Gluten-Free Pizza (Hertzberg & Francois Crusty Boule)

Name: Gluten-Free Pizza (Hertzberg & Francois Crusty Boule)
Prep time: 35 min
Cook time: 12 min
Total time: 47 min
Yield: 8 12"pizza, 64 serving(s)
Ingredients: 2 cups brown rice flour; 1 1/2 cups sorghum flour; 3 cups tapioca starch (may be labeled tapioca flour); 2 tablespoons granulated yeast; 1 tablespoon kosher salt (adjust up or down to taste); 2 tablespoons xanthan gum; 2 2/3 cups water, lukewarm; 4 large eggs; 1/3 cup oil, neutral-flavored; 2 tablespoons honey; 6 tablespoons rice flour (for dusting ( can use either white or brown rice flour); pizza toppings (your choice)

Submitted by Gandalf The White

"As mentioned in my other GF pizza dough recipe (Recipe #402987 #402987), this is from "Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes a Day" by Jeff Hertzberg & Zoe Francois. They seem to favor their olive bread recipe for pizza, but I've found both outstanding. There are a couple of things that set this apart from other pizza dough recipes: this is a no-knead recipe, so it's easy on your hands (especially important if you also have arthritis) and it can be refrigerated for use in other recipes (bread, crackers) for about 7 days. I don't have experience in freezing it, but will update this later with info (or perhaps other zaar readers can comment ...). This recipe makes enough dough for 8 12-14" pizzas -- you need about 1/2 pound per pizza. Doing a little math, if you want 3" mini-pizzas (the size of a bagel or English muffin), you'll get about 16 mini-pizzas from a 1/2 pound lump of dough ... or about 128 from a full recipe! According to Jeff and Zoe, this recipe is easily doubled or halved. The prep time is estimated assuming you have made the dough previously (i.e, it is refrigerated and you are starting at step 9). If you are making the dough from scratch for immediate use (i.e., starting from step 1), the prep time is about 2 1/2 hours additional, of which only 1/2 hour is active chef prep. The nutritional analysis is for the dough only and doesn't include the pizza toppings."

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Ready In:: 47mins
Ingredients:: 12
Yields:: 8 12"pizza
Serves:: 64

ingredients

2 cups brown rice flour
1 ¹⁄₂ cups sorghum flour
3 cups tapioca starch (may be labeled tapioca flour)
2 tablespoons granulated yeast
1 tablespoon kosher salt (adjust up or down to taste)
2 tablespoons xanthan gum
2 ²⁄₃ cups water, lukewarm
4 large eggs
¹⁄₃ cup oil, neutral-flavored
2 tablespoons honey
6 tablespoons rice flour (for dusting ( can use either white or brown rice flour)
pizza toppings (your choice)

directions

Making the dough (enough for 8 12-14" pizzas) --
Use a 5+ quart lidded container, that can close but isn't airtight.
Mix together (whisk) the dry ingredients (rice flour through xantham gum).
In a separate container, mix together the liquid ingredients (water through honey).
Gradually mix the liquids into the dry ingredients -- you can use a spoon, a food processor with dough attachment, or a stand mixer with paddle; if you mix by hand, incorporating the last bit of flour may need some extra hand work!
Cover and allow the dough to rise for at least 2 hours at room temperature.
At this point, you can use the dough immediately (go to step 8), or you can refrigerate and use over the next 7 days -- note that the flavor improves with 24 hours' rest.
When ready to bake --
Prepare a pizza peel (or a prizza pan, greased cookie sheet or a silicone baking mat), either sprinkled with cornmeal or rice flour or lined with parchment paper.
In your oven, put the rack in the middle space and put a baking stone on it in the middle space if you have one; otherwise use a cookie sheet, pizza pan, or a silicone mat.
Thirty minutes before baking, preheat the oven to 500 degrees F.
Wet your hands slightly -- keep your hands moist so you can work with the dough, but not so wet that the dough becomes soggy.
Take an orange-sized piece of the dough (about 1/2 pound) and quickly shape it into a ball (no gluten, so no stretching).
Dust as needed to keep it from being sticky, but no so much that you're working lumps of flour into the dough.
This dough will be sticky, so use a metal dough scraper and be generous in dusting the peel, the roller, the dough, etc.
Roll out the dough (hands or a rolling pin, but remember, no gluten, so no stretch in this dough) 1/8 - 1/16 inch thich, directly on the pizza peel or silicone mat (or roll out, then transfer to the cookie sheet).
Add toppings of your choice (you should have them all prepared and ready to go -- the faster this dough gets into the oven, the better the pizza will be).
Slide the pizza onto the stone or into the oven.
Check for doneness in 10-12 minutes.
May need to be turned to brown evenly; may need up to 5 more minutes to complete baking.
Cool slightly on a rack before serving.

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Reviews

Except for the hype in the introduction I would have rated this five stars. You definitely can't take a piece of the dough and shape it into a ball or put your toppings on right away, they need to be pre-baked like other gf pizza bases. I made half the recipe and made four 12 inch bases in metal pizza pans. They were very thin and delicious. Using a scale I divided up the dough on the pans which were well oiled with baking spray and well dusted with rice flour. I placed an oiled piece of plastic wrap over the dough and using my hands pushed it out as much as possible. Then, using a nylon kidney-shaped dough scraper dipped repeatedly in warm water, I spread the dough out to the edges of the pan. Next time I might reserve a little dough for the really thin spots at the edges. After pre-baking for about eight minutes and cooling I double wrapped the extras in plastic wrap and freeze them. I find it less stressful to make a few at a time than fighting with the dough every time we want a pizza. Also there are always some in the freezer for unexpected guests. The taste and texture is so good everyone likes our pizzas, even those without gluten allergies.

Yankiwi
I cut in half for a trial. I used 3 T oil (for half of 1/3). The dough is typical GF dough, NOT like pizza dough. You can not take a chunk and form it into a ball. And I had to spread it with oiled hands. I also oiled my pizza stone, hoping it wouldn't stick. I did one 16" and one 12" and the first one was cooked according to directions, with toppings put on before baking. The dough came out somewhat soggy towards the middle (the ends were okay). So I prebaked the second one and then baked again with toppings. The first crust stuck a little to the pan, but not badly. The second one not at all. The half batch made only those 2 pizzas, so good for my family dinner. I would add some seasonings to the crust next time, as it does need a little flavor (and I only let it sit 5 hours). GF is never going to be easy to make, but this turns out close to a real crust. Thanks!

WI Cheesehead