This Weight Watchers gluten free pizza has no yeast and is ready in minutes. At less than 2 SmartPoints per slice, it has all the taste and texture you miss.
Is gluten free pizza healthier than “regular” pizza?
In a word? No. ? Gluten free food, in general, is not healthier than conventional food. This pizza is no exception—but the fact that it's made in a Weight Watchers-friendly way does arguably make it healthier than perhaps other types of pizza, gluten free or not.
Since I started this food blog way back in 2009, my goal has always been to provide great gluten free recipes that really work—and are loved by gluten-free eaters and gluten-eaters alike. When I “fool” anyone with a gluten free baked good, the moment they learn that they just ate something gluten free and loved it, they'll frequently say, “well, at least it's healthier.”
If you don't have any health-related reason to be gluten free, there's really no reason I can think of to eat gluten free. Unless, of course, someone you love is gluten free and you're doing it out of solidarity. That's one of the best reasons to eat gluten free if you ask me.
Yeast free pizza that still has that yeast-like flavor
I've been making yeast free gluten free pizza for years. It's amazing for getting something on the table super fast, and my whole family loves it (and so do many of you, since it's one of the most popular recipes on the whole site year after year).
That recipe is missing something, though. In a word, it's missing a certain flavor. It's not that it doesn't have any taste and the texture is amazing. But if you love the flavor of yeast development in pizza, you're missing it in that recipe.
But like our recipe for Weight Watchers gluten free bagels, this recipe for Weight Watchers gluten free pizza is made with plain Greek-style yogurt. The tang of yogurt adds depth of flavor to this pizza, and it does it without the wait or fussing over yeasted dough.
Bagel dough to pizza dough
The Internet-famous recipe for this Weight Watchers-friendly bread dough is generally known as 2-ingredient dough. It's made with 1 cup of plain 0% fat Greek-style yogurt and 1 cup of self-rising flour (or all purpose flour + salt + baking powder). To make it into gluten free bagels, I added an egg white and otherwise kept the recipe largely the same.
Most cooks who make this dough use it unchanged for pizza or any other bread dough. But when I tried using the same recipe, I found that it was super puffy, and seemed more like pita bread than pizza.
I reduced the amount of Greek yogurt to 3/4 of a cup, added some water and pierced the dough after rolling it out. That proved to be the perfect way to create a proper chewy, thin crust pizza.
Weight Watchers-friendly gluten free pizza toppings
Each slice of this pizza has just under 2 SmartPoints, but that's without toppings. To keep it Weight Watchers-friendly, try using a simple oil-free pizza sauce using tomato puree, tomato paste, salt and spices.
Fat-free grated cheese is also very Weight Watchers-friendly, although I'd rather have part-skim mozzarella and indulge a bit. Fat-free cheese tends to be quite rubbery. If you have a favorite brand of fat-free shredded cheese, though, please share with the group in the comments.
If you're dairy-free, you'll need to follow the instructions below for using dairy free plain yogurt. And of course, use dairy-free shredded cheese as a topping.
Ingredients and substitutions
There are so few ingredients in this recipe that substitutions mostly come down to the flour blend used and the yogurt. The egg white and egg wash are really optional. Here are my tips:
Gluten free flour blend: I've calculated the SmartPoints in this recipe using my mock Better Batter and using my mock Cup4Cup. I recommend you only use one of my recommended all purpose gluten free flour blends, either commercially available or homemade according to my DIY recipes. All gluten free flour blends are not created equal, both in performance and in nutritional composition.
Dairy-free: I haven't tried this recipe using a dairy-free yogurt substitute, but I'm sure it would work—with certain adjustments. I recommend trying the recipe with So Delicious brand dairy-free plain coconut milk yogurt, as I was successful using that in our Weight Watchers gluten free bagels.
Since So Delicious plain dairy-free yogurt is not Greek-style, it has more moisture than Greek-style yogurt—and more fat. You'll have to recalculate the SmartPoints value if Weight Watchers is a concern. If you're just looking for a great-tasting yeast-free gluten free pizza, ignore all that!
