Did you know that it’s absolutely possible to make a delicious gluten-free pizza?
Yes! It’ll wow your family and friends! Because who could give up on sourdough pizza, even if faced with dietary restrictions? (Here’s more information on the relationship between gluten sensitivity and sourdough.)
Although my family is not gluten-free, I like to lessen our susceptibility to food allergies by varying and rotating grains. And guess what? My family likes this gluten-free pizza even better than its spelt counterpart!
Making A Gluten-Free Sourdough Starter
It’s time to make a gluten-free sourdough starter — specifically, a boosted brown rice starter. I followed this recipe from the Art of Gluten-free Sourdough Baking website by Sharon Kane. Follow those directions to make the starter, then proceed with the pizza crust recipe.
(Note from Wardee: Sharon Kane is the author of the wonderful book Art of Gluten-Free Sourdough Baking.)
Don’t want to make your own starter? You can purchase gluten-free sourdough starter here or here.
Let’s Make Pizza!
Gluten-Free Sourdough Pizza
Ingredients
- 1 cup gluten-free boosted brown rice sourdough starter
- 1/2 cup pure water
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 cup brown rice flour
- 1/2 cup sweet brown rice flour
- 1/2 cup arrowroot powder
- toppings of choice
Instructions
Souring (start 8 to 24 hours in advance)...
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In a medium sized-bowl, stir together sourdough starter and water.
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Then add sea salt and olive oil.
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Stir well.
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Then add flours slowly until dough is easy to knead. If too dry, add a little more water. If dough seems sticky, add a bit more flour. But don't add too much as gluten-free dough will crumble as a result.
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Knead dough on the counter or in a mixer for 1 to 2 minutes. Look for a soft dough that stays together, not a sticky, batter-like dough.
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Grease a bowl, set dough ball in bowl, cover, and let sour for 8 to 24 hours.
Baking...
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After souring, preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.
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Then spread dough onto a parchment-paper lined cookie sheet or straight onto a greased pizza pan. Press it out with your hands instead of using a rolling pin.
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Bake in the preheated oven for about 10 minutes, until slightly browned.
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Add favorite toppings!*
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Then bake pizza for 15 to 25 minutes in 450 degree Fahrenheit oven.
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To serve, allow to cool for a few minutes before slicing.
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To reheat leftovers, place in 325 degree Fahrenheit oven for about 20 minutes. This makes an incredibly easy lunch the next day!
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For longer storage, freeze either whole or in slices.
Recipe Notes
*For toppings, we love mozzarella and parmesan cheeses, hidden under a bed of fresh vegetables. We also enjoy Hawaiian pizza — complete with fresh pineapple and ham. Be creative and flexible.
*Last time I made this pizza, I didn’t have quite enough homemade sauce left, but I did have a half-cup of pureed butternut squash sitting in the refrigerator. (You can see where this is going.) That tomato-sauce-mixed-with-pureed-butternut-squash was so tasty, mild, and unnoticeable to the kids!
*Finally, someday I plan to make topped pizzas as well as sourdough crusts to store in the freezer. They will be a very easy “go to” on busy nights, or when we have no idea what to make for lunch. Perhaps sometime we’ll even have unexpected visitors that we can “wow” with pizza!
Do you make your own pizza crusts? Have you considered sourdough? What are your favorite toppings?
Want more gluten-free sourdough? Check out our Sourdough eCourse or Sourdough eBook or our Allergy-Free Cooking eCourse.
...without giving up the foods you love or spending all day in the kitchen!
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I am a pizza hound! So, a couple of months ago, I set out to make a gf crust using brown rice flour sourdough starter and it was awesome! The hubby didn’t even realize it was gf until I asked him if he could tell, he said “no”. He took leftovers to work and gave a piece to a coworker who raved about it and told him was gf…his response, “what is gluten”…haha…guys are funny. I’ll have to give yours a try too, looks yummy!
Hello Barb, Thanks for your comments. We too love pizza! It sounds like our recipes might be very similar. I’m eager to hear what you think, in comparison, if you try this recipe out as well. God bless, Jenna 🙂
Friday night is pizza night at our house. We’ve enjoyed using spelt but we might have to give this a try. We’re not doing gluten free either, but I think we’d enjoy this. Is the dough such that it can be baked on a pizza stone without falling apart?
Hi Jenny, We have long enjoyed the spelt sourdough recipe too. But now we are glad to have added this GF sourdough recipe to our list of pizza options!
