country and the freedoms we all enjoy!

Gluten-free Pizza Crust

2 teaspoons yeast

½ cup lukewarm water  

2 teaspoons sugar

1¼ cups warm milk or soy milk  

2 cups rice flour

1½ cups tapioca flour

2½ teaspoons xanthan gum

½ cup dried potato flakes

1 teaspoon salt

1½ teaspoons Italian Seasoning

¼ cup shortening

2 tablespoons butter

Toppings

pepperoni

Canadian bacon

shredded cheese

additional toppings could include mushrooms, olives,  and green peppers

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
2. Pour warm water into a small bowl, and sprinkle yeast and sugar on top of water.
3. Microwave milk until warm.
4. Combine rice flour, tapioca flour, xanthan gum, potato flakes and seasoning in a heavy-duty kitchen mixer bowl.
5. Mix yeast mixture, warm milk, shortening, and butter into dry ingredients. Beat at high speed for 3 minutes.
6. Spray or grease 2 large pizza pans. Divide dough into 2 equal portions.
7. Place hands in clean plastic bags and press dough evenly onto pans until thin. Bake 10 minutes on middle shelf of oven.
8. Add sauce, pepperoni, Canadian bacon, cheese (or non-dairy substitute), and additional toppings and bake another 10 to 20 minutes until bottom of crust is lightly browned.

Serves 9 to 14