The Best Gluten Free Pizza
This is the best gluten free pizza dough.
I’ve talked about the Cooking Club that I am in here and here.
My friend Courtney is generous enough to host it at her house every month. Each month Courtney picks out a “head chef” for the night, and depending on what that cook wants to make, will dictate the rest of the menu for the night.
Likewise, it is of no shock to anyone that I offered to show and make my copycat Lou Maltanti’s Chicago Deep Dish Pizza.
When you read the directions, it sounds so complicated, but I’ve made it so many times, after the dough comes together (and I’ve kept the dough in the fridge for over a week just fine) you can be eating deep dish pizza faster than take out.
However, I suddenly realized that one of the women in the group has a gluten allergy. Fudge crackers. There would be no way for her to eat the main dish of the night.
I figured there had to be a great gluten free pizza recipe out there so I started a bit of research. But after just looking at the first several recipes I came across, I knew I didn’t want to use almond or coconut flour, or flax meal, sweet potatoes, xantham gum or quinoa.
What was the best choice of gluten free flour?
Moreover, I WANTED IT TO TASTE LIKE REAL PIZZA! And yes, I am shouting there. At lunch on Friday I hit up Mariano’s and discovered that Bob’s Red Mill has a gluten free baking flour that I thought might work.
Is gluten free flour more expensive?
The price wasn’t too bad – I mean, a bit pricey for flour, but not too crazy – the 22 ounce bag cost $4.29. I also realized that Red Star Yeast has a gluten free version too, so I picked that up too.
Lastly, I decided to blend up my no rise pizza dough with a bit of the Chicago deep dish pizza ingredients and ended up coming up with this:
The Best Gluten Free Pizza
A delicious pizza that is gluten free by using Bob's Redmill 1 to 1 baking flour or Gluten Free Baking Flour. No one will know it's gluten free!
Ingredients
- 2.25 cups 1 to 1 Bob's Red Mill 1 to 1 baking flour or Gluten Free baking flour
- 1.5 teaspoon yeast
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup cornmeal
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1/2 to 3/4 cup water
- 1 tablespoon softened butter
Instructions
This is enough dough for two 10 - 12 inch pizzas depending on how thin you roll your dough.
In a large bowl, mix 1/2 cup water, yeast and sugar together. Stir and let sit 10 minutes.
Mix in the the flour, corn meal, salt, together and mix well. Add in only enough water (tablespoon at a time) until the dough comes together.
Let rise one hour (I let mine rise in my microwave with plastic wrap over the top).
Roll out dough. Spread the butter in the dough and knead for 5 minutes. Separate into two pizzas, and put in the refrigerator until the oven is up to temp.
Heat oven to 425. I have a baking steel so I can put my stove up to 500. Roll out dough, top with pizza sauce and desired toppings. Bake for 10-12 minutes at 425, or 8-10 minutes at 500.
Notes
I made this dough 8 servings - or 1/4 of each pizza. On my WW plan, 1/4 of a pizza is 4 points. Click here to find out the points on your WW plan.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 8 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 145Total Fat: 2gSaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 4mgSodium: 279mgCarbohydrates: 28gFiber: 1gSugar: 1gProtein: 4g
Can gluten-free pizza dough taste like regular pizza?
Guys. I am going to say that after the dozens, hundreds, thousands (possibly millions!) of pizzas I’ve made over the years, this dough ranks at the very top. It has the best of both worlds for me in a pizza – a crispy crust, but still a bit of a chew in the middle.
Hannah took that last three pictures for this post, and after we finished taking the pictures, she had a piece and said “I am not sure what a gluten free pizza is supposed to taste like, but this is a great pizza.” EXACTLY! That was exactly what I was going for, and the fact that I nailed it on my first attempt makes me absolutely giddy.
I can’t wait for my friend at Cooking Club to try this. Hopefully I haven’t set the bar too high with my review of this, but considering how much pizza I’ve had in my life, I think I know great pizza when I taste one, and this one is delish.
If you try this, can you do me a solid and let me know if you like it?! Please feel free to share with your friends and family who have gluten allergies too.
