Fridays are Meant for Homemade (Gluten and Casein Free) Pizza!
Friday nights in the Brooks household means one thing and one thing only:PIZZA NIGHT!(I.e. one of my favorite familyroutines.)
Let me rephrase that to say:gluten and casein free pizza night. Because we are, indeed, a gluten and casein free home. I’ve realized that a lot of people struggle with the transition to a gluten and casein free diet (we’ll abbreviate it as GFCF), maintaining the diet, or finding substitutes for guilty pleasures that taste as good as the originals – such as pizza. I’ll touch on the first two points in another blog – so check back!
Back to pizza…
Most Friday nights we make our own pizza. The kids love to help – which means Ava is organizing the toppings to make a pretty design while Jaxon is repeatedly trying to figure out how far the sauce can splash on the white countertop (*cue the large glass of wine in my hand*). Music is playing in the background. Life is good.
To make the crust, we follow a gluten-free recipe created by Meaningful Eats, with some modifications. The recipe calls for:
-
1 cup warm water
-
1 tablespoon sugar or honey
-
1 ½ teaspoons instant yeast
-
1 ¼ cups Gluten-Free 1:1 Baking Flour
-
¼ cup almond flour
-
1 teaspoon baking powder
-
¾ teaspoon salt
-
1 tablespoon psyllium husk powder
-
2 tablespoons olive oil
The ingredients we use are:
*This instant yeast is not organic. Unfortunately, the only organic instant yeast that exists, which is made by Red Star, contains wheat. And wheat gives me eczema, so there’s that.
**I want to make an important note about baking powder. Yes, this is another one of my mini rants. Have you ever chomped down into a seemingly delicious scone only to be met by a strange, unexpected metallic taste? Welp, I hate to say it but this happened because your scone had baking powder with aluminum in it. Why, you ask? Good question.
Aluminum allows for baking powder to become heat-activated. Meaning, when a baked good is put in the oven (with aluminum baking powder), the powder activates upon exposure to the warm temperature. Exposure to heavy metals is a topic for another time.
When baking with an aluminum-free powder, the leavening agent starts doing its job immediately after being added to the dough. Add it in as your final ingredient and pop it into the oven. Don’t dilly-dally (not even to fill up the wine glass, scroll through IG, or to clean up the pee on the floor because your 22-month-old son refuses to wear a diaper most days – I’m talking to someone here). Point is, if you wait too long, the baking powder will lose its effectiveness before it hits the oven. This isn’t so much an issue with pizza dough as it is with cakes and biscuits.
Did someone say toppings?
We are a house divided when it comes to toppings. If it were up to our kids, there would be 7 packages of pepperoni. If it were up to my husband, there would be black olives, banana peppers, chicken, and spinach. If it were up to me, which it is…not…, there would be pepperoni, spinach, mushrooms, and banana peppers. To make everyone somewhat happy, we rotate. There is always a protein (rarely pepperoni, sigh) and a vegetable.
Proteins:
-
GreenWise Mild Italian Chicken Sausage
-
Organic Prairie 85% Lean Grass-Fed Ground Beef
-
The Butcher Shop Organic Chicken Thin Sliced Boneless Breast
-
Due to my husband’s “no pork on my fork” moto, pepperoni rarely makes the cut. But when it does… Organic Valley Organic Uncured Pepperoni is the roni of choice.
Vegetables (all organic!):
-
Finely chopped up broccoli
-
Spinach
-
Mushrooms
-
Onion
-
Bell peppers
-
Garlic
Sauce:
*When my husband is cooking, he makes his own sauce. I’m sorry, I’m not doing that.
Cheese:
-
Daiya Non-GMO Mozzarella Style Shreds
And now for the easy-to-follow instructions:
-
Combine warm water, sugar, and yeast in a glass measuring cup. Whisk together.
-
Combine the flour, baking powder, salt, and psyllium husk powder into the mixer bowl (this step should take 3-4 minutes while the yeast is proofing)
-
Slowly add the yeast mixture and oil into the mixer (set to a slow speed). Once it’s added, increase the speed to medium-high and beat for 3-4 minutes
-
Press the dough off the sides into a ball using a well-oiled spatula. Cover and let rise for 30 minutes.
-
Preheat the oven to 425F. Oil a 12-inch round pizza pan. Using oiled hands, press the dough into the pan, covering the pan fully. Let it rise for another 10 minutes.
-
Time for the oven! Bake for 15-20 minutes. Remove it from the oven and add your favorite toppings.
-
Bake for another 10-15 minutes depending on your toppings. Let cool & enjoy!
We never have leftovers. I promise,living a GFCF life can be just as scrumptious!
And as for the Fridays that we just don’t feel like cooking:
We’ll either go out to eat or modify the recipe above to be a little less time consuming. We’ve found a few local pizza places that offer GFCF options – one of which is Mellow Mushroom. We love this place because their GFCF pizza (i.e. gluten-free crust with vegan cheese) comes in a personal sized pizza. So, referring to our differences in toppings above, we can all order exactly what we want. Other restaurants may have gluten-free crust available but not dairy-free cheese. If that’s the case, we simply ask for the pizza to be made without cheese. It may sound weird, but it’s just as satisfying.
There are some great options for pre-made gluten-free crusts or doughs. This takes out the step of making your own, but you’re still able to add the sauce, cheese, and other toppings exactly how you want them. A few of our go-tos are:
-
Earthbound Farm Organic Mini Cauliflower Crusts– These are super fun to make a bunch of different pizzas!
Frozen Pizzas that are Actually Good
Let’s talk about frozen pizzas. I have yet to find a frozen GFCF pizza that I absolutely love (insert hand smacking face emoji here). They are also relatively hard to come by. But if I had to choose, my go-to would be Daiya’s Thin Crust Gluten Free Pizza.They have a bunch of choices- supreme, meatless pepperoni, cheese lovers, and fire roasted vegetable, to name a few.
The Discovery Doc – Dr. CeCe Brooks – Atlanta Holistic NP
Copyright 2022 The Discovery Doc, LLC®. All Rights Reserved.