Gluten-free Pizza and Bread Recipe
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- Gluten-free pizza topped with jerusalem artichokes, garlic, and olive oil
What started out as a small pantry challenge, ended in a very delicious, moist, and fluffy gluten-free pizza and bread dough. Whith the help of my grain mill I was able to turn lots of untouched grains into flour, which ended up in a gluten-free pizza dough.
As a frequent bread baker I am quite fond of gluten and would never have thought that a gluten-free pizza could be equally good. (Yes, I know, the usual tiresome prejudices.) But this was. And the crispy crust paired up so well with the toppings: olive oil, garlic, and thinly sliced jerusalem articokes. Because made I way too much dough for our two person household, I used the remaining dough for a gluten-free loaf, which also came out pretty well:
gluten-free bread
When I searched online for gluten-free bread and pizza recipes, I realized that many recipes call for three or four eggs to replace the missing gluten. Usually, when a recipe calls for four eggs, I turn around and look somewhere else. But researching gluten-free baked goods made me aware of a completely awesome egg replacer which I have never used before: psyllium husk. It works similar to flax, but has stronger binding abilities. I was able to find a box at an Indian market. (German health stores only sell whole psyllium seeds and not husks.) The husks look like this. Usually they are used as a laxative, but these little seeds also have miraculous binding qualities. To repalce four eggs, I whipped up one tablespoon of psyllium husk powder with one cup of hot water and 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Slimy, but working:
Psyllium egg replacer
Gluten-free pizza crust and bread recipe
(makes one large pizza crust and one loaf of bread, loosely based on this recipe.)
Update: A reader suggested to add some sugar to the dough to avoid bitter undertones in the finished pizza crust. If you feel like it, you can add a tablespoon or two of your favourite sweetener.
110 g Milchreis, ground into flour. Yield: 2/3 c *
45 g amaranth, ground into flour. Yield: 1/3 c**
117 g millet, ground into flour. Yield: 3/4 c
157 g Harina P.A.N. (1 c)***
70 g cornstarch (1/2 c)
70 g gluten-free flour mix (1/2 c)****
1 T ground psyllium husk ++
1 c hot water
2 T olive oil
2 2/3 c lukewarm water
10 g salt
42 fresh yeast (or 14 g [0.5 oz] instant yeast = 2 envelopes)
* Milchreis (“milk rice”) is a rice used for rice pudding. In Germany it’s a staple in most households. It’s a short grain rice. You can use glutinous rice, arborio, or any other sticky short grain rice instead. Use regular white or sweet rice flour, if you don’t have a grain-mill.
**Quinoa works, too.
*** Use masa harina instead.
**** I used the gluten-free flour mix which I have previously used for muffins. Fell free to use a store-bought gf all purpose flour mix.
++ ground from 2 T whole husks, in a coffee grinder
In a large bowl, combine all flours and mix well. Pour the psyllium husk powder into your food processor. Add hot water and olive oil. Pulse until everything is well combined and has thickened up (see picture above).
In a large bowl combine remaining 2 2/3 cups of water and yeast. Stir and pour into flour mixture. Add egg-repalcer mixture and salt. Use a hand-held mixer to blend the mixture properly. The dough will be more like cake batter than like bread dough. Cover the bowl and let the dough rise in a warm place, for about 30 minutes.
Grease a round pizza pan (28 cm [11inch] in diameter) with olive oil and scoop out 1 1/2 cups dough into the pan. Spread evenly and set aside.
For the bread, pour the remaining dough into a loaf pan (make sure to grease it very well) and sprikle with sesame seed. Set aside the loaf pan and let the dough rise for 1 hour.
Spreading the dough.
Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F) and prepare your pizza topping. We used three jerusalem artichokes, sliced very thinly. The wonderful flavour of those starchy vegetables goes very well with this kind of crust. But of course you can use any topping you like.
Spread the dough with olive oil. Slice 3 cloves garlic very thinly and sprinkle on top. Slice the jerusalem artichokes very thinly and place on the dough. Season with salt, pepper and more olive oil, if you like.