Just make this pizza for first time in my life and OMG!…. is soo good I recommend this recipe , I wish I can include a picture …
Thank you for sharing Marsha! Glad you enjoyed it!
I am wanting to make this pizza recipe and I’m second guessing the kneading butter into the already rolled sough and the rolling again? Can you confirm and explain that process a bit more?
Hey! You are building flakey layers with the butter – it’s the secret to Lou Malnati’s pizza here in Chicago.
I roll out the dough, spread with the butter, and then wrap like an envelope and roll out again. You may need to dust the pizza dough a bit, but it works. 😀
Thank you for this recipe! I have been struggling with digestive issues and major flare ups for a few years now. Last week my husband’s mom asked if I was pregnant. I’m not lol but I’m in the midst of a flare up and just look pregnant. She’s been a nurse for years and was so upset to hear my doctor has not even tried to test me for a gluten intolerance. So on her recommendation, I’m on the hunt for a new doctor and we’re starting a gluten free “diet” this week. I already had pizza on the menu, so I’m happy to see I can still make it Gluten Free. I’ll have to let you know how it turns out. <3
So sorry you’ve had to suffer for so long! Hugs on finding a new doctor. I’ve made this pizza not telling people it’s gluten free and no one knows the difference.
We’ve been making your skinny pizza dough for a few weeks now and…holy cow, obsessed. What a huge upgrade from the typical 2-ingredient version! I want to try out this GF pizza dough recipe (trying something new/spice some things up!), but see it’s from a while back – do you happen to know the points on this recipe? (WW Blue) Thank you!
Hi! That gluten free pizza is 1.5 ounces per ounce no matter which plan you are on. I have a gluten free one in my cookbook that is the same 1 point an ounce though 😀
https://gumroad.com/mybizzykitchen
Hugs! Biz
Thank you!
This recipe is SO easy! And so delicious!! Love it!
Thank you Krista!
This looks delicious!
Is it possible to make these ahead and freeze the crusts, or whole pizzas to use later (like using a frozen pizza)?
Hey Nicole – absolutely! Check out this blog post here on how to make your own homemade frozen pizza.
/2011/08/08/how-to-make-homemade-frozen-pizza/
I wanted to print this luscious sounding recipe, but when I hit the Print button, the recipe has a black background and white print!
I don’t know why but until I read this post I swear to Christ it never dawned on me to watch Netflix on my phone or tablet while at the gym. #lifechanged
OMG, I do it all the time! My gym has free wi-fi – woop!
We just finished episode 6 of MAM as well — and are similarly avoiding as much info as we can until we finish (although I think I know how it ends, but my husband apparently does not). It’s funny because a few of my running friends have watched it and we’re in the weird stage now where I talk about it and what I think on almost all our runs, but because they’re sweet, they basically have to just listen to me and not say anything because they know I don’t want any spoilers. I bet they can’t wait for us to finish! Certainly will be done by the end of the weekend.
Yep, I expect I’ll be done by the weekend too – then we’ll discuss! 😀
That pizza looks really good! I believe we’ve tried their gf dough and it was really tasty–close enough to the “Real” thing–the only downside was the dough was extra sticky and elastic which made it hard to roll out. But flavor wise it was great.
I never roll out my dough – simply put my fingers in flour and “dimple” my way to a perfect circle. I’ll have to do a video sometime! It’s the only way to get a perfectly round pizza 😀
It’s so easy to go overboard with food and alcohol on the weekend! Good for you to think about how to keep things reasonable on the weekend… For me, I know I’m sometimes a bit too strict during the week, and I think that leads for me to go a bit overboard on the weekend…
The hot yoga class sounds like a wonderful way to start the weekend! I’ll have to get back to an exercise class on Saturday mornings…
That pizza sounds great! I’ll definitely give it a try! The recipe is printed out, ready to be made soon!
Well, not having the wine, and modifying my behavior about eating snacks after dinner, seems to be working. I still only plan on weighing in every two weeks – my co-worker weighs herself every.single.day and will come in and wonder why she’s up 10 ounces from the day before. Crazy!