Since you want a drier dough than you need for the bagels, you won't need to add any water and may even need to add more gluten free flour by the tablespoon to achieve the proper consistency. If you try this recipe with a nondairy yogurt, please let us know how it goes in the comments.
Weight Watchers Gluten Free Pizza
Ingredients
1 cup (140 g) all purpose gluten free flour (I recommend Better Batter (or my mock blend) or Better Than Cup4Cup—both recipes in the link), plus about 1 tablespoon more (9 g) for sprinkling
1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum (omit if your blend already contains it)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 cup (170 g) nonfat Greek-style plain yogurt
2 to 3 tablespoons lukewarm water
Egg wash (1 egg + 1 tablespoon lukewarm water, beaten)
Pizza toppings (will add to SmartPoints value—but an oil-free tomato sauce should be “free”)
Instructions
Preheat your oven to 400°F. Place a pizza stone or overturned rimmed baking sheet in the oven as it preheats.
In a large bowl, place the flour blend, xanthan gum, baking powder, and salt, and whisk to combine. Add the yogurt and 2 tablespoons of water, and mix until the dough holds together well. If necessary for the dough to clump and hold together easily, without feeling stiff to the touch, add another tablespoon of water and mix to combine.
Turn the dough out onto a very lightly floured surface and knead it with clean hands until it’s a bit smoother. Using floured hands and a rolling pin, pat and roll out the dough into a 12-inch round, rotating the dough frequently to prevent sticking. Roll and pat the dough more thickly as you work from the center of the dough to the edges to create a crust. Transfer the dough to a piece of parchment paper and pierce all over with the tines of a fork. Brush generously with the egg wash. Using a pizza peel or another flat surface, transfer the pizza dough still on the parchment to the preheated oven to bake for 12 minutes.
Remove the pizza crust from the oven, add tomato sauce and shredded cheese (fat-free cheese will add very few additional points) as desired, and return to the oven to continue to bake until the crust is golden brown and the toppings are melted and bubbling (another 3 to 4 minutes). Remove from the oven, allow to sit for about 5 minutes undisturbed before cutting into 8 equal slices and serving.
Adapted from Weight Watchers gluten free bagels.
Wendy says
We found this recipe was just perfect. We added dried herbs to the crust which has was tasty. Refrigeration for 15 mins. The mix seemed quite wet but tossing dough around with a little more sprinkled flour made it a good consistency. Yummm
Bob Sutherland says
Nicole,
I just made this recipe and amazed myself. However, I encountered a couple of problems. The crust did not brown very much and was doughy in the middle. This was not discovered until I cut it.
Also I baked this on an aluminum pizza pan on the parchment paper, and on the middle rack.
I rolled the dough to about 1/4 inch thick.
How do I fix this issue?
Nicole Hunn says
Since I’m not there with you, Bob, I’m afraid I simply can’t know exactly where you went wrong. My first guess is always the flour blend you used, as they are not all created equal and my recipes are developed to be used with my recommended blends. Beyond that, if you made any substitutions, and if you measured by volume, instead of by weight. Volume measurements are never recommended as they are notoriously unreliable.
Kris says
Tonight we made this dairy-free using So Delicious coconut yogurt.
First, we found it very sticky to work with so no need for water and you’ll need to add quite a bit of flour in to make it workable.
Second, we did not preheat the pizza stone because the oven was already hot from baking other items and we weren’t sure if putting a “cold” stone into an already hot oven was a good idea since your recipe suggested putting it in the oven as it preheated.
Now as for the texture, we found it very gummy (it stuck in my teeth). It was very pale and did not brown or crisp up at all. Not sure if that was possibly because we used a room temperature stone.
The taste was quite bland; nothing to write home about.