Preparing the pizza.
Bake for 25 minutes until the crust is golden brown. Serve immediately and don’t forget to bake your bread. 200°C (400°F), 45 minutes until golden brown. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes, remove and let cool on a rack.
This stuff is good!
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Wow, success! The only GF pizza crust I’ve tried was totally inedible, but it looks like you’ve created a really yummy recipe! I’m intrigued by this psyllium husk thickener – it looks so strong! Thanks for the recipe, now I just need to track down masa harina and psyllium (haha, I wonder if it’s going to be available in non-laxative form? Hopefully! Although, I suppose if it’s just ground husks that would be fine, if not a little weird…) :)
-Eve
Looks amazing! Coincidentally, I happen to have ground psyllium in my cupboard (it’s also sometimes recommended for candida–to “clear the colon”). Too bad there’s not another sub for yeast. . . so I guess I’ll have to wait to make this! But I will try it as an egg sub next time I bake. :) The jerusalem artichokes must have worked beautifully as a topper.
Maybe you can adapt the recipe by using less water and baking powder instead?
I think I’ve got too used to tomato based pizzas This looks so good! I’ve seen psyllium husks in the health food shop and it always says to take them with LOTS of water. Presumably beause they go like the photo in your stomach… They certainly seem to work well in your dough, though! :)
That crust looks incredible! I need to find some psyllium husk now. And I can’t believe that it worked as a loaf–that’s magic!
I think I still owe you the chipotle bread recipe. I want to make it again this week. We ate it all and I didn’t take a picture the last time.
That looks delicious! What good timing, I was looking for a new pizza recipe to try, as well as a pizza crust.
Artichokes are so good, and how convenient I just bought some :)
If you haven’t tried French Vanilla soy creamer in mashed potatoes, give it a try, I can’t believe it but even my omnivore family members prefer that to any other kind of mashed potatoes now!
We don’t have French vanilla creamer here. Do you think adding a pinch of ground vanilla to regular creamer might do the trick?
Amazing! Thank you so much for sharing this recipe. If I can ever track down psyllium husk, I’ll give it a try for sure! I wonder if Ener-G egg replacer would work as well? Flax would be too grainy. I’ve never tried chia seeds. So much science! I can’t believe how light and airy your bread looks.
I have never used Ener-G or similar egg replacers, so I don’t know. They are mostly starches and might work differently…but Ener-G seems to be a miracle powder, too.
Psyllium husk is the main ingredient in Metamucil, and our vet once recommended giving a very small amount to our dog each day. The Metamucil had too many “other” ingredients so I got a bottle of plain psyllium husks at the food coop. Now I wish I still had it. I never would have thought to use it as an egg replacer.
As always, Mihl, YUM!
Wow, this is creative! And the crust and bread look so moist and fluffy- amazing : ) This psyllium stuff sounds pretty awesome- I think will try purchasing it online. Stay warm!!!
This looks absolutely delicious! I’ve had some really ugly “gluten-free” moments. I am always looking for egg replacers, too–thanks for the idea! Those artichoke slices–great job!
Oh man, Mihl, you are my hero! I am gonna try this recipe out this week for sure :) I’ll just have to find something to replace the masa and I’m set!
I have yet to find decent gluten-free bread, but your recipe looks extremely promising! I will definitely have to give it a go, asap.
Gorgeous!
Whoa, Mihl! I never would have thought about psyllium as an egg replacer. You’re a smart one. This looks fantastic, I want a bite.
Wow, that pizza looks really good!
You mention you ground your own flours which is something I’ve wanted to try for a while (since special flours like quinoa aren’t available in Germany) but was afraid of. I though they might be come out too coarse for baking but since you had such great success I’ll really try it soon, too.
It’s easy to grind small grains in a coffee grinder. Rice, amaranth, millet quinoa. They all come out grat that way and you don’t need an expensive grain mill.
Two questions: did you use a dough hook on your handheld blender to mix the dough? Are you recommending active dry yeast or instant yeast? I just wonder because all my recipes that call for fresh yeast (which we don’t have) say you can use active dry yeast which I think is different than instant yeast. I sound confusing now :) does that make sense?
