Easy Gluten-Free Pizza Crust

This is my new favorite pizza crust. I have finally stopped buying the packaged stuff because I was able to make something on my own that tasted great AND was really, really, easy. It's even the right kind of texture to roll with a rolling pin, which is a huge bonus, in my opinion. I am looking forward to trying calzones with this because I think it would work perfectly. Original recipe found here.

Easy Gluten-Free Pizza Crust

2/3 c. warm water (or milk)
1 tbsp active dry yeast
2 1/2 teaspoons granulated sugar

Mix above ingredients and set aside while you prepare the rest. In a seperate bowl, combine the following ingredients and mix really well (I do this in my Kitchenaid):

2/3 c. plus 3 tbsp potato starch
3 tbsp sorghum flour
2 tbsp tapioca flour
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp cider vinegar
2 tsp xanthan gum
3/4 tsp salt
Rice flour for dusting pan/rolling pin

Add the water/yeast mixture to the mixing bowl and mix well. When the dough is well combined, dust counter or pan with rice flour and roll dough into 12-16 in. circle. Bake at 400 degrees for 10 min. Remove from the oven and top as desired, bake for another 10 min or until toppings are warm/melted.

My New Favorite Pesto

I found this recipe on The Sister’s Café and decided to try it.  It’s only slightly different from the one I used before but it was easily the best pesto I’ve ever had.  We have basil growing like weeds in our garden right now so it was fun to put it to use.  Our camera battery is dead so my husband took a picture with his phone.  Not bad, right?

Pesto

¼ c. walnuts
¼ c. pine nuts
3 T. minced garlic
5 c. fresh basil leaves, packed
1 tsp salt
1 tsp  black pepper
1 1/4 c. olive oil
1 c. freshly grated parmesan cheese
Put the walnuts, pine nuts, and garlic in blender. Blend for 30 seconds. Add the basil leaves, salt, and pepper. While blender is running, slowly pour the olive oil in and blend until the pesto is finely pureed. Add the parmesan and puree for 1 minute. Serve immediately or store in the fridge.  I didn’t even put oil on the top and it has stayed nice.  We’ve eaten it on pizza and then tonight we put it on pasta.  It’s amazing!
(Green Bean recipe to follow)

TUESDAY'S PIZZA

I hate to brag, but this one is delicious! This is Pesto/Tomato/Spinach Pizza, with homemade Pesto sauce. So easy, and SO good!

Ingredients:

GF Pizza crust, prepared per package instructions

3 Roma Tomatoes, diced

enough baby spinach leaves to cover pizza

1-1 1/2 cups mozerella cheese

1 recipe homemade Pesto

3 c. Fresh Basil (I buy mine at Whole Foods)

1/2 c. extra virgin olive oil

2 garlic cloves, minced (I use 2.5 tsp of the bottled/refridgerated stuff)

1/4 c. pine nuts

1/4 c. parmesan cheese

1 tsp salt

dash pepper

Blend ingredients in blender or food processor (this takes a little TLC in my blender)

Spread sauce evenly on crust. Top with spinach leaves, however many you want. Top those with all the tomatoes, then cover with cheese. Bake until cheese is melted and sauce is bubbling.

About crust. I've never made a crust from scratch, perhaps one day, but not today. It took me some trial/error to find crust mixes that I like. I like the Gluten-Free Pantry French Bread & Pizza Crust mix, but it's really really soft. Blue Chip (I buy this at Macey's) has a pizza crust mix that has the texture of actual pizza crust. The best part? It has enough for 3 pizzas! Since this discovery we go through at least one package per month. This is another product Phil says tastes "real", so there you go.

Here's one last look, in case you weren't already convinced.