Frugal Gluten-Free Living: Easy Pizza Crust

ShareThis

This dish rarely has any leftovers at my house. It's the only thing, except when I make gluten free noodles, everyone eats voraciously. From my husband down to my 15 month old, pizza, or calzones are always a hit. Once you get familiar with the recipe, imagine, bread sticks, flat breads, garlic knots... You'll almost feel like you're eating gluten again, (without all those unmentionable nasty side effects). Have fun experimenting. At less than a few bucks a pizza, you'll be able to save up for a wood fired brick oven. Alright, maybe just a toaster oven. Still, it beats the $9 alternative in the grocery stores.

(I'll throw in my favorite sauce recipe because I like your face.)

Thanks, as always, to the gluten free cooking school, for giving me the base to this recipe.

Pizza Crust

  • 1 Tbsp yeast
  • 1 1/3 cup milk
  • 1 tsp. sugar
  • 2 1/3 cup gluten-free all purpose flour mix
  • 2 tsp xanthan gum
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 2 tsp. olive oil
  • 2 tsp. cider vinegar
  • 1/3 cup (more or less) gluten free corn meal. (I use Bob's Red Mill.)

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

Heat the milk using your microwave or a small saucepan, to just above room temperature. Make sure it isn't so hot to burn the yeast. Remember you want it hot, but you should be able to touch it slightly with your finger. Mix in the yeast, sugar and milk in a medium bowl and set it aside.

In your mixing bowl, mix the flour, salt and xanthan gum well. Your yeast mixture should be foaming by now. Add the apple cider vinegar and olive oil to the yeast mixture and then throw it into the flour blend. Mix it well.

I like to use parchment paper because it's easy to roll out and transfer onto the baking sheet. However, it isn't needed. Drop your dough out onto a well floured surface (like parchment paper) and add corn meal. Sprinkle the corn meal liberally as you roll out. Sprinkle it out on the top as well. Roll out the dough to about 1/8 inch thickness. Transfer the dough onto your baking sheet and cook it until the dough has a slight touch of golden brown. Throw the sauce on the crust, add cheese and toppings, then throw it back in the oven until the cheese is melted.

Calzone

Follow the directions the same as you would for a pizza crust, except lower the temperature of the oven to 375 degrees. Roll out the dough, in a rectangular shape on your cookie sheet. Add the toppings on half, without the sauce. Fold over the dough and seal the edges by folding them up and over twice. Place the calzone in the oven and cook for about 20 minutes or until the color is an even golden all around. Cut and serve with sauce on the side as a dipping condiment. (My favorite ingredients for this is just mozzarella cheese and prosciutto. Delicious!)

The Sauce

  • 1 Tbsp olive oil
  • 1 can tomato sauce
  • 1 tbsp tomato paste
  • ¼ tsp oregano
  • ¼ tsp dried basil
  • ¼ tsp paprika
  • salt and pepper to taste

In a small sauce pan, heat the olive oil and then add your tomato sauce, paste, and all your spices. Slowly simmer until heated through. If you're brave, add some red pepper flakes. Serve as a base for pizzas or a dipping sauce for calzones and bread sticks. Enjoy!

Check out my other frugal gluten-free living recipes

Disclaimer: The links and mentions on this site may be affiliate links. But they do not affect the actual opinions and recommendations of the authors.

Wise Bread is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.


Guest's picture

One of the ladies at my church was just telling me that her daughter has had to move to a gluten free diet-at 15. She's had a hard time with it-I will definitely send her the link to this post! I think she'd also be interested in seeing the noodle recipe.

Guest's picture
Lori

Another great recipe, frugal and yummy! Love it, thanks!!

Guest's picture

Thanks, we'll have to give this a try. Since my wife went gluten-free our grocery bill has tripled, so this might be a nice way to save a little cash.

Guest's picture
Deb

Thanks! This is the best pizza crust recipe I have found since switching to gluten free! My family it thrilled with it, and the fact that we can still have pizza!

Guest's picture

I'm supposed to avoid corn products....do you know if this works without the corn flour or is that essential to the recipe?

Heather
HEATHERLBRANDT (AT) FRONTIER (DOT) COM

Guest's picture
Tabitha

To avoid corn, use almond meal rather than masa harina and if you can't handle sorghum or soy, mung bean flour works in the flour blend. The corn meal helps keep the dough from sticking. I'm going to try this today with just the parchment paper. If it sticks to much I'll try a little nut meal.

