Wood Fired Pizza Dough
Elote Pizza fresh off the grill / out of the pizza oven
Who doesn’t love PIZZA!?! If you don’t, please leave. Natalie has been making me pizza since 2005, and there wen’t many places I could eat GF pizza back then, especially safely as I only eat from dedicated gluten free restaurants and products from dedicated gluten free facilities. We’ve tried just about every pre-packaged gluten free pizza dough mix there is out there, we’ve read many, many blogs about pizza making, gluten free and otherwise, but the best we’ve found is a tweaked version of Gluten Free on a Shoestring’s pizza dough. Natalie is always experimenting with recipes, making substitutions and additions, and rarely makes the same thing the same way two times in a row. Even when she’s found the best (which this is) she still is always trying to see if she can make it even better, which sometimes doesn’t work out. So at this point in time, October 5th, 2023, this is the best recipe she’s found. If she hits on a better one we will update that here!
She also is amazing at topping pizzas. The dough of course is a huge part of the it, the foundation of the pizza, but great toppings are what make you fall in love with a pizza. Here are some of her best so far:
Our dog Prudence loves the Chipotle Chicken pizza so much she stole one off of the countertop during the early days and now we always have to be on the lookout for her when we are making pizzas!
Sweet potato and Arugula
Natalie also famously has a “Top Your Own Pizza Night” at least once a year in which the whole family competes to create a new and delicious pizza. We’ve had some good ones, and also a ton of fun doing it. At first the kids had to be pushed to think outside the pepperoni box, but eventually they got the idea and came up with some fun pizzas. Here are some from our last comp:
Recently we bought a Kettle Pizza insert for our Weber grill and this has elevated our pizzas to the next level! We highly recommend this setup for anyone who wants to get into the wood fired pizza game without breaking the bank. It works great and is very easy to use. We modified the way we use ours (of course!) a little from the manufacturers instructions, but all in all we are very happy with it.
We also just bought a Ooni Koda 12 gas pizza oven and are excited to try it out! We’ll share our results soon!
Ingredients:
PSA: I used a slightly modified pizza recipe from Gluten Free on a Shoestring . I, unlike most Americans, bake by weight. I have included measurements for cups, teaspoons, and tablespoons if you’d rather use those, however gluten free baking really does much better if you weigh your ingredients.
2 ½ (400 grams) Cup for Cup Flour
¼ Cup (30 grams) Expandex Starch (We found this on Amazon, but if you don’t have it you can sub in Cup for Cup Flour).
2 ¼ teaspoons of xanthan gum (omit if you flour blend contains xanthan gum - Cup for Cup Flour does have it)
1 tablespoon (9 grams) of yeast (instant)
1 ½ teaspoons (6 grams) of sugar
1 ½ teaspoons (9 grams) of sea salt/kosher salt
1 ⅛ cup (9 oz) warm water
4 ½ tablespoons (65 grams) of olive oil
In the bowl of a stand mixer, add all the dry ingredients (flour, expandex, yeast, sugar, salt) together. With the paddle attachment, blend the ingredients together. Once it’s been blended, stop the mixer and add warm water and olive oil. Once water and olive oil is incorporated at a low speed, increase the speed of the mixer to high. After about five minutes, the dough should look whipped and smooth.
Oil a bowl or plastic container with a lid (we use one with a sealable airtight lid) with olive oil, Place the dough in the container (it will be very sticky and hard to work with at this point). I always make the dough the day before and let it rest for at least a day before I use it. Gluten free dough needs more time to properly hydrate. Put it in the refrigerator. After 12-24 hours you can pull it out, divide it in two and roll out your pizza dough!
Some tips about rolling out pizza dough. I use finely ground cornmeal to roll out the pizza on the bottom (not the top). This keeps the pizza from sticking to the counter/board - we do this because we use a wood fired pizza grill. If you are putting it straight into the oven and rolling the pizza out on the tray you’ll cook it on, you don’t need to do that!
