can we make a good gluten-free pizza crust?

[Lisak]

Help!

i have just been diagnosed with Celiac disease. I have a restaurant, specialty food store and cooking class studio.  This will be difficult for me but doable except for pizza and baking recipes.

i have already tried a gluten-free pizza dough which was supposed to be the best but it was awful. My question to you is this.  Can the texture of gluten free pizza dough ever be the same as regular wheat pizza dough or do I just have to get used to no more light crispy airy crusts?

lisa

 

[cyclinglady]

41 minutes ago, Lisak said:

Help!

i have just been diagnosed with Celiac disease. I have a restaurant, specialty food store and cooking class studio.  This will be difficult for me but doable except for pizza and baking recipes.

i have already tried a gluten-free pizza dough which was supposed to be the best but it was awful. My question to you is this.  Can the texture of gluten free pizza dough ever be the same as regular wheat pizza dough or do I just have to get used to no more light crispy airy crusts?

lisa

 

Welcome! 

The answer to your question is.....NO!  I am an avid baker.  Prior to my diagnosis, I made all my own baked goods, even hamburger buns.  The best approach is to not eat gluten-free substitutes until you have forgotten what real bread tastes like!  You will eventually produce items that you will think are fine, but to a real gluten eater.....they will know.  Some things, like cakes or cookies can be disguised, but not all.  

I am concerned about your baking in your restaurant with gluten flour.  Please research this.  In a restaurant or bakery situation, flour can be left in the air for hours.  It can coat the surfaces of your kitchen.  Gluten is harmful if swallowed, but that can occur if you breath enough in.  Cross contamination is a serious issue for celiacs.  

Take care.  

[Ennis-TX]

1 hour ago, Lisak said:

Help!

i have just been diagnosed with Celiac disease. I have a restaurant, specialty food store and cooking class studio.  This will be difficult for me but doable except for pizza and baking recipes.

i have already tried a gluten-free pizza dough which was supposed to be the best but it was awful. My question to you is this.  Can the texture of gluten free pizza dough ever be the same as regular wheat pizza dough or do I just have to get used to no more light crispy airy crusts?

lisa

 

Yeah I use dense almond, coconut, and cauliflower blends. More New York Style thin and crsipy or with more cauliflower and mixing a melted cheese into the dough you get a very doughy melty fork eating crust....the chewy airy hand tossed of gluten pizza,,,,never and I have been baking for years.

PS You should stop working with gluten based flours period in your work place. you will kill yourself slowly over time......Really, the stuff gets inhaled, gets on your hand in your nails/hair etc. You end up consuming it, even inhaling enough of it will trigger the antibodies that will slowly attack your insides. I had to start my own dedicated gluten-free bakery, and am working on trying to fund a dedicated grain free food truck.  You do not have to give up your dreams of working with food but you need to find a specialty place. NOTE gluten free bakeries pay HIGH dollar for a good chef/baker with celiac disease.

Check the following

https://www.celiac.com/forums/topic/91878-newbie-info-101/

https://www.celiac.com/forums/topic/117090-gluten-free-food-alternatives-list/

 

[kareng]

1 hour ago, Lisak said:

Help!

i have just been diagnosed with Celiac disease. I have a restaurant, specialty food store and cooking class studio.  This will be difficult for me but doable except for pizza and baking recipes.

i have already tried a gluten-free pizza dough which was supposed to be the best but it was awful. My question to you is this.  Can the texture of gluten free pizza dough ever be the same as regular wheat pizza dough or do I just have to get used to no more light crispy airy crusts?

lisa

 

I think it can be.... depending on what you think a "regular"  crust texture is like.  

I have made a very good sour dough one.  It's just a pain keeping the starter going.  

 

You can make them more like bread- allow them to rise then pat thickly on a pan.  Bake completely before topping.

 

chebe makes an interesting crust mix - it's basically just tapioca flour.  I usually don't add the cheese and I bake partially first.  It is crunchy on the outside and chewy in side. You could make something like it without the mix.

