In July, Girlfriend took a kids’ “How To Make Pizza” class from a local restaurant. She came back covered with flour (she had to shower before I could kiss her) and told me she had a great time. She came home with recipes from her class. So, we spent the next couple of weeks making pizza. Of course, we used my own recipe for gf dough, but we used the restaurant’s recipe for sauce. The sauce is so simple and yet so good!
By the way, she came back from class with a tip: salt each piece of mozzarella before you put it on the pizza. It tastes delish. Apparently, this is a pizza restaurant secret!
Anyway, I realized that I hadn’t yet shared my recipe for pizza crust. I was inspired years ago by a pizza crust recipe in Carol Fenster’s Special Diet Solutions. If you have food allergies and you don’t already have this book–get it! It’s one of the best all-purpose “how do I make X recipe without using Y allergen(s)” I’ve ever read. Carol is a treasure to the allergy cooking and baking community.
This recipe makes a thin NYC-type pizza crust.
Pizza Crust, Gluten-Free
Special Equipment Needed
-a stand mixer with a paddle attachment is very helpful, although a hand mixer with regular beaters is fine
-a round pizza baking pan or a cookie sheet
-a pizza stone, if you have one (helps pizza crust cook up crunchy)
-a pizza peel, or two metal spatulas
Ingredients (will make one 12″ pizza):
1 1/3 cup (190g) Jeanne’s Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour Mix
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp xanthan gum in addition to what is in the flour mix
1 tablespoon of sugar
2 tablespoon fast acting yeast (I like Red Star)
3/4 cup (180 ml) warm (but not hot) water
1 tsp olive oil
1 tsp cider vinegar
extra oil and tapioca flour if not using the parchment paper method
Mix all dry ingredients together in the bowl of a mixer. Add wet ingredients. Using the paddle attachment, mix on medium high for about 3 mins (until smooth). It should look like a smooth blob of dough.
From here, you can choose 1 of 2 preparation/baking methods. The one I recommend uses parchment paper (see directions below). If you don’t want to use the parchment paper method, oil and flour a pizza pan or cookie sheet. Shape your dough on this pan, let it rise, and bake it in the pan for the first baking. If you’re using a pizza stone, for the second baking, take the pizza off of the pan and place it directly on the stone to bake. When it’s time to remove, remove with a pizza peel or two metal spatulas used together.
Preferred Shaping, Rising, and Baking Method
Tear off a large piece of parchment paper that is 12.5 inches wide by about 16 inches long. Put your blob of dough on the parchment paper. It should have the shape of a round boulder. You can now either shape the dough or let it rise for a bit. If you let it rise for a bit, the end crust will be a bit lighter. The longest time I’ve let it rise in this stage is about an hour. But, any time up to (and even over an hour) is fine.
When you are ready to shape the dough, sprinkle about a tablespoon of tapioca flour (or more) onto the dough (to keep the dough from sticking to your fingers). Carefully and patiently push out the dough toward the edges of the pan, keeping the thickness even throughout–it will be soft and pillowy. Use more flour if necessary.
Push dough out into a 12″ circle (or a rectangle if using cookie sheet). Mound up the edges a bit to create a “wall” so the toppings don’t ooze off.
Leave for about 20 minutes to let rise (or longer, you choose). You will see the crust getting fuller and looking more puffy.
As it’s rising, preheat oven to 450 degrees F. If you’re using a pizza stone (which I highly recommend), make sure the stone is in there. My stone gets a lot of use, as you can see:
Tip: I put the pan with the rising pizza crust near or on the top of the stove to take advantage of the warmth–it encourages rising.
When rising time is finished, grasp the parchment paper on either side of the dough and slowly and carefully place it in the oven on the pizza stone.
Bake the dough for 15 minutes. Remove from oven. Put your choice of sauce and toppings on pizza (we usually use marinara sauce, mozzarella cheese, parmesan cheese, fresh basil, and mushrooms or turkey meatballs–but you do what you like). Lightly brush the edges with some olive oil so they will bake up brown and crispy.
Grasp the edges of the parchment paper and carefully transfer the topped pizza onto the stone in the oven.
Bake for 6-10 minutes. Watch it carefully–especially if you’re using fresh mozzarella! I’ve found that fresh mozzarella browns very quickly. When the pizza is done, remove pizza by grasping the parchment paper.
If you don’t have a pizza stone, just bake the pizza in a pizza pan/cookie sheet.
Enjoy!
Note: If you use a different gluten-free flour mix, alter the amount of or eliminate the xanthan gum or use a different gluten-replacer, use dairy-free or egg-free substitutes, or change any other ingredients in this recipe, your results may not match my results.