I have not used a pizza stone, but I do know that after our pizza has been thoroughly cooked, I can easily slip a spatula under the pizza (after a few minutes of cooling) and lightly push the whole pizza (without it breaking) onto a cutting board.
Hope this helps, and do tell us how it works out for your Friday pizza night!
God bless, Jenna
I use a pizza stone with the crusts I’ve done in the past, but because they can be more fragile (not sure about this one) I roll them out on parchment, trim it close to the crust and bake it on the pizza stone that way… comes out great!
I don’t roll, I press with my fingers . . . straight onto the pans. I grease my pans with a thin layer of coconut oil.
Thanks for your insight, Barb. I like the idea of using parchment. Maybe I’ll try that next time. 🙂
I’m wondering in your “Sourdough Starter” recipe if something can be substituted for the water kefir?? I do milk kefir and sometimes have some whey??
Hello Edie, admittedly I haven’t tried anything but water kefir in the sourdough starter recipe. However, I have seen other places online where people used milk kefir to make a GF sourdough starter. If you try it, let us know! Jenna 🙂
Same question = substitute for water kefir? I have milk kefir, whey & kombucha
Thx
Hello P R, As I commented to Edie, I haven’t tried any fermented liquid in my GF sourdough starter recipe, except for water kefir. I personally would probably try a plain kombucha recipe (i.e., not sweetened or flavored with anything that will completely taint your sourdough starter flavor), then I’d try milk kefir if that didn’t work. I’d probably liquify my milk kefir a little bit, maybe 3/4 of the called for amount of water kefir as milk kefir, and the rest of it water (mixed with the milk kefir). I hope that makes sense. Let us know what works! Jenna 🙂
Yay! Thank you so much for this recipe! I’ve been recently diagnosed with a wheat allergy and I miss the sourdough crust that the rest of my family eats.
I use a very similar recipe. I love it, sometimes I make tortillas out of it. I put them on parchment, then put them on griddle pan. They stay soft and pliable, when first side is cooked I lift off parchment and flip them. Yummy! Also, then make a delicious thin crust pizza.
Can white rice flour be used?
What would be the steps for making this dough ahead of time and freezing it? Roll out and do initial bake, or leave in a ball? I’d love to have extra on hand for quick dinners.
Could I substitute the sweet brown rice flour for sweet sorghum flour?
Nadine, look on the site (or others) for a grain swap table. It will help you with density and such from GF grain to grain.
My question is Does this only make a thin crust pizza? Or can I get a thicker crust out of it? I hate thin crust pizza and all GF I can buy are crackers and disappointing. I found one GF recipe online that works most of the time. (Temperamental ingredients, I guess.) wondered about converting it to a sourdough recipe.
what’s the difference between sweet brown rice flour and just brown rice flour? I only have see brown rice flour. Could I just use that and not the other?
So sad that it uses brown rice flour! I stopped eating most rice, particularly rice flour, after discovering that organic does not mean that it’s tested for heavy metals. Any rice from China is notoriously high in lead and since I usually don’t know the source, esp for the rice flours, it’s easier just to cut it out. It’s ok; I have other gluten free pizza crust recipes that I will try. Thanks anyway!
I have tried numerous gluten free pizza crusts. They all had some sort of problem, whether the taste wasn’t preferable, the dough was difficult to work with, etc. This recipe, however, was great! It was very workable and tasted great! My husband doesn’t usually comment unless I ask him, but with this crust he said, “I like this pizza.” That is a simple statement, but it is loaded! We are definitely sticking with this recipe! Thank you for giving us such a great recipe so we can regularly enjoy pizza again!
Here goes. Wardeh or whoever was writing the blend of gluten free flours for milling article, said that you needed to blend the flours for the best results. Paraphrase, I know. Does that apply to all the recipes for gluten free recipes? Or could I maybe hopefully just substitute the gluten free blend at the same ratio as the say, whole wheat flour in the sourdough recipes? I feel confused because Wardeh recommended the blend and then this recipe is just one or two gluten free flours. Thanks.
I made this tonight as part of the Sourdough Challenge and it did not turn out well. I subbed millet flour for the sweet rice flour as that is what I had on hand. It didn’t have much flavor and was on the dry side. Which is odd because the dough felt wet/too moist to me, but I didn’t add more flour for fear of it getting dry/crumbly. Do you think that could have made a big difference? The dough was workable. I rolled it out cuz the other instructions said to – was that it? It was easy to work with though and I did add a smidge more millet before rolling it out. Any tips would be appreciated cuz I’d love to use this for me and make pizza night a weekly thing. Everyone else loved the einkhorn crust!