Boy, do I feel you on taking care of yourself. For me, by Saturday, I’m pretty tired.
I do a ton of prep on the weekend for the family during the week. The list this weekend was SO LONG. It works – I mean, Friday night we had leftovers and just enough of them. Only a tiny bit of chicken left, enough for lunch.
But, sob, that means on Saturday I have to cook again. Not just prep but ALSO lunch and dinner for the family. It’s enough to make me want to cry. And that’s AFTER the 9 am swim lesson (when the toddler isn’t barfing) and grocery shopping.
I was doing really well in Oct/November. Lost 13 lbs (well, the stomach flu was part of that, so let’s just call it 10 lbs). Then we had cold after cold after stomach flu. Stuck in the house, and then husband traveled for a week. I haven’ t been sleeping well at all (not sure why), and I’ve been off my game. No workouts. I can’t drag my butt out of bed to work out at home (and the kids wake up anyway and want the TV). When husband is gone (like he will be all next week), I can’t get to the gym. A few days of 1.5 mile walks has been it. 🙁
Anyway, wine and bread and I’ve gained back 5 lbs.
Well, today, I realized that I can play my workout DVDs (at least some of them) on the computer, which is in the bedroom. I was home 1/2 day with the kids, so I let them play video games/ watch TV in the living room, and worked out in the bedroom. Glorious! Who knows if I will keep it up.
I am going to try that gluten free pizza mix.
I have no idea how you do it with two active boys AND work AND put all the food together. I mean, even though Hannah and Jacob live with me, they are kadults, so it’s really just me I have to take care of, so I don’t have any excuse not to kick ass. 😀
Let me know how you like the pizza – sending hugs your way, and if I lived any closer to you I’d come over and help you cook! 😀
My daughter has been gluten free for two and a half years. We mostly keep a gluten free house because it is easier than trying to be super careful with regular gluten things around. Just in case the lady at your cooking group is extremely sensitive, be careful going between the two types of pizza when you are preparing them. Using parchment paper is a great idea by the way.
We’ve tried several gluten free pizza mixes that aren’t great and we occasionally get the gluten free pizza from Papa Murphy which is okay. I hope to try your recipe too. When we do, I’ll let you know our verdict.
Thanks for the tip Caron – my plan was to make the gluten pizzas ahead of time at home (since they are deep dish and bake in a cake pan) and then do the gluten free pizza at the house. Let me know how it turns out for you Caron! 😀
HOLY SHIT I’m so excited about the GF pizza crust recipe, Biz! I’ve recently (since October) found out that I have a gluten intolerance and while I’ve found that Trader Joe’s frozen GF pizza as well as Freschetta GF are decent, I really miss being able to make it from scratch and have it turn out well. I’m a great baker and cook, but this GF baking has a very steep learning curve and since my taste buds still remember how awesome artisan breads taste, I’ve been really struggling. I’ve got pizza on the menu next week, so I’m definitely giving this a try.
Also what you said about working so hard during the week with your diet/exercise and then throwing it out on the weekend really resonated with me. I’m going to take your lead and try to find a Saturday thing to do (maybe not hot yoga, because the thought of a stuffy room freaks out the claustrophobic in me).
Yes! Let me know how the pizza works out for you – I hope I didn’t hype it up too much, but I really think this is an awesome pizza. sorry about the gluten intolerance – gluten is everywhere!
Actually the hot yoga class isn’t nearly what I thought it was going to be – the room isn’t hot per se, just really warm, and with our winter just setting in, it’s a nice comfy room! 😀
Made this tonight and everyone loved it! It is seriously the best GF pizza crust recipe I’ve tried and leaps and bounds better than the shitty crusts I’ve been buying from the store. GF baking has been really hard for me…the learning curve is so steep and I found myself crying this afternoon after another fucking kitchen fail from a GF blog recipe (GF flours are expensive!). Anyway, long story short, I pulled up my big girl panties and forged on with your recipe and pretty much did a happy dance when it turned out. THANK YOU! You’re amazing.
That comment made my night! So excited to hear that you liked it – I was worried that I may have hyped it up too much, but so glad that someone who actually has had shitty gluten stuff could tell me if this was good or not. #sohappyforyou!