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Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2012-2017 Jeanne Sauvage
I mixed the dough in a food processor and it worked well. I divided in half, made one 10″ pizza, wrapped and froze the other ball of dough. Then a few weeks later made the second pizza. Works fine without a pizza stone. Very happy with it. Thank you, Jeanne.
Luana: Yay! I’m so glad!
Thank you, this is the Best gluten free pizza crust I’ve had, and so easy. I want to try grilling it next.
Janet: Yay! I’m so glad!
Why is it important to mix the dough for 3 min.? I don’t have a strong mixer, so I was hoping to just mix and press out the dough until WELL mixed (maybe 1 minute at tops) with a stiff spatula. Am I in trouble?
Thanks!
Deborah: mixing it for a few minutes adds air to the dough which helps it to rise a bit. But, if you don’t want to mix it that long, do what you want to do and see how it goes.
Can this dough be frozen for future use? If so, what is the extent of time?
ty
tiff: I would roll out the dough, place it on a baking sheet and place in freezer for 1 hour. Then remove from freezer, place the crust in a zip-top bag and return to the freezer for up to about 3 months.
I have a question regarding this recipe;
1) If i make it in a cookie pan; I can let it rise, first bake and second bake all in the same pan? Or after the first bake, i have to remove the crust from the cookie sheet and bake it on a stone?
2) If I wanted to make a few of these crusts…do the first bake and then freeze them for future use…what would be your recommendation on how to store them (in what kind of container) and also what would would the second bake adjusted cooking time be? Thanks so much!
Tristan: 1) yes, you can bake both times in the same pan. I like to bake it on the stone because the stone gets really hot, but if you prefer to keep it in the pan–go ahead. 2) I would bake the crust for the first time, let it cool completely, wrap well in plastic wrap (so it is airtight), and freeze. You can probably freeze them for several months. You can let the frozen crust defrost in the fridge for 24 hours before topping and baking. The baking time will for the defrosted crust will be roughly the same as for a freshly baked crust–because this time around you are mainly cooking the toppings. Enjoy!
My crust did not rise very much. Should I have “proofed” the yeast before adding? I mixed it in with the dry ingredients.
Anne: This crust doesn’t rise much. It’s designed to be flat, like the typical NYC pizza.
Jeanne,
I made your GF pizza crust last night. OMG delish. I realize now I should have made 2 or 3 batches!!! One pizza…not enough :). I actually did the taste test with my hubby…made one pizza GF and another with bread flour…non-GF. I have to say this…yours was better. When I make pizza dough with regular flour, I do it in my bread machine. With yours, I simply followed your instructions. After it was made, I floured my pizza stone and rolled it right on there. SUPER easy to roll. Very very smooth. Then I let it sit for about 45 mins. I chopped up my veggies…cut up the meat (for a half meat/half veggie pizza) and it was ready to go. My son loved it…and he only got the GF version. My hubby had a little of each…as did I…and yours was the preferred pizza :). Next pizza will be my GF chicken bacon ranch (oops…I think I just drooled). Haha. Thank you again! Your recipes have not failed me…rather…have far exceeded my every expectation!!!
Terri: Yay!!
I made this for the first time tonight. It was so light and fluffy, I think there’s less calories per slice lol. Besides forgetting to add the salt, it still came out so yummy, my daughter and husband say it’s the best GF pizza crust they’ve had! Only my husband is gluten intolerant in my family, but we’re all trying to eat gluten free because it’s just easier and I think healthier for everyone. Thank you for all of your efforts, I can’t wait to try more of your recipes!
Liz: Yay! I’m so glad!
Hi, Jeanne! Have you or any of your readers ever tried to double (or triple) the recipe and then make portions to freeze? I want to be able to take this with me (easier to bring my gluten free foods already prepared) when we visit relatives.
Pat: When I want more than one pizza crust, I make several batches of the recipe instead of doubling or tripling it.
I made up a huge batch of flour mix, then portioned out in freezer bags with added ingredients for each particular thing. I made up 4 bags of double recipe pancakes, 4 bags of double recipe pizza dough, 8 bags for bread, and 4 bags for hamburger buns. And I still had some left-over all purpose flour mix (without the starch added) to use for something else. When I did this I added all the dry ingredients, yeast and sugar too, and have had no problems. They have kept for some time too! This was a real time saver, especially since I bake bread quite often.
Heather: Awesome ideas! I love it!
We’ve made this recipe a bunch and love it. Do you think it would work to wrap around hot dogs as “mummy dogs” for Halloween?
