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.
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Is gluten free pizza healthier than “regular” pizza?
Not really. 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.
Gluten Free Weight Watchers Pizza
Ingredients
- 1 cup (140 g) all purpose gluten free flour blend plus about 1 tablespoon more (9 g) for sprinkling (I recommend Better Batter; please click thru for full info on appropriate blends)
- ½ teaspoon xanthan gum (omit if your blend already contains it)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¾ cup (170 g) nonfat Greek-style plain yogurt
- 2 tablespoons lukewarm water plus more as needed
- 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.
Notes
Nutrition
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Hi, I’m Nicole. I create gluten free recipes that really work and taste as good as you remember. No more making separate meals when someone is GF, or buying packaged foods that aren’t good enough to justify the price. At Gluten Free on a Shoestring, “good, for gluten free” just isn’t good enough! Come visit my bio!
