I’ve never understood cheese pizzas. There are so many delicious toppings, why would you not use them? I don’t expect everyone to like some of the wacky combos that we come up with, like sesame eggplant and onion with tzatziki sauce, but why would you not add a few veggies or meats? Well, I have to say I’ve figured it out. Our newest Friday night tradition is two thin-crust gluten free cheese pizzas. It’s so simple – just tomato sauce, mozzarella and cheddar, but, oh my goodness, it may be the best thing I’ve ever put in my mouth.

By this Friday our newest little one will have made an entrance into the world, so our weekly pizza feast may have to wait a few days. But if you’d like to throw your own pizza party in our honor,scroll to the bottom of the post for some tips on making the perfect gluten free pizza.

By the way, the thin crust recipe is new, and if you’d like the recipe then be sure to sign up for my free gluten free newsletter via the Subscribe Box in the sidebar (click here to get to the site if you’re reading this by email or RSS feed). Most new recipes will be sent to the  newsletter readers first, rather than immediately posted to the blog. You will also get a copy of my Top 10 Gluten Free Recipes (in printable format) when you subscribe.

Those of you who are new to the gluten free diet are probably just glad to hear that there is such a thing as mouthwatering gluten free pizza. You can stop buying the incredibly expensive and incredibly gross frozen gluten free pizzas and start making your own. If the thought of rolling out a pizza crust terrifies you, then try this gluten free pizza recipe, where you just pat the pizza dough into the pan. If you’d rather roll the dough out so that you can cook it on a pizza stone, then try my recipe for gluten free pizza crust.

Check back soon for pictures of the new baby and pictures and posts of all of the yummy gluten free foods that we’re cooking. I’ve come up with a new biscuit recipe that is a perfect recipe for kids to help out with, and I’m hoping to do some more yeast roll experiments if Baby L makes us wait a few more days.

Five Tips for a Gluten Free Pizza Party:

1. If at all possible, pre-bake your crust on a hot pizza stone (just until it’s golden on top). The extra time in the oven, makes for a crisper crust.

2. Buy your pizza sauce, so that you can spend your time on prepping a few fresh pizza toppings. And have fun, a cheese pizza is great, but there really are so many possibilities.

3. Involve your family or friends. Whether it’s just family for supper, or you’ve invited a bunch of friends, you can have a lot of fun by letting everyone make their own pizzas. David is almost four now, and he loves to roll the pizza crusts out (with help from me) and sprinkle his toppings on.

4. Put Parmesan cheese and red pepper flakes on the table, so that it feels like you’ve gone out for restaurant pizza. Get special cups and straws for the kids so that it feels like a special meal.

5. Make it a real party and let everyone have their beverage of choice. For us this means soy milk for David, Pomegranate Italian Soda for me (the major craving of this pregnancy), and gluten free Redbridge beer for John.

Related Posts:

• Gluten Free Pizza: Homemade Gluten Free Pizza Crust
• Gluten Free Pizza Recipe

Nothing says Friday like a cold drink and a large gluten free pizza. If pizza hasn’t made it back into your diet, try our favorite GF pizza recipe tonight.  We’ve been trying new topping combinations lately and are using the menus from these restaurants for inspiration.  What’s your favorite pizza topping?

For more quick pizza topping ideas, check out my ebook, The Gluten Free Survival Guide. I’ve included all of my favorite recipes, plus a bunch of quick and easy pizza recipes.

California Pizza Kitchen Pizza Menu
Mellow Mushroom Menus
Sal’s Pizza

Gluten Free Pizza Dough

Ingredients:
1 Tbsp. yeast
1 1/3 c. milk (soy, cow, or rice)
1 tsp. sugar

2 1/3 c. of my gluten free flour mix*
2 tsp. xanthan gum
1 tsp salt

2 tsp. olive oil
2 tsp. cider vinegar

Cooking Instructions:
1. Put your pizza stone into the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees .

2. Heat the milk in the microwave so that it is warm. Combine the milk with the sugar and yeast in a small mixing bowl. Let your liquid mixture sit and “proof” while you get the dry ingredients ready.

3. Combine the flour mix, salt and xanthan gum.

4. Add the oil and vinegar to the yeast mixture, which should have some air bubbles by now. Then add all of liquid ingredients into the flour mixture and mix well with your hands.

5. Place the dough onto a heavily floured rolling board (I use rice flour) and knead the dough for several minutes, working in the rice flour until you dough is pliable and not sticky.

6. Roll the dough out into a circle that is approximately 1/8″ thick.  Move the crust to the hot pizza stone ( a pizza peel makes moving the crust into and out of the oven much easier) and bake at 400 degrees until the top of the crust gets just a hint of color.

7. Remove the crust from the oven. Add all of your toppings, and then put back in the oven to bake until your toppings look well done (e.g. cheese starts to brown).

