Gluten Free Pizza Crust

      My son calls sandwiches "yucky". Seriously, if he sees me making one, when he is told to eat it at school, if he hears someone mention the word in a conversation he isn't even involved in......

      I still send him with a half sandwich a few days of the week, but the in-between days needed something he wouldn't complain about so much. So, one day a week I send him with a mini pizza. I will make a bunch of them, and put them in the freezer to pull out when I need them. It's way cheaper than making him a pre-packaged pizza every week. Those things cost $5.99 each, whereas making them myself costs (roughly) $7, and I get 4 pizzas out of it! 

Gluten Free Pizza Crust 
(and also directions for making mini pizzas)

• 2 tsp Active dry yeast
  
• 1 tsp Sugar
• 3/4 cup Warm water
• 1 Egg (whisked)
• 1 Tbsp Olive oil
• 1-1/2cups All purpose gluten free flour blend (I used Bob's Red Mill) 
• 2 tsp Xanthan gum (it's a binding agent. You could also use guar gum, or (my last choice) corn starch.
• 1/2tsp Sea Salt

Method:

(preheat oven to 425°F)

1. Empty yeast, sugar and water in a large bowl and let stand (proof) about 5 minutes.

2. Mix dry ingredients in separate bowl.  P.S. the reason I don't prefer corn starch is that it can add chalkiness in the final product. 

3. Add egg and oil to wet ingredients, then add all the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. 

4.Mix with a stand mixer, or a wooden spoon, until combined. Add a teaspoon of water if dough moves up beaters. *Note that gluten free pizza dough is not at all like traditional bread and pizza dough. It will have the consistency more like a thick muffin batter.

5. Scoop onto greased or parchment lined baking sheet in whatever size (or shape) mini pizzas you want. 

6. Wet your hands with water and squish dough down with hands. If you want the crusts to puff up a little, let them sit for 10-15 minutes. 

7. Spoon and spread some sauce on each crust (*uses maybe 1/2cup of sauce). I actually just used leftover pasta sauce, not proper "pizza sauce". Truth here, this is when these cross into "pizza bun" territory for me because I do not carefully put on the sauce like it were a pizza, I just slop it on and spread it around. Anywho, now put on your toppings (*I used roughly 1 cup of cheese). 

8. Bake at 425°F for 15-20 minutes (the baking time is the same if you make one big pizza).

Fresh and hot out of the oven (I doubled my recipe, that's why there are so many pizzas)

      These turn out so nice, and thaw out really well! To freeze them, I put a piece of parchment paper in between each pizza. 

Ready in the freezer for future consumption!

Perfect and crispy, but still soft and lovely.

    Happy Pizza Making!