Gluten Free Sourdough Pizza

Boom!  I did it!  I am ever on the quest for a good gluten free pizza.  Pizza is the #1 thing I miss about my wheat eating days.  I pine over pizza.  After much trial and error, I’ve finally come up with a good pizza crust.  Not just “it’s good for a gluten free” pizza but actually truly good in and of itself.  My non gluten intolerant husband even loved it.  Nice and chewy, not too sour (unless you want it more sour), works great as a thin crust or as a thicker crust.  My family of 6 devoured both pizzas in under an hour.

To make this pizza, you’ll want to plan ahead a little bit.  The night before you plan on having pizza you’ll want to build and boost your starter.  This simply means to feed it about 12 hours before you’re ready to make the crust.  Feed your starter, 1 cup starter, 1 cup and a scant 1 cup water.  If you are making a fresh starter, you ‘ll want to follow these directions for a kombucha sourdough starter using 1.5 cups kombucha and 1.5 cups flour.  That should yield about 2 cups starter.

Sourdough Pizza Crust (makes 2 large pizzas or 3 thin crust pizzas) 

• 2 cups active sourdough starter
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup water
• 3 cups gluten free all purpose flour (I use Pamela’s GF Baking Mix)
• 1 tbsp ground chia seeds mixed in 1/2 cup water (optional but makes it a nice texture and adds to the chewiness)
• 2 tsp Italian seasoning blend, basil, oregano, marjoram, rosemary, etc (optional)
• lard or butter for greasing

Mix dry ingredients together (salt, herbs if using, and flour).  Mix wet ingredients together (sourdough starter, olive oil, chia seeds and water).  Blend wet and dry ingredients together.  The dough will be pretty sticky but that is fine.  Gluten free bread should be sticky.  A drier dough will result in a crumbly, dense crust.

Divide dough into the number of pizzas you want to make (2 balls for 2 large regular crust pizzas, 3 balls for 3 large thin crust pizzas).  Place in bowls, cover with plastic wrap and set in a warm place for about 8 hours.  In the oven with the oven light on is a great option.  Balls should just about double in size.

 

Preheat oven to 500F.

Place dough balls on a well greased pizza pan (I love using my pizza stones for this).  Using a wet spatula, spread dough evenly over the stone.  Wet the spatula occasionally to keep the dough from sticking to it.

Spread dough with a wet spatula to keep it from sticking.

Place crust in the oven and bake for 5-10 minutes or until golden.  Thin crust takes closer to 5 minutes, regular crust closer to 10 mins.  Keep and eye on them because they cook pretty quickly.

Remove from oven and top as desire.  I like to use my Sneaky Spaghetti Sauce, gobs of cheese and various toppings.  Place back in oven and bake until cheese is melted and bubbly.  I love to add sauerkraut after it’s cooked.