It's Pizza Day (but gluten free)

Friday's are pizza day at my children's school. It was met with tears from my 6 year old daughter when she realized that her favorite hot lunch day would not happen this week. So I planned a special suprise that I would bring them gluten free pizza today.

Well, that met some challenges. There was a praise assembly at my children's school this morning that my daughter was speaking in. She begged me to come. So now it is 7:45 am and she is getting on the bus. I am still in my pajamas with coffee cup in hand. So I cleaned up a few things and hopped in the shower by 8am and was out with hair dried and makup on by 8:20 am. Out the door and on the way to the assembly at 8:40 am. After that I had to go to CostCo to pick up a few things but UGH! they don't open until 10 am. So off to Marshall's across the street I go. I find boots for my son and then head back to CostCo. I make it out of there at 11am after getting groceries and a prescription. On my way home again to make pizza and be back at school by 12:30 pm

At this point I am thanking God (literally) that I went gluten free 2 years ago and already have my recipes and a good comfort level with baking gluten free.

Here is the pizza I made.

Gluten Free Pepperoni / Italian Herb Pizza

Here's what the dough looks like in the mixer:

For the pizza crust:

2 tsp dry active yeast (Red Star is gluten free)
1 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup white rice flour
1/2 cup tapioca flour (starch)
3 Tbs Raw Milk
1 Tbs Xanthan Gum
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp granulated garlic (optional)
1 tsp Italian Herbs ( I use more like 1 1/2)

1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp olive oil
1 1/4 c warm water (110 degrees)
1 tsp honey

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Measure all dry ingredients into mixing bowl. Add all wet ingredients to the dry mixture. Mix on low speed for 1 minute. Switch to medium speed and mix for 3 minutes. Transfer dough to pan - I spread olive oil on the pan (liberally) to keep the dough from sticking. Sprinkle the dough with white rice flour to assist in not sticking to your hands. You can also put olive oil on your hands to assist with pressing dough to pan.

I get the dough mostly flattened on the pan and then rolling pin it flat and even out the edges manually. Bake for 10-14 minutes (crust only).

Let cool for a few minutes and add toppings. For this pizza I used Muir Glen Organic Pizza sauce and nitrate free pepperoni (from a local organic farm). My cheese was mozzerella from a local Amish Farm.

Below is the unbaked dough after spreading and fixing the edges.



And here is the finished product. YUM!!

Bake the pizza until the top is lightly browned. Total time for me to prepare and cook was 45 minutes. I think this was a new record for me. My children were excited to get pizza today. That makes me smile. They have been such troopers this week. I am exhausted. We'll get in the groove and it will all work out.

To your health!

Stephanie