Easy Gluten Free Pizza Recipe
This basic gluten free pizza dough recipe needs only 6 ingredients to make a crispy outside, chewy inside crust. Over 900 5-star reviews!
Servings: 2 pizza crusts
Equipment
- Stand mixer with paddle attachment or food processor with plastic blade
- Pizza stone recommended (or use an overturned rimmed baking sheet)
- Pastry brush for brushing raw dough with olive oil (or use your fingers)
- Plastic bucket for proofing (or use a bowl with plastic wrap)
Ingredients
- 3 cups all purpose gluten free flour blend (See Recipe Notes) plus more for sprinkling
- 3 teaspoons xanthan gum omit if your blend already contains it
- 1 tablespoon instant yeast
- 1 ½ teaspoons granulated sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 ⅛ cups warm water (about 95°F) (See Recipe Notes about chewier crust)
- 4.5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (plus more for brushing)
- Your favorite pizza toppings
Instructions
Make the pizza dough.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or your food processor fitted with the plastic blade, place the flour, xanthan gum, (optional Expandex), yeast, and sugar, and whisk to combine with a separate, handheld whisk. Add the salt, and whisk again to combine well.
- Add the water and olive oil, and mix on medium speed in your stand mixer or pulse in your food processor until the dough begins to come together.
- Turn the mixer to high speed or your food processor on and process until the dough is no longer a ball but has begun to appear whipped (about 3 minutes). This is designed to add air to the dough, which will make it easier to handle after chilling, and rise better in the oven.
- Transfer the dough to an oiled container with a tight-fitting lid or a greased bowl, spray lightly with cooking oil spray, and cover tightly.
- Place in a warm, draft-free area to rise until it’s about 150% of its original volume (about an hour), or refrigerate the dough for up to 3 days.
- When you’re ready to make the pizza, place a pizza stone or overturned rimmed baking sheet in the oven and preheat it to 400°F.
- If you’ve refrigerated the dough, work with it straight from the refrigerator. If you haven’t, place the tightly sealed dough in the refrigerator to chill for at least 15 minutes before working with it, as it’s easiest to work with when it’s chilled.
- To make pizza, place the dough on a lightly floured surface and sprinkle the top lightly with a bit more flour. Knead the dough gently until it’s smoother and not sticky, then divide it into two equal portions. Cover the unused portion, so it doesn’t dry out.
- With floured fingers, roll the first piece of dough into a ball and then press it into a disk. Begin pressing the dough from the center toward the edges with floured fingers to create a disk with a raised edge.
- Continue pressing the dough with floured fingers toward the edge until you have about a 10-inch round. Move the dough frequently, sprinkling with more flour as necessary to prevent sticking.
Bake the pizza
- Place a large piece of unbleached parchment paper onto the pizza peel or cutting board that you plan to use to transfer the pizza dough to the oven. Lift the dough gently onto the paper on top of the pizza peel.
- While the dough is on the paper use a small rolling pin or pizza roller to smooth out the dough where there are uneven marks from your fingers. The dough will end up about 11- to 12-inches in diameter.
- Use a pastry brush or your fingers to paint the top of the dough with olive oil, making sure to coat the edges generously.
- Transfer the dough to the pizza peel or baking sheet in the preheated oven. Bake the dough plain for 5 to 7 minutes, or until the crust has begun to crisp on the underside.
- Remove the crust from the oven using a pizza peel or large spatula. At this point, the parbaked crust can be cooled completely, wrapped tightly and frozen for at least one month. Simply defrost at room temperature, and then continue with the recipe as written.
- To continue preparing the dough, add your favorite toppings to the parbaked crust, and return the pizza to the hot oven until any cheese is melted and the edges have browned and puffed (another 5 to 7 minutes).
- Remove the pizza from the oven using a pizza peel or large spatula, and allow it to set for 5 minutes before slicing and serving.
Video
Notes
Flour blends
My favorite gluten free flour blends are Better Batter's original blend gluten free flour and Nicole's Best multipurpose blend (with added xanthan gum). Bob's Red Mill 1-to-1 Gluten Free Baking Flour should also work, but add an additional 1 teaspoon xanthan gum to the dry ingredients or the dough won't hold together properly.
Cup4Cup changed its formula and doesn't seem to work as well as it has in the past, so I don't recommend it. To make your own blend using one of my “mock” recipes, please see the all purpose gluten free flour blends page.
You may also be able to make this recipe using Caputo Fioreglut flour or King Arthur Flour gluten free bread flour, but both will absorb a lot more moisture and will make pizza that is less tender. The dough should be quite easy to handle.
Optional variation for chewier pizza Instead of 3 cups all purpose gluten free flour, use 2 3/4 cups (385 g) all purpose gluten free flour and add 1/4 cup (36 g) Expandex modified tapioca starch. You will also have to increase the water by 1 1/2 ounces to 10 1/2 ounces (1 1/4 cups + 1 tablespoon) water. Instead of Expandex, you can use 1/4 cup regular tapioca starch, without making any changes to the amount of water. Xanthan gum To replace xanthan gum with psyllium husk, try 20 grams of psyllium husk powder. First, dissolve it the water and allow it to gel, then add the mixture after adding the olive oil. You can also try replacing xanthan gum with an equal amount of konjac powder without making any other changes. Nutritional information. Nutrition information is an estimate, per pizza, without any toppings.
Nutrition
Serving: 1pizza | Calories: 305kcal | Carbohydrates: 171g | Protein: 8g | Fat: 32g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 23g | Sodium: 1930mg | Potassium: 27mg | Fiber: 10g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin C: 0.01mg | Calcium: 6mg | Iron: 0.2mg