Kristin: You could try. The dough is very wet and not all really handle-able. But, you can try and see what happens.
Yay! I have 2 autistic kiddoes who live primarily on Pizza, the only thing everyone will eat in our house. This recipe has made my life a lot easier and my boys very happy. We have tried every substitution you can think of but this gave them back their fave pizza! I am very encouraged to see your baking mix. Like everyone else I have experimented with the gazillion flours out there in many combinations with many failures. This mix is so close its made me excited to work with some of our fave recipes. Thanks again!
Nicholaix: Oh, I’m so glad! Thanks for letting me know! Happy baking!
If we doubled the dough, would this make a thicker crust? Or will that not work?
Cindy: Not really. This one is designed to be a flat crust.
So excited to tell you that this was a major success in our house!! We have been using the Chebe pizza crust mix which is so amazing but EXTREMELY expensive! So I have tried some of the other recipes from your site and I love your all purpose flour mix!! I tweaked your recipe by adding 1/2 tsp onion powder, 1/2 tsp garlic powder, and 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning…it was AMAZING!!! I also didn’t do the second rise because we love really thin crust…everyone ate it up! My husband and I didn’t get more than a slice to share! Thank you so much!
Jodi: Yay! Adding herbs and spices to the crust is an awesome idea!
I am recently started on a Gluten Free diet. One of the things I miss the most is pizza. We use to make a home made thin crust pizza on a heated stone, every Friday. We have tried many different gluten free pizzas from store bought dough to make it ourselves dough to premade pizza shells and even tried the soft yellow corn tortilla shell for a pizza crust. Though the soft yellow corn tortilla shell was not bad and better then the others-nothing seems to be the ‘right’ taste. I’m anxious to try this one and hope it will meet our tough standards.
I am so happy to have found your site as I felt the same way about baked goods. I also grew up eating soft white bread morning, noon and night. It was my favorite ‘treat’. I would love to find a good gf recipe for some bread items. Thank you for sharing your finds for the rest of us. Can’t wait to bake something now.
N
Nancy: Welcome! Check out my Gluten-Free Recipes page. I have several recipes including a “Soft Sandwich Bread” and “French Baguettes.” 🙂
Hi there,
I doubled the recipe. My changes; used 1 less tbs of yeast, 2 cups of my own flour mix, plus 2/3 cup tap flour, 2 cups of water, added 3 tbs of psyllium husks. What I got was a kneadable dough that I was able to roll out with a roller on my pastry towel! They are sitting and rising and waiting for the oven. Smells good!
Heather: great!
Would this work freezing it after 1st baking and adding toppings? I am looking for something easy to pull out when I am in a hurry, or when my family calls the pizza man.
Jennifer: I haven’t done that, but I think it should work pretty well. Be sure that it’s all the way cooled down before you wrap it for freezing.
I have made this crust and frozen it both before rolling out or after the first cooking. both work fine. if you freeze the cooked crust, add the toppings with it still frozen and place on the preheated pizza stone.
I have made this crust many times. I get two 12″ pizzas from this recipe. One very important tool is a reusable parchment called “super parchment”. They cost about $6 each and can be reused many times. it does not need to be greased and can be used up to 500 degrees. I put 1/2 of the dough on the super parchment, cut a piece of plastic wrap the same size as the parchment, lightly grease it with vegetable oil and put it over the dough. After the dough rises, I then roll out the dough (still covered by the plastic wrap) with a rolling pin until it is VERY thin (about 1/4″). I then let it rise again before baking on my pizza stone in a 500 degree oven. The top should be just set and the bottom nicely browned. After the first baking, I turn the crust over, and add the sauce and toppings. This way the crust stays crispier.
Amy: Terrific tips–thank you!
Is it really 2 Tbsp of yeast? Seems like a lot. Have you tried using less?
Jonna: Yes, that’s right. Every time I go down in yeast, the end product doesn’t work the way I want it to. But feel free to do your own experiments with lowering the yeast and see what you think! Let me know how it goes!
I used just one tablespoon and I think it worked fine. In any case, the result was the best GF pizza crust I have ever eaten!! I will try 2 T next time (tomorrow) just for grins. I can’t wait to make it for my husband. Thank you!
Jonna: Oh, good! Yay!
This worked well for my family and we hadn’t had good tasting pizza in some time. I made some modifications which really proved successful. Firstly, since the dough was sticky, after mixing into a ball with mixer, I greased it with olive oil, and rolled it in corn meal and stuck it in a plastic bag. I then refrigerated overnight, and used right from the refrigerator. I put plenty of corn meal on my pan to keep it from sticking… and I used a baking stone. I baked for about 12 minutes at 450 F., then added my toppings, and baked for 5 minutes. It was excellent. Thank you this recipe. Next time I’m going to put fresh rosemary in the crust.