Yields: 8 large slices

* If you’re allergic to soy, you can substitute Mary’s Gluten Free Soy Free All Purpose Flour Mix

More Pizza Posts:
Gluten Free Pizza: Cheese Pizza and Pizza Party Tips
Easy Gluten Free Pizza Crust: Pan Pizza Recipe

Related Posts:

• Gluten Free Pizza Recipe
• Gluten Free Cheese Pizza

Friday night in our house is a date night of sorts. We often put the babe to bed and then make homemade gluten free pizza while sipping on a cold gluten free beer. When the pizzas are done, we top them with Parmesan and red pepper flakes and head to the den to watch a movie together.

If you’d like more easy, fun recipes like this one, I’ve included all of my favorites in my ebook, The Gluten Free Survival Guide. I know you’ll enjoy cooking them as much as we do!

I usually save my longer gluten free recipes for Friday or Saturday nights because I find it very relaxing to putter around in the kitchen making yummy food. Although, now that I’ve made this particular recipe…hmmm, it must be around five times now, it’s getting a lot easier, and I could probably make it on a weeknight. But, then what would I look forward to all day on Friday while I’m at work?

Gluten Free Pizza Crust
(Yield: Enough pizza for two adults, if your goal is to be very full. This may be enough for three or four if you’re serving salad as well)

1 Tbsp. yeast
1 1/3 c. milk (soy, cow, or rice)
1 tsp. sugar

1 1/3 c. brown rice flour (I use Bob’s Red Mill)
1 c. corn starch
2 tsp. xanthum gum
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp. fennel seed
1/2 tsp. rosemary (dried)
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. oregano

2 tsp. olive oil
2 tsp. cider vinegar

Pizza Sauce
1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes (w/ Italian seasonings)
1/2 of a 6 oz. can of tomato paste
1/2 tsp. oregano
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. fennel seed
1/2 tsp. rosemary
6 fresh basil leaves, minced

1. Start by putting all of the ingredients for the pizza sauce, except for the basil, into a saucepan and heat over medium low. The sauce should simmer while you make the crust and prepare the toppings. We’ll come back to it when later after the spices have had time to get happy.

2. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

3. Heat the milk in the microwave so that it is warm (not so hot that it would burn your finger, just warm). Combine the milk with the sugar and yeast in a small mixing bowl. If you stir the mixture while you slowly pour the milk, then it should all dissolve very nicely. Let this sit while you proceed to the next step – it needs to have time to get bubbly.

4. Combine the brown rice flour, corn starch, xanthum gum and spices in a larger mixing bowl. If the rosemary is not crushed, then I usually chop it up a bit with a knife before I put it in the bowl.

5. Add the oil and vinegar to the yeast mixture, which should have some air bubbles by now. Then pour all of that into the flour mixture and stir well. Once you’ve done this, the dough will be somewhat sticky, and now is a good time to sprinkle some extra rice flour on it. Now that the rice flour is cutting down on the stickiness, form the dough into a ball and let it sit while you get your pans ready.

6. If you’re using pans or a cookie sheet to cook the crusts, you will need to grease them, so that the pizza crust does not stick. Spread butter, olive oil, shortening, or cooking spray on the pan and then sprinkle a bit of rice flour on top of that. ( I use one round and one square cake pan for the pizzas. To me, it’s easier than rolling it out so that I can use my pizza stone. But if you have a pizza stone, feel free to use that, or a cookie sheet.)

7. Split the ball of dough into two pieces – one for each pan. Starting from the middle of the dough, use your fingers to press down on the dough and spread it out towards the edges of the pan. I usually work my way from the center to the edges in a circular pattern. When you get the dough to the edges, continue to push the dough up onto the side of the pan, so that you will have a nice crust. Here are some pictures of me making the crust last weekend.

8. Pop the crusts into the hot oven for 8 minutes. While they are cooking, add the basil to the sauce and prep your pizza toppings. Tonight we used diced onion, diced bell pepper, mushrooms, and black olives.

9. Take the crusts out of the oven. While they cool for a second, use your stick blender to puree the pizza sauce if you do not want it to be chunky.

10. Drizzle some olive oil onto your crusts and spread it over them evenly. (This will keep the pizza sauce from making your crust soggy.). Now add the toppings starting with the pizza sauce and ending with the cheese.

11. Pop the pizza back into the oven for 10 – 15 minutes. The time is not specific, you just want the pizzas to stay in the oven until the cheese starts to brown a bit. Pull the pizzas out, cut, and serve.

P.S. After I put the crusts into the oven tonight, I realized that I had left out the oil and the vinegar!!! Everything turned out fine though, so if you want to reduce the fat in this recipe, feel free to leave out the oil.

Related Posts:

• Gluten Free Pizza: Homemade Gluten Free Pizza Crust
• Gluten Free Cheese Pizza