I use this kind of attachment. The dough is very wet, so a dough attachment is not neccessary. You can use both active and instant dry yeast. I use instant dry. Active dry has to be proofed, instant doesn’t. Instant is also more concentrated. Usually you need a little bit more, if you use active dry. But personally, I don’t think it makes such a big difference. Peter Reinhart gives this advice: 100 % fresh yeast = 40 to 50 % active dry = 33 % instant dry. I mostly stick with 30 %.
This recipe calls for a huge amount of yeast and usually I never use that much, but I wanted to make sure it worked with gluten-free flours. I’m sure there’s room for experimenting. You can always use less yeast if you have a longer proofing time. Sorry if that was tmi.
No no, thank you for being so thorough! I’m not much of a bread baker as you’ve probably noticed :) I will use your recommendation about the yeast quantities. Thanks!
squeeeeeeeeeeeeee! you’re amazing, Mihl! i can’t believe you made gluten-free pizza dough ‘n bread – they both look awesome! i just discovered psyllium the other day. i was checking these gluten-free buns to see if they were vegan and noticed it in the ingredients list. that’s so cool! i love that you topped your pizza with sunchokes. the first time i’d had them was over the summer – i found some at the local farmer’s market – roasted them up – they were tasty! totally going to get more when i can, and you better believe i’ll be getting some psyllium husk to make your gluten-free dough ‘n bread as well. yay!
Yay, glad you like.
Wow, using psyllium makes total sense! It totally thickens when water is added. Who would’ve thought! I’ve been putting off gluten free pizza crust, I guess I’m just afraid. Well I guess I got to try some day. Thanks for the recipe.
Very cool! That psyllium really looks like it would be a good binder. I will have to be on the lookout, since I’m without my trusty egg-replacer here in BE.
Awesome! I have never used psyllium husk as an egg replacer but now I am very curious. Gluten or gluten free, you are the queen of bread! :-)
Thanks for the recipe, that pizza crust looks mouth-watering good! Now I just need to track down some psyllium husk, I’ve never used it before.
This looks really good! A friend of mine’s gluten-free for the moment and I’d love to bake her something, so I should probably look into that psyllium husk thing a bit more. I never thought of it as a vegan egg-replacer, but that makes perfect sense now!
I’m definitely going to check out for those psyllium.
[...] over at Seitan is my Motor recently posted a delicious looking recipe for gluten-free bread/pizza dough. She is always knocking my fuzzy winter socks off with all of her posts, but especially her bread [...]
Thinly sliced Jerusalem artichokes as a pizza topping is such a fabulous idea! I’ve been craving homemade pizza for a few days now, now I have to make some while I still have some Jerusalem artichokes around!
Your crust looks amazing, too. You clearly came up with the perfect GF pizza dough recipe.
WOW, your GF bread looks great!
Oh my word, thank you for this! I can’t wait to try it. I can only ever find recipes for gluten-free bread rather than gluten-free AND vegan. Thank you :) Hopefully I won’t muck up the recipe!
Wow the bread seems to have risen a lot with the psyllium! I will definitely try it as an egg sub- gluten sub. It’s literally like a glue when you mix it in water!
how many calories ?????
[...] Here’s the recipe: Gluten free pizza crust [...]
[...] Amazing fluffy gluten free pizza crust [...]
I’ve tried psyllium in a couple gluten free recipes and it works great, but my bread etc has turned either purple or pink. Any suggestions?
Thanks!
interesting! I didn’t even know that could happen! Are the husks you use colourless/white?
Hi Aimee, sorry, your second comment was deleted by accident. Since I live in Germany, I am not familiar with the brand you used. I get my husks from an Indian store. The brand is called “telephone”. Here’s a picture of the package:
http://seitanismymotor.com/2010/11/vegan-coconut-macaroons/
Looking forward to trying this recipe. I am trying to get away from Xanthan gum and tapioca starch and eventually corn starch (no nutritional value) out of my gluten free baking :) Danke fuer’s Rezept!