However, Nicole, even though we weren’t thrilled with this recipe, I do want to say that our absolute favorite homemade pizza crust is based on using your D.I.Y. Mix for Gluten-Free Pancakes recipe. (aka homemade Bisquick) It is simply fantastic so we’ll stick with doing that. :)
Nicole Hunn says
Hi, Kris, as I explained in the Ingredients and Substitutions section, you do need to make adjustments if you make this recipe using dairy free yogurt. Among those adjustments are not adding additional water and adding more flour, as you discovered. I always include information like that in that section! The lack of browning is due to the yogurt you used. For more information, please see my recipe for Weight Watchers GF bagels and the dairy free notes.
AudreyLover says
Can yogurt be replaced by anything. No one in my family will touch yogurt.
Nicole Hunn says
Please see the ingredients and substitutions section for all of the information I have, Audrey. I’m afraid you can’t replace one of the two main ingredients with someone else entirely, no.
Shirley Zimmer says
I am not sure about putting the pizza in the oven. Do you put it directly on the oven rack?
Nicole Hunn says
Please see the first item in the recipe directions, Shirley. You place a pizza stone or overturned baking sheet in the oven first.
Cin Stankowski says
Do you think I could use nutritional yeast for that yeasty flavour? I’ll give it a go and let you know.
Nicole Hunn says
Maybe try adding some nutritional yeast to your tomato sauce, Cin? I don’t really think that nutritional yeast tastes like the developed flavor of live yeast in bread, but the tang of the yogurt gives this recipe that depth of flavor.
Sandy says
This is a great tasting crust. In addition, I appreciate that you use weight measurements in addition to cups. It made it so easy to halve the recipe.
Nicole Hunn says
So glad you like it, Sandy! And yes, baking by weight makes everything easier, including halving, doubling and just recipe success in general. :)
Kate says
Hi Nicole! I have a nightshade allergy in addition to my wheat allergy. Is it possible to some how substitute the potato starch and potato flour in your all purpose gluten free flour blends?
Nicole Hunn says
I’m afraid there is no substitute for potato flour at all, Kate. You could try replacing the potato starch with cornstarch, but I’m afraid I don’t know how well it would turn out.
Adena says
This recipe is amazing! I divided up the dough and made four little mini pizzas with it! Thank you for a perfect and easy recipe!
Nicole Hunn says
So glad you enjoyed it, Adena! Mini pizzas sound perfect.
Holly Hill says
Can’t wait to try this! We have pizza regularly in our house and having a “Nicole-Approved” WW-friendly crust will help save my points budget for the week! THANK YOU!
Nicole Hunn says
Hahaha “Nicole-approved” made me laugh, Holly! I love it. So glad to help. :)
kim says
I’m unclear on what this looks like?
Using floured hands and a rolling pin, pat and roll out the dough
Nicole Hunn says
Please watch the video, Kim! I think that will help.
Sue says
Can I make GFree yeast free bread with this recipient please? Also dairy and all sugars free as well!
Nicole Hunn says
I don’t recommend using this dough for that, no, Sue. Please click through to the recipe for my Weight Watchers-style gluten free bagels, which you can use to make rolls if you’d prefer, rather than bagels. They’re not appropriate for a loaf of bread, though. And please see the ingredients and substitutions section for all the information I have on that.
Kathy says
Hi there,
Can I substitute the egg for flax? I also have an egg allergy.
thanks
Nicole Hunn says
The egg wash is to help the pizza brown properly, Kathy, so a flax egg won’t work. You can try using melted butter instead.
Linda Tanzini says
I have a ton of 2%, yogurt to use up. Would this work instead of fat free?
Nicole Hunn says
I haven’t used anything other than 0% in this particular recipe, Linda, but I think that 2% Greek yogurt should work okay. Just watch the moisture balance, as you may not need as much water.
Kate foster says
So many food allergies
Barbara Lipome says
Trader Joe’s light mozzarella is low in points and it melts without being rubbery! Love it!
Nicole Hunn says
Ooh that’s great to know, Barbara!!