Friday, July 13, 2012

AWESOME Can't tell the difference- Gluten Free Thin Crust Pizza

Sooo... I have no idea why the format of my blog refuses to cooperate. Why For some reason photo's want to layer themselves over eachother, Why ON EARTH the background and font colour seem to alter themselves without my doing regularly. Whatever the reason- the debacle has kept me from posting on time and I have had it up the wazzu and gone cross eyed with attempting to fix it. SO Hence forth- I give UP! It will be what it will be until some divine tech intervention occurs.

And now on to the goodie portion of this post...

A little back story on the Gluten Free thing. I have not been tested for Gluten Sensitivity or Celiac. I do not live my life Gluten Free- yet. And I may never have to. But my dear sister and best friend Steph (La Belle Parapluie) recently tested to find out that she is Gluten and Soy Sensitive/Intolerant. Which could lead to Celiac Disease if she doesn't stop eating Gluten PRONTO! This means that all my lovely goodies must be reformulated to be gluten and soy free ASAP! So for the past couple of months I have been dipping my toes into Gluten/Soy free waters. I am thankful that there are many Gluten Free choices today that weren't there a few years ago. Gluten Free Food/Life is trending just like Low Carb did awhile back. Since Steph's diagnoses- I have found a million Celiac and Gluten Sensitive blogs to surf for recommendations and tips! Most notably- Gluten Free Goddess. She's an allergen foodie Godsend! With all the information at my fingertips I've been able to get as close as possible to my original fare outcomes. I can't say it has been easy to figure out- but it hasn't been as hard as it may have been just a few short years ago.

Next to my Secret Recipe Chocolate Chip Butterscotch Cookies and other "OMG so delicious there's gotta be drugs in these- desserts!", pizza has been tops on her list of requests. Before attempting gluten free pizza-  I had tried to make homemade pizza more than a handful of times in the past. But my pies always turned out sorta... well, blah is putting it nicely. I admit that I kinda gave up after a few attempts and never thought twice about ordering takeout or chucking a frozen number into the oven at home and calling it good. Which is why I didn't exactly have a heck of a lot of confidence in being able to produce an adequate gluten free number- let alone an AWESOME one.

Steph and I love a lightly sweet, thin and very crispy crust- So after searching google images for gluten free recipe results that looked to be about what I was after- which is when I stumbled upon the King Arthur recipe. Looked delicious... But if it would it in fact BE delicious was anyone's guess. I didn't labor a lot of expectation over my recreation of Arthur's recipe. And instead of ordering and waiting for King Arthur brand flour- I made my own with the gluten free flours I already had in my pantry. It was a sort of success! Steph loved it- but I suspected that was merely due to the fact that she hadn't dined on anything remotely resembling something other than cardboard in weeks. I thought it left a little something to be desired. While the crust was thin-ish and crispy-ish for sure- it's flavour was not exactly up to snuff. I am not a fan of brown rice flour. It tastes odd and unless it's EXTREMELY FINELY milled it has a peculiar grainy/gritty texture. Both of which seemed fairly evident to me despite the addition of other starches, honey and buttermilk to the mix. But at least I had a jumping off point. The oil both in an on the crust bottom were obviously crucial to the recipes outcome- so I didn't deign to mess with that part. From what I could tell the flour type and water content were most likely what needed changing. After a couple of tries with different flour blends and adjusted amounts of flour, water, yeast, sugar, honey and salt- haha basically the entire recipe... I do believe I have finally hit it!

This recipe has become GOLDEN to Steph and myself alike! To me it tastes just like the real RESTAURANT thing. If you know me- I am difficult to please so that is saying something! Now if I can just figure out Neapolitan style GF crust...