 

I am not a big fan of rice flour.  I think it makes things gritty and is gooey in pizza crusts.  

I have used bean flour and you get a nice chewiness but the flour has a lot of flavor.  I found it worked well for a pizza  with strong flavor like a garlicky marinara sauce and a spicy pepperoni.

 

one of the secrets to having a non- soggy gluten-free crust is to actually par- bake or completely bake before topping and returning to the oven. 

[kareng]

I split this off of the topic about dominos, because we aren't talking about fast food vaguely gluten-free pizza!  

[tessa25]

I'm a New York pizza snob and several months ago I made a pizza with Etalia frozen pizza crust. It flopped like a NY pizza should and didn't have any weird aftertaste or smell. This will be my goto pizza crust for making NY pizza.

 

[Lisak]

1 hour ago, cyclinglady said:

Welcome! 

The answer to your question is.....NO!  I am an avid baker.  Prior to my diagnosis, I made all my own baked goods, even hamburger buns.  The best approach is to not eat gluten-free substitutes until you have forgotten what real bread tastes like!  You will eventually produce items that you will think are fine, but to a real gluten eater.....they will know.  Some things, like cakes or cookies can be disguised, but not all.  

I am concerned about your baking in your restaurant with gluten flour.  Please research this.  In a restaurant or bakery situation, flour can be left in the air for hours.  It can coat the surfaces of your kitchen.  Gluten is harmful if swallowed, but that can occur if you breath enough in.  Cross contamination is a serious issue for celiacs.  

Take care.  

Thanks very much, I am going to try the cook's illustrated pizza dough as my last ditch attempt. Then I will follow your recommendation and stay away from it for a while.

im not the cook anymore in the restaurant and thank you for your comments. It's  great to have a support system that understands this disease

[tessa25]

Have you tried Caputo Fiore Glut flour? It is mentioned alot on the pizza making forum.

[Ennis-TX]

I posted a grain free recipe in the cooking section, it comes out super doughy note it is best done with warmed ingredients so the cheese in the crust is melty when working with it, daiya makes it super melty but i prefer using julians as it sets better for more stable crust when done, but you have it heat it in a pot with the oil and liquid ingredients melting it then adding in the dry. this forms into a doughy ball that your then flatten out onto your pizza pan. From there it depend on your pan type a perforated pan on a pizza stone will yeild a more crisp crust while a nibbed or solid pan will give you a dryer crust, I like to always keep the pan/stone in the oven preheated before hand this is a real trick to making it.

I also like the way Simple mills pizza crust turns out again depends on the pan you use and if you use a stone. Different styles require different methods.

On my food truck we plan on using a cauliflower crust without the cheese, nice and thin on a super perforated pan, no stone in a conveyor oven. This gets you a New York styled crispy pizza....we have to prebake it one run then top it and bake again otherwise it soaks a bit too much.....oddly takes twice the amount of time to cook then a gluten crust.  pricing is a pain, our cost is about $9 a crust without toppings making them. I use my own sauce recipe that I use non dairy cheese extract in as a secret ingredient then top it with daiya cheese and toppings of choice.

[Scott Adams]

Sorry, but where do you see that it contains wheat? 

[Scott Adams]

I do see GF flours:

http://caputoflour.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Gluten-Free-Flour-SPECS-5kg.pdf

 

http://caputoflour.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Gluten-Free-Flour-SPECS.pdf

[notme]

15 hours ago, Scott Adams said:

Sorry, but where do you see that it contains wheat? 

when i went to order it on ama zon dot com, the ingredients are listed.  first one is gluten free wheat starch.  i'm sure some people will use it and be ok with it.  i'm just a bit leery of wheat.

[Scott Adams]

If that is the case then Caputo's "Gluten-Free" flour would not be considered gluten-free in the USA, but is in Europe. Beware that this is made with Codex wheat starch, which has the gluten removed. Some celiacs won't have issues with it, but some will.