Its very hard to make decent gluten free pizza/baked goods. Yours looks great. Check out Cook’s Illustrated’s recipe( its free on Americas test kitchen.com) to see how yours compares. I’m sure she will be so appreciative to eat some great pizza that is gluten free.
I’ll have to check that out Randi – thanks for the tip. I know, most of the other gluten free pizzas looked like ass online 🙁
Yay for a new Keurig! I like a cup of coffee made with the Keurig much more than what we make with our regular coffee pot.
Interesting how you’re coming to some good realizations regarding food choices over the weekend…this might be your year for making the weight loss stick! I’ve seen you lose it, I know you can do it, but as we both know, it’s the keeping it off that is so challenging. You can do it!!
Yep, we’ve seen my lose it, but let’s hope its sticks this year! So proud of your running adventure last weekend – reminds me that I need to get myself out there more 😀
I’ve had a dessert made with Bob’s gluten free flour, and it was better than the regular. And I got a couple bags of Krusteaz’s gluten free flour because it was on sale, and it is excellent too. Now I want pizza 🙂
For the record Debby, I always want pizza 😀 I’ll have to keep an eye out for the Krusteaz version – I haven’t seen that one.
My boy has celiac so I will give this a try! I’m not much of a baker I usually just use the premade crusts you can get or use a mix. But I’ll give it a go 🙂
Yes! Seriously, this comes together so quick – let me know how it turns out for you! 😀
I have gluten free flour in the cupboard because I am always willing to try things just for the heck of it. I have only done things like sweet bread with it. I actually don’t eat a lot of pizza, can you believe that? Only as a cheap date night LOL
I guess we can still be friends if you don’t have a love of pizza like I do, but our love of coffee will be enough! 😀
We love our Keurig! It was difficult to justify buying one, I’m too frugal but gave in . Sadly, even with our Keurig, I still visit Starbucks way to often. My husband says it just doesn’t taste the same when we brew it at home. We get black coffee iced and hot so we can’t blame it on the extra flavors they add.
No one in our home has a gluten allergy that we are aware of, however, I am going to give this one a try as I do LOVE your original deep dish. You are so thoughtful to consider the diet restrictions of the other cooking club members. Are those just deli slices of cheese on your pizza?
Don’t get me wrong, Hannah and Jacob still go to Starbuck’s at least once (OR TWICE!) a day, but now that I know how to clean it, hopefully it will continue to make a great cup of coffee at home. I am too cheap to buy Starbucks without a gift card 😀
And yes, I normally used sliced cheese on my pizza because it’s sometimes cheaper – my store had sliced mozzarella and provolone for $3.99 a pound! And that way definitely get cheese in every bite 😀
Fingers crossed the gluten free pizza tastes good to someone with gluten allergies 😀
Somehow my coffee doesn’t taste so good, better check the filter. 😮 The pizza looks awesome.
Doh! I also discovered that you have to clean out your dishwasher too – what the what?! Our dishes were just not getting clean. Um, turns out my dishwasher has TWO FILTERS that have to be cleaned once a month.
Does your gym provide Netflix or are you watching that on another device?
This is what I know about gluten free things (I have a sister-in-law with celiac): they’ve come a long way baby. She says they were all pretty much awful in the beginning but now you can hardly tell the difference, especially with the flours.
I watch it on my iPhone, but my gym does have free wifi 😀
I am thankful gluten free products have come a long way – I can’t imagine not having pizza! What would your husband do?! 😀
It does look soooooo good!!!
Thanks Carrie – I can’t wait for someone to eat it that can’t eat gluten to get a real opinion 😀
Looks you had a great weekend with great company and good food. And yay for going to hot yoga again.
I saw 2 episodes of Making a murderer, probably will watch 1 or 2 episodes later this week.
Your friend at the dinner club will be very happy that you made an effort to make a gluten free pizza and that it tastes great too. I bet it will be a success.
Thanks Fran! I have to pace myself with that show, otherwise I’d watch one right after the other! Happy Monday!