Fair's Can't tell the difference! Gluten Free Thin Crust Pizza

 

You will need:

One 14-15inch pizza pan
One 16inch or larger pizza paddle
One extra large spatula (I like to use the kind intended for flipping pancakes!)
One hand mixer and medium bowl or standmixer fitted with dough hook/s
One cooking thermometer. ( I use a candy thermometer- because my digital one died awhile back and I have yet to replace it)
Measuring cups/spoons/devices
One whisk
One fork and spoon
One rolling pin

Ingredients: 

2 Cups Gluten Free Mama's Almond Flour Blend plus a little for dough handling!
1 Teaspoon Xanthan Gum
2 1/2 Tablespoons Buttermilk Powder
2 Teaspoons Kosher Salt
2 Teaspoons Pizza Yeast (you can use regular yeast if you can't find pizza formulated- honestly I don't know that there is a difference.. but it's what I use)
3 Tablespoons Granulated Sugar
1 Tablespoons Honey
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
2 Tablespoons Flavour Infused Olive Oil (ie: garlic, chili, basil, rosemary, herb... It's entirely up to your taste)
1/2 Cup Warm water (110-115 F)

Additional 2 Tablespoons-1/3 Cup water
Half a jar of Classico Pizza Sauce
Finely shredded mixed white cheese- heavy on the mozzarella ( I prefer a mix of mozzarella, romano, white cheddar, parmigiana and provolone.)
Desired Pizza Toppings

Directions:

To a medium sized bowl or stand mixer, add flour, xanthan gum, buttermilk powder, kosher salt and 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar. Whisk to combine and set aside.
To a microwave safe measuring cup add 1/2 cup water, 1 tablespoon granulated sugar and honey plus 2 tablespoons olive oil. Microwave on for appx 30 seconds on high. Check temperature of water- If it reads between 110 f and 115 F- add in yeast and stir to combine. If it is cooler- return to microwave for 10 seconds and measure temp again before adding yeast. If it is warmer- allow to cool to correct temp before adding yeast. Once your water, sugar, oil and yeast are combined- set aside to allow the yeast to do it's thing for appx 10-15 minutes.
Look at it go!
Attach dough hook/s to mixer/handmixer. Add yeast water to flour mixture.

Mix on medium to medium high speed until it resembles a coarse pea sized crumb.
Add 2 tablespoons of additional water at a time to mix and mix until dough comes together. It will be sticky and smooth in consistency. Scrape into/form dough into a ball with your hands. Cover and let rise minimally in a warm place for 20-30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 425 F.
Pour 2 tablespoons flavoured olive oil onto pizza pan. Tilt pan in opposite directions until entire surface is coated evenly. If using a regular nonstick pan- Spray over top of oil coating- center of pan with nonstick cooking spray. TRUST ME- if you are not using a nonstick pan- YOU WANT TO DO THIS! The weight of the dough upon baking can cause the center to stick to the pan- even with the generous amount of oil used! Which makes it difficult to remove and transfer to your pizza paddle after pre-baking.

Once dough has been allowed to raise for 20-30 minutes. Generously dust your clean countertop or board with GF flour. Remove dough from bowl and roll across flour to lightly coat the surface. Dust counter top with flour again where flour has been removed by dough. Place flour coated dough on floured surface and roll with rolling pin in semi circular motions to achieve the circle shape- until dough is appx 1/4inch thick and about 15-16 inches in diameter.
Gently lift and fold dough in half. Place oiled pizza pan directly above dough and slide dough onto pizza pan such that the middle of the fold is in the middle of the pan. Gently unfold. If dough should be sticking up in any place. press down with fingers. The oiled surface will allow the dough to shift adequately to flatten.

Fold and pinch excess dough edge to create a crust ring. Prick bottom of dough all over with a fork.

Place completed crust directly into oven on lower middle rack to prebake for appx 8-10 minutes or until it just begins to brown. 

Keep your pizza paddle and large spatula at the ready!

Remove prebaked crust from oven and lift with a large spatula to slide prebaked crust from pan onto your pizza paddle.

Top with sauce, and 3/4 the amount of cheese desired. Add pizza toppings and sprinkle the remaining 1/4 amount of cheese desired over top of toppings to hold them in place once baked.

Slide prepared pizza into oven directly onto top middle rack. Bake for appx 10-12 minutes until cheese is bubbled and browned lightly... (or if you are like  Steph and I- a bit longer as we like our pizza WELL done! Using large spatula again to help you push/slide baked pizza onto your paddle and remove from oven.

Allow to cool for at least 3-4 minutes. This will help you to cut slices without the toppings sliding all over/coming off your crust! Serve and enjoy! (^-^)


No comments:

Post a Comment