Bake 52: Week 37

Deep Dish Pepperoni Pizza....Yummmm

 This week I totally felt like I was back in elementary school (yes, Durrant...) and got a "Book It" award for the personal pan pizza from Pizza Hut.

This deep dish pepperoni pizza was AMAZING! Seriously tasted just. like. pizza. hut.

Crisp bottom (although the sound of boiling olive oil while baking grossed me out, it totally paid off!), soft inside - loved it!  I was surprised that you were able to bake these in 9" cake pans. I did laugh that it made two small pizzas and said it fed 6-8 people.  Apparently these people have never met my children!  It was delicious and I will definitely try it again!
Check out Amanda's blog for the recipe!

Bake 52: Week 7

This week the pick was pizza crust and sauce!

After making this pizza dough, all of my other recipes are pretty much garbage. This is a thin, crispy (but chewy) pizza.  SO GOOD!  You cook it at 500 degrees on a hot pizza stone - I didn't realize what a difference this would make!

I tried the whole wheat version, which was half bread flour and half whole wheat flour.  The texture and taste was great - my kids didn't even notice a difference.  And did they like it?  Oh they only requested that I make it again 2 days later!  So this time I used full white bread flour and decided to follow the recipe listed with the dough to make a Stromboli (which I had never made before)

It starts out just like making a pizza

And then you roll it up

And tuck in the ends, bake, and slice!

We also tried making their easy sauce - the name was right on.  Super easy to make and  really good!

 We will definitely be using these recipes a lot in our house!  I will probably just stick with the regular pizza rather than the Stromboli, just because it's a little less work and a little more traditional, but this is for sure a new favorite recipe.  Now I am going to experiment with it to try making it gluten-free!
Go HERE for the full recipe!

Gluten Free Pizza Crust

Pizza is a staple at our house.  After we were married, I had a hard time finding a quick and easy gluten free pizza crust.  I now have two recipes that are my go-to recipes when I need a quick dinner - these use simple ingredients and don't require any time to rise.  I always double the recipes and make it on a cookie sheet.

Bean Flour Pizza Crust - from Bette Hagman, The Gluten-Free Gourmet Cooks Fast and Healthy
(recipe shown below is already doubled)

1 cup garbanzo bean flour
1 cup tapioca flour
1 cup cornstarch
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cup milk or nondairy liquid
1/2 cup vegetable oil
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  In a medium bowl, combine all ingredients and stir until well blended.  Pour onto a greased cookie sheet and spread around with spoon until even.  Bake for 10 minutes.  Spread on a pizza sauce and your favorite toppings and return to oven for about 10 minutes.

Pizza Crust - from Carol Fenster, Gluten-Free Celebrations
(recipe below is also doubled)
2 Tbs. active dry yeast
1 1/3 cup brown rice flour
1 cup tapioca flour
4 tsp. xanthan gum (recipe works fine without this)
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. unflavored gelatin powder
2 tsp. Italian herb seasoning
1 1/3 cup warm milk (cow, rice, soy)
2 tsp. sugar
2 tsp. olive oil
2 tsp. cider vinegar
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  In medium mixer bowl using regular beaters (not dough hooks), blend yeast, flours, xanthan gum, salt, gelatin powder, and Italian seasonings on low speed.  Add warm milk, sugar, oil and vinegar.
2. Beat on high speed 2 minutes.  Dough will resemble soft bread dough.  Put mixture on greased cookie sheet and spread evenly.
3. Bake pizza crust 10 minutes.  Remove from oven.  Top crust with sauce and preferred toppings.  Bake another 20-25 minutes or until top is nicely brown.