I so enjoy a great pizza! And, a nice crispy, crunchy gluten-free thin-crust pizza is a very welcome treat for me. My wife spent time this winter perfecting a wheat-free / gluten-free thin-crust pizza that is gum-free but yet strong enough to "hold up" when you pick up a piece of pizza loaded with your favorite toppings. And, here is the result: a crust that meets all of those goals and is now one of my favorite lunch or dinner gluten-free diet selections.
This recipe produces a considerably thinner, crispier, and crunchier crust than the traditional thick-crust gluten-free pizza crust recipe we posted a while back here on this blog (or, via this direct-link to the recipe on our recipe-library site: gluten-free pizza-crust recipe). Each recipe has its own merits depending on what type of pizza you like most.
The thicker crust pizza crust recipe is a yeast-leavened variety, where this thin-crust recipe uses yeast just for flavoring. As such, the thicker crust version can be a bit more work to create (and, the thick-crust version uses Xanthan gum as well -- which to this date bothers my stomach something fierce if I eat more than a small bit at a time). So, the thin-crust that is gum-free (using whey-protein as a wonderful gluten-replacement binder instead) is an easy winner for me.
This thin-crust recipe is designed specifically for cast-iron pans (which I highly recommend, and have written about before on the Gluten-Free Blog: the advantages of cast-iron pans). Cast-iron makes for excellent predictability on the stove-top and oven, plus it is amazingly easy to clean a well-seasoned cast iron pan.
Here's a picture showing the under-side of the crust... that nice golden-brown color leads to a wonderful crisp, crunchy, and firm base for your favorite toppings.
In case you missed the link in the first paragraph, here is a LINK TO THIS DELICIOUS GLUTEN-FREE THIN-CRUST PIZZA-CRUST RECIPE.
No matter how long you have been on a Celiac-disease-safe gluten-free diet, chances are that pizza may be one of those often-missed foods for you. So many people I meet with Celiac Disease (or otherwise avoiding gluten) ask about how to make a great pizza-crust that they can create without too much problem. Many have tried pre-made store-bought frozen types and have expressed their disappointment in the results, which leads them to the next step : baking a nice gluten-free pizza from scratch (it is quite possibly the best way to ensure a great pizza!) So, here is another recipe option for your gluten-free diet that we hope helps you make a great GF Pizza on your own and without too much trouble.
And, for those of you with gluten-intolerance that are *tempted* to consume gluten-containing pizza (and occasionally give-in to that temptation), I really hope this type of recipe helps you remain on a strict gluten-free diet and avoid the negative consequences associated with consuming gluten.
Happy pizza-baking and eating everyone!