I've been learning gluten-free due to grain intolerance (except rice) and so far the secret has been to think of what the flour is supposed to do. Good luck

Guest's picture
Tabitha

If you are still bothered with the substitutions, you should not use xantham gum and buy yeast without sorbitan monostearate. They can both be cultured on corn. (King Arthur sells a brick of Red Star Active Yeast item # 1260 that doesn't have sorbitan monostearate)

livecornfree.com or .org has more information on code names for corn. Really that has been the hardest grain to eliminate because the labeling in the US often doesn't disclose the source.

Thank goodness there is still a ton of food that can be eaten. :)

Guest's picture
New to GF Cooking

WOW - My husband really liked the pizza, and I didn't even tell him it was GF!!!

Guest's picture
Colleen Lingle

I cant wait to try this. I having trouble with my surgar and going to a low sugar gluten free diet. A little sugar is ok. I am working on diet to bring my elevated levels down. I have always been a fan of brown rice flour and will be using this flour in this recipe

Guest's picture
Guest

how did it go my husband is needing alternatives for his sugar?

Guest's picture
Jenn P

First time I made this it was fantastic! I used Gluten Free Pantry All-Purpose Flour. I had been scared away from making pizza crusts nearly 5 years ago right when I went gluten free and this was a cinch and very tasty.

I just tried the recipe again, but this time I doubled it and had to use a combination of flours because I didn't have enough of any one kind. I am not sure which part made it go wrong, but it was night right!

Anyone doubled the recipe with success? Maybe it was just my crazy flour combination.

Thanks a bunch,
Jenn

Guest's picture
Susie

I found the "dough" extremely sticky and difficult to work with. I used nearly as much flour (very expensive!) to handle it, as I did in the recipe. Did I do something wrong?

Guest's picture
amyo6

Have been reading over your gf bread recipes and so impressed.
I do not have a mixer, but I do have a bread machine.
As I am reading, I wonder if I used my gf all purpose flour and used
the bread machine instructions to place liquids in the bottom and dry over top,
with yeast not touching the liquid. Have you ever tried this, I have a feeling that
maybe you have, but wondering. :o)

Guest's picture
Guest

Wow. I've tried a few different recipes for pizza dough, and THIS is by far the best I've eaten. I was totally thrilled with it and had a hard time stopping! Thank you!

Guest's picture
Guest

Can this dough be frozen, so I could make several batches ahead of time?

Guest's picture
Chris

If you or a loved one has a gluten intolerance, I would watch out for yeast ingredients, which contribute to candida overgrowth in the gut. While yeast dies as bread bakes, it still lets off toxic chemicals during the baking process. I have also found that worse than sugar is malt. Not only is malt the #1 food for yeast, it has some of the toxic chemicals of yeast. And it is very prevalent in processed foods, especially white bread and crackers in the form of maltodextrin and barley malt. Vinegar is antibacterial, ie. can kill beneficial flora, yet it doesn't bother yeast. Check out "An Extraordinary Power to Heal" by Dr. Bruce Semon. He gives some great diet tips which has helped my entire family.

Guest's picture
Mara

What if I don't have xantham gum? I was hoping to make a pizza crust tonight for the football game. I have buckwheat flour, brown rice flour and yeast. Thoughts?

Guest's picture
Guest

are you sure u got the liquid amount right cuz the dough was like soup?

Guest's picture
Donna H

Hmmmm.... seems as though the liquid to flour proportions are way off. I salvaged the dough by adding again as much flour as well as ample corn meal. Turned out okay; I was craving pizza after not having any for at least a year, so anything would have tasted okay to me. The crust did not stick to the pan, and it held together as a slice of pizza, so that was all good. But after adding all that extra flour, of course, the the other ingredients probably should have been increased also; however it was too late for that. Check any dough recipe, you just can't have that much liquid for that amount of flour.

Guest's picture
Guest

It could be a problem if you use regular corn meal or corn flour instead of corn masa flour,which is a specially precooked type of corn flour, often available in Latin markets, that instantly thickens when combined with liquid. I found this out after making a wheat flour-based pancake mix and a GF mix of half rice flour/ half corn masa for different members of my family. A cup of the regular mix took one egg, some oil and some honey, and one cup of milk, while the GF batter took the same egg, honey, oil amounts but required 1 1/3 - 1 1/2 cups of milk - that's 1/3 - 1/2 cup extra liquid for 1/2 cup total of masa flour.