Yeasted Thin Crust Pizza: Gluten Free, Vegan & FODMAP Friendly
When I was growing up in Southern California, my Mom and I used to love making our own homemade pizzas. It was one of our favorite dinners because it was easy and who doesn’t like to pile all of their favorite toppings on one pizza without the extra cost? Whether we had leftovers of some sort of meat, plethora of veggies from my Grammy’s garden, or that triangle of parmesan that is only getting harder by the minute in the fridge- there was always something to create a delicious pizza! So it’s kind of a no brainer that I carried that same tradition with me into adulthood. The pizza’s over time just got better and fancier. Instead of round pizza pans, I turn to the pizza stone (if Bryan doesn’t catch me using once again another kitchen gadget to cook with) and instead of bacon I add prosciutto now. Thanks to Fondi, the best pizzeria in Gig Harbor (in my opinion), now arugula seems to always find it’s place on top of our pizza and I’ve adapted it into my special pizza sauce too, PESTO!
Pictured: Top Bryan’s gorgeous Violife cheddar pizza bottom my simple truth plant based mozzarella (it was OK, I couldn’t find my usual Mikoyos mozzarella!) plus I accidentally skidded my crust on the pizza stone…it happens haha. Both pizza’s are topped with my homemade pesto (find recipe at the bottom of page), sauteed garlic mushrooms, and chicken. Not pictured my balsamic drizzle over the top, yum!
Starting the Paleo AIP Diet (auto-immune protocol diet) was a suggestion from my sweet friend/chiropractor Kellie Reed at Buoyant Chiropractic to see if food was causing or aggravating my undiagnosed symptoms. As most of you know, I lasted a month on the full diet of cutting out ALL inflammatory foods. I cried at week 2 ok? I wasn’t going to put myself through any more torture! I missed my legumes and spices- bland food will never be my MO. As I reintroduced the inflammatory foods back into my diet, I noticed the nerve/muscle pain in my legs would become much worse the following days from tomatoes, sugar, dairy, and gluten. Which, if you haven’t gathered… are the key elements to making a bomb pizza- tomato, cheese, dough (gluten). You’d think I would just turn away from pizza all together …NOPE! This girl is getting creative in the kitchen because this nostalgic food will always be in my repertoire of meals.
Alright, I promise not to be one of those people that has a full blown diary written for every recipe, so let’s jump right into it shall we? This is a recipe that I adapted from The Intolerance Friendly Kitchen by Georgia McDermott, one of my all time favorite cookbooks! There are tiny adjustments that I made to the dough to make it less gummy, by removing some of the hydration and switching the tapioca starch for potato.
Yeasted Pizza Crust Recipe
Makes: 2 large or 4 medium pizza bases Prep time: 20 minutes Proofing time: 1 hour Cook time: 15-20 minutes (per pizza) You can also omit the starch all together if you fancy, just use same measurement of sorghum to replace the starch.
For the Yeast Mixture:
100 g warm water
2 teaspoons caster sugar
7 g (1 sachet) dried yeast
Combine the warm water (108 to 110 degrees), sugar, and yeast in a small bowl. Pop it aside to bloom, set a timer for 10 minutes . You're looking for a slightly domed, super bubbly top on that mixture. If it's not looking like a science experiment gone right, toss it and start fresh – your yeast is probably asleep on the job.
For the Pizza Bases:
120 g fine white rice flour
60 g potato starch (or tapioca as originally in the recipe)
60 g sorghum flour
1 ½ teaspoons fine salt
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
15 g psyllium husk
60 ml olive oil
280 g warm water
While your yeast is doing its thing, grab a large non-reactive bowl and combine the flours, salt, ginger, and psyllium. Once your yeast mixture is all bloomed and beautiful, add that in along with the olive oil and 300g warm water. Grab a spoon and stir it like your life depends on it until every last lump is gone. It's gonna look a bit like thick porridge – totally normal. Cover it up and let it hang out in a warm, draft-free spot until it's doubled in size. If you are using a pizza stone- preheat the oven with the pizza stone inside at least 30 min before baking.
Time to get the oven hot! Preheat it to 392°F. Line two pizza pans with baking paper and sprinkle with cornmeal. Now, divide your dough into either 2 large or 4 medium portions. Let’s get our hands in that dough! Thoroughly oil your hands, then plop one piece of dough onto a prepared tray. Use your hands to press it out into a circular pizza shape. Aim for about 20 cm for a medium pizza or 30 cm for a large one. You can go thinner or thicker depending on how you like your crust, just remember that'll tweak the cooking time. I like to leave the edges a little thicker than the middle to get that classic pizza crust vibe. Repeat with the rest of your dough.
You can either go all out and top your pizza base right away, or par-bake it for 10 minutes first (I suggest this if you like a crispier crust). If you're going with toppings from the get-go, bake for about 15-20 minutes, or longer if your toppings need extra cook time. Pro tip (totally optional, but I swear by it): I like to put a small baking dish of boiling water at the bottom of the oven. It gives the dough a little burst of steam and helps it puff up beautifully.
Try my homemade pesto recipe on your pizza!
Half a container of arugula (the other half is for toppings!)
1/2 cup of organic olive oil - we love Grazza!
2 or 3 chopped garlic cloves
1/4 tsp of crushed red pepper
Salt and pepper to taste (usually a pinch here and there, the arugula is already naturally peppery)
You can add pine nuts like the classic recipe but I think they are gross…sorry!
In a food processer, pulse arugula, garlic and olive oil until it becomes a paste like consistency. If its too runny, add more arugula. If it’s too thick add more olive oil. Toss in remaining ingredients voila! You have pesto!
Let me know in the comments if you tried it!