Lynne: Yay! I’m so glad! And fresh rosemary in the crust sounds delicious. Yum!
Will this recipe work for making ‘pigs in a blanket’? (the little hotdogs in a crescent roll type thing) I love your recipes and wondered if you had a special recipe for pigs in a blanket?
Holly: I’m not sure–this dough is more like batter–it would be hard to wrap the hotdogs in it. But I think my cinnamon rolls dough might work for pigs in a blanket–just take out the extra 3 TBL of sugar (leave in the 1 TBL that you use for proofing the yeast). Let me know how it goes!
Our family makes homemade pizza every Friday night, but we would like to try making your GF crust. We normally add toppings to our unbaked dough and then bake the pie all at once, but your recipe specifically states to bake the dough first, then add the toppings & bake again. Is there a reason why the GF crust needs to be baked before adding the toppings?
Michael: The issue with gluten-free crusts is that they need a bit more baking than a wheat crust. I have found that if I bake it along with the toppings, the toppings burn before the crust bakes through.
I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this pizza crust…it was DELICIOUS!! I had one question while making it. It calls for active dry yeast, the printable version says not to use rapid rise yeast. All I had was the rapid rise yeast on hand so I went with it this time. My question is what difference will I find with the active dry yeast or why does the recipe say not to use the rapid rise? Thanks for ALL your great recipes!! I am so happy I found your site 🙂
Marianne: Yay! I’m so glad the site is helpful for you! I think it’s fine to use rapid rise. I think when I was developing that recipe, I used a rapid rise yeast that tasted gross and so I recommended against it. But, you should be fine with using one you like.
made two pizzas over the weekend, stuck them in the freezer and guess who get’s to make a super yummy homemade GF dinner even though she didn’t have enough time to cook anything tonight!
Kandra: Yay! I’m so glad!!
This pizza crust is super easy and delicious! I’m new to being gluten-free and was a little sad that I wasn’t going to be able to make great homemade pizzas any more. Well, I still can! Even my gluten-loving husband thought it was great…no need to make two different crusts.
Tracy: Yay! I’m so glad! This is one of our favorite recipes–it works so well every time! Also, do a search on my blog–you can also do this crust on the grill!
I was wondering if you can put this in a bread machine and freeze it. Thank you!
Kiana: Let’s see–are you asking if you can mix it up in a bread machine? I guess so, if you bread machine has a mix function. Also, I would shape it before your freeze it. Be sure it’s well-wrapped in plastic wrap.
Jeanne:
This recipe is AWESOME! I was diagnosed with Celiacs two years ago and this is the best pizza crust that I’ve had since being diagnosed, I’ve tried various premade mixes, frozen crusts, and blog recipes but this is the best by far.
Thank you for all your trial and error!
Katie: Yay!! I’m so glad!!
I have found that if you coat the parchment with coarse corn meal (GF of course) you can cover the dough with tapioca dusted plastic wrap and roll it out–you can then get it very thin without messy hands. remove the plastic wrap and push the edges back to make a rim if you want one. the corn meal acts like ball bearings and makes it easy to roll the crust out. when making multiple smaller crusts this speeds up the process. I learned to do this when making non-gf pizza crusts. it also adds a nice crunch and texture to the pizza.
Amy: Have you used cornmeal with my crust? I have and it sticks to the pan. But, I didn’t do a tapioca flour dusted plastic sheet over it. Also, yes–rolling it out will make a much thinner crust. Good point! You can just sprinkle tapioca flour over the pan and then over the crust and roll out with the rolling pin. 🙂
I arrived at your site a couple of days ago, and I can’t seem to leave! Your recipes look wonderful! Today I mixed up a double batch of your GF all-purpose flour, and made my first GF pizza using your recipe. My husband and I both agree that the crust is fantastic! Thank you for putting so much time and effort into creating these tasty, nearly-identical-to-the-real-thing GF recipes, Jeanne! 🙂
Tracey: Aw, I’m so glad you like the recipes!! Thanks for letting me know!!
Hi Jeanne. Great recipe and amazing website. Writing to see if if you’ve ever tried prepping yeast in advance with this pizza recipe. I saw another recipe — now I can’t remember where — which combined yeast, warm water and sugar and let sit for 15 minutes and for some reason, it struck me as a good idea. I tried it that way and dough was super sticky when trying to spread on my pizza pan. Anyway, just wondering if you’ve ever tried it this way. Looking forward to making pizza again soon. Thanks!
