Pizza!

I was so scared to make supper tonight. I mean, really, genuinely nervous. I was going to make pizza. Gluten free pizza. With my very first homemade blend of gluten free flours.

Soy flour, rice flour, tapioca flour, and corn starch. The combo had me seriously questioning my cooking skills.

I followed the recipe.

Doubted my cooking skills.

Rolled out the dough, and continued to over analyze the situation. (And what were the most invasive thoughts? What if this turns out to be the biggest disaster of a meal I've ever made?! What am I going to do? Order a pizza? Um, no.)

I preheated the oven. Threw the crust in.

A few minutes later I pulled out the dough to putting the toppings on.

I returned it to the hotbox.

I waited, face nearly pressed against the glass door. I watched it bake for 16 minutes, until it looked like pizza.

I took it out. I looked at Jon. He looked back at me, not knowing quite what to say. (I'm thinking- It LOOKS like pizza, but what's it going to taste like!?)

I must have looked unsure because Jon said to me- Honey, I'm sure it will be great. (Note to self- Remember to mark those points down for him in the good husband book)

I cut the pizza. And said to myself, (reassuringly ha!) Well, let's give it a whirl.

I took a bite. Jon waited.

I smiled and relief washed over my face. It was pizza. Real pizza.

It was very filling. The dough was a little denser than I'm used to, but it was still very good. As far as our first ever attempt at gf pizza, we called it a success.

I think this dough would make an excellent deep dish pizza. Next time we try it, we are going to make 2 smaller pizzas with thinner crusts, on our pizza stone, so it's a little more crunchy. I'll let you know how that works out :)

Do you have a favorite gf pizza dough recipe you use? Feel free to share it in the comments.

Here's to you and your culinary adventures, friends. Cheers!

Pizza Crust
Makes enough for: 1 deep dish or 1 extra large pizza or 2 large thin crust pizzas

1(1/4 oz) packet yeast 
1 1/3 cup milk 
1 tsp brown sugar 
2 1/3 cup gluten free all purpose flour mix 
2 tsp xanthan gum 
1 tsp salt 
2 tsp. olive oil 
2 tsp. cider vinegar

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

Heat the milk using your microwave to about 110 degrees (warm but not Hot).  Mix in the yeast, sugar and milk in a medium bowl and set it aside.

In a mixing bowl, sift together the flour, salt and xanthan gum. 

The yeast mixture should be foaming(bloomed) by now. Add the apple cider vinegar and olive oil to the yeast mixture and then stir it into the flour blend. Mix it well.

Drop your dough out onto a well floured surface. Sprinkle with flour liberally and work into a soft, but no longer sticky dough.  Sprinkle the dough with a small amount of flour. 

Divide and roll out the dough to your desired thickness.  Transfer the dough onto your baking sheet and cook it until the dough is just starting to brown.(For a regular xl pizza it took about 10 minutes) 

Remove from oven. Top with toppings. Return to oven until the cheese is thick and bubbly. (This took about 16 minutes in my oven)

Remove from oven. Let rest 5 minutes before cutting. Serve.