Thin Pizza Crust

Gluten Free Thin Pizza Crust

I have been working on filling my freezer with easy meals for after this baby is born. I was craving pizza the other day and thought some gluten free personal pizzas would a good addition to my freezer stash (store bought frozen pizzas for the hubby). I made one large pizza for supper and 2 personal pizzas for the freezer from this recipe. It would be really easy to just freeze the crusts with no toppings (and normally I would), but for the sake of future convenience, I topped them before freezing.


Hawaiian Pizza

I got the recipe from the blog Minimalist Baker and made a few minor changes. The only special ingredients you need are brown and white rice flour, tapioca starch, and xanthan or guar gum. You could just use all brown or all white rice flour and it would still turn out. It is also egg free and milk free (if you use a cheese substitute).

Personal Pizzas

My husband was impressed with this crust and so was I. It's nice and thin with a chewy base and crispy edges. So far it's the best crust I've tried. Hope you enjoy it too!

makes 2 medium-large pizzas
Ingredients

1 cup Brown Rice Flour
1 cup White Rice Flour
1 cup Tapioca Starch
1 tsp Guar Gum (or 1/2 tsp Xanthan Gum)
1 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
3 Tbsp Sugar, divided
1 Tbsp Yeast
1 1/4 cups Warm Water, divided
1 Tbsp Canola Oil (or other oil of your choice)

Directions

Proof 1 T yeast with 3/4 cup warm water and 1 Tbsp sugar. Let sit 5-10 minutes or until foamy.
In a large bowl, combine rice flours, tapioca starch, guar gum, salt, baking powder and remaining 2 T of sugar.
Make a well in the dry ingredients and add oil, remaining 1/2 cup water, and yeast mixture.
Mix until well combined.
Oil your baking sheets (or line with parchment) and use half of the dough for each pizza, or a 1/4 to 1/5 of the dough for personal sized pizzas.
With oiled hands, press the dough into desired shape (crust should be very thin).
Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes (20-25 minutes for personal size). Dough will become dry and cracked looking but that's normal.
*
Now add your favourite sauce and toppings.
Bake again for around 20 minutes or until the edges are golden and everything seems cooked through.

* At this point you can let them cool and freeze if you want. If you add toppings before freezing you can bake them from frozen (about 20 minutes). If not, let them thaw before topping and baking for 15-20 minutes.
I put my toppings on my crusts while they were still warm so the cheese was starting to melt just a little bit. After they cooled, I wrapped them in plastic wrap and then foil and froze them individually.

Press dough into pizza pan

 

Or press them into personal sized pizzas

 (I forgot to take a picture of the baked crust before topping so you'll have to trust me that it's supposed to look dry and cracked)

Bake, top, and bake again!

Tomato Soup

I wasn't a big fan of tomato soup when I was young, so I didn't really miss it when I was first diagnosed with celiac. It was only a few years ago that I started to crave tomato soup. This was probably because my husband (then boyfriend), who was on the university diet of canned foods and instant noodles, ate it quite frequently. As you probably know, campbell's tomato soup containes wheat, and I wasn't able to find any canned tomato soup I could eat. So I started looking for ideas online and eventually came up with this recipe. I'm sure it's much healthier than canned soup, mainly because you can control the sodium content and add extra vegetables, and I'm positive it tastes better!

You can make a double recipe if you're feeding more than about 3 people, or if you want to freeze some for future lunches. I like to sprinkle some grated cheddar on top and eat along side grilled cheese. 

Ingredients
3 cloves garlic
1/2 onion chopped
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 sticks celery chopped (can be omitted)
1/2-1 tsp dried basil (or fresh chopped)
1 large can diced tomatoes (or you can use 2-3 cups fresh tomatoes, but you might need a bit more liquid)
3/4 cup chicken broth (or vegetable broth)
2 Tbsp sugar
1/2 cup milk
salt and pepper to taste
you can add any other vegetable you like.

Directions

Saute garlic, olive oil, celery and onion in a sauce pan for a few minutes.
Stir in salt, pepper and basil. Add tomatoes with juices and broth.
Boil for 10-15 minutes or until onions and celery are soft. Add sugar.
Puree mixture with a hand blender until no chunks remain. (unless you like it chunky)
Add milk and reheat but don't let it boil.
Serve with grated cheese and garlic bread or grilled cheese sandwiches.

sautee onions and garlic

chunky soup

after blending