Laura: Yes, I do that most of the time with my yeasted recipes. I didn’t recommend it here because I wanted this recipe to be super-simple. It is called “proofing” your yeast–which is making sure that the yeast works. Whether or not you proof your yeast shouldn’t affect the texture of your dough. This dough is very sticky no matter what–that’s why I recommend using tapioca flour when pushing it out.
Happy baking!
Any versions of pizza crust without yeast? I am celiac and allergic to yeast as well. I’d love to find some type of GF bread and pizza that doesn’t have yeast. Thanks for a great site!
Leah: Hm. The beauty of conventional pizza crust is that it is leavened by yeast. Yeast is what gives it it’s signature texture and chewiness. As a substitute, I would recommend looking for a recipe for a cracker recipe that uses baking powder to leaven it–and then use it as a pizza crust!
This recipe is a must for anyone living gluten free!! Maybe even anyone, period. I’ve made a fair share of pizzas in my gluten days, and until now didn’t think I could find/make anything comparable. I followed your recipe exactly, using the parchment pizza stone method. It tastes even better than the NY coal oven pizza I used to enjoy at my local pizzeria. Jeanne, you have made me so happy. 🙂 thanks.
Cathleen: Yay! I’m so glad!!
Hello Jeanne – I’m heading to a foodie pizza party in NY this weekend and was wondering if you ever par-baked your crust then topped it and finished cooking later. Thanks!
Jenny: Yes! The instructions have you bake the pizza first and then top it and bake again to finish the baking and to melt the cheese. Just bake it the first time and then bring it to the party to finish!
Perfect! That was my plan just wanted to double check with the creator 🙂 This is my favorite pizza crust, and pretty much the only one I will use. I’ll be making a buffalo chicken pizza to share with all the non-GFers
Jenny: Yay! I’m so glad!
Since a “regular” crust recipe is just yeast, flour, salt, sugar and oil, what role does the cider vinegar play in this recipe? Is it necessary? Thanks!
Steph: You know, I’m not really sure. I have always used it and it seems to add a bit of something extra that is good. But, you can remove it if you want to.
I was wondering if anyone has used this recipe, had leftovers and stored them in the fridge? Does it taste just as good the next day? I have been having a tough time finding a pizza dough that not only tastes wonderful the first time around, but is good as leftovers as well. Thanks so much for your help! Have a great day!
Maria: Do you mean storing a fully baked pizza in the fridge and then eating it? Yes, we do this all the time–it’s great! We like to heat it up first, but it’s good cold, too.
I used this recipe for the first time tonight and was so happy with the results. I have tried other mixes and pre-made crusts that ranged from bad to okay (if you put on enough toppings). i made 3 pizzas that were enjoyed by the husband, kids, and in-laws. I baked the pizzas on parchment lined cookie sheets and the crust turned out great. Now there’s no reason to order overpriced bad tasting pizzas again!! Thank you for sharing!
Lisa: Yay! I’m so glad!
I’ve tried a couple pizza dough recipes that were not so good, so I’m ready to try this one:-)
One thing…….can I use this as a pan/deep dish dough??
Before my gluten free days I ALWAYS make homemade crust..etc. I’ve had no motivation to cook pizza.. because I have now tried 3 different gluten free pizza crust recipes.. HORRIBLE.. and sticky.. More frustrating and not worth it.. but, the 3rd one is yours.. and I love it! If it got sticky I just added tapioca flour! I also love that its easy enough for my husband to make it when he makes the homemade pizza! 🙂 He won’t be able to tell the difference! I loved it! Thank you for another great recipe!
Megan: Yay! I’m so glad!
Another recipe that I can’t wait to try! Can you give us the recipe for the sauce?
Sue: You know, I just make a basic marinara and add toppings as wanted. Just do what you like for spaghetti–and it will be delish!
I was diagnosed with celiac in January. Every recipe I have tried has been either too sticky, or didn’t cook right, or just tasted awful…I love this one! thanks for sharing all of your wonderful recipes!
Andrew: Oh I’m so glad! Thanks for letting me know! Also, try it on the grill this summer: https://artofglutenfreebaking.com/2010/06/grilled-pizza-gluten-free/.
We have a family tradition of homemade pizza every Friday night. This has been a challenge since I went gluten free. I have tried many recipes but I have found the perfect one!! This pizza crust is amazing. I have done it thick and thin crust and each time I make it, it is delicious!! Thanks for sharing!!
Cheryl: Oh, I’m so glad–yay!! thanks for letting me know!!