GF Pizza Caprese

Pizza is almost always very tasty. The gluten free kind can be a bit of a challenge. The texture of the dough and the flavor needs to be just right.

My first encounter with gluten and celiak disease was at the age of 13. A sweet girl had just moved to town and was working on getting new friends. She invited me and some other friends over for pizza. We expected a frozen pizza scenario, and was surprised when she threw on her apron and started baking. While kneading the dough, she explained to us that she had to bake her own pizza crust because she could not eat gluten, she had disease called celiak. 

I had no idea what she was talking about. Sadly, the pizza was not very good at all. Little did I know that I would be the person to throw on an apron and bake my own pizza just a few years down the road.

Red sauce, different types of meat, cheese, favorite vegetables; there are endless ways on how to top off a pizza. One of my favorite ways to eat pizza is the "Caprese" way. I simply cannot get enough of fresh basil and colorful mini heirloom tomatoes..

 

I usually buy a packet of Bob`s Red Mill pizza crust and make what I consider good pizza. When The gluten free goddess announced that she had made the best gluten free dairy free pizza crust she had ever eaten, I got curious and had to test it out to see if it was true for me. So the recipe for the crust can be found on her site. I topped the pizza off with olive oil, pressed garlic, oregano, fresh basil and spinach leaves, tomatoes, roast beef and some mozzarella.

The dough is mostly made out of the starchy flour tapioca flour, which for me is a minus because I want all my food to have some substance to it. The flavor was very subtle and actually very right for a pizza crust - huge plus right there. My last point will be that the finished product - the crust was extremely crunchy when baked too thin, and was soft and chewy when baked too thick. Which I did a little bit of both so it was my own fault, next time I`ll be using a rolling pin. All in all - I liked the crust. I will keep using it a few more times and see if it`s a keeper. 

-Kathrine-