A delicious Gluten Free Crispy Pizza base from Adriana Rabinovich… The perfect thin and crispy recipe for all your favourite pizza toppings. And… it’s also Dairy Free and Vegan.
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Making Gluten Free Crispy Pizza with Adriana Rabinovich
This Gluten Free Crispy Pizza recipe is not one of my own. But I am in the process of updating old recipes on the blog with printable recipe cards and this one has reached the top of the list.
This particular recipe for a thin and crispy base comes from Adriana Rabinovich. However, I picked it up a few years back when I attended a gluten free baking course at Braxted Park. And it’s a good base… So, mine or not, it deserves a place on Gluten Free Alchemist.
Actually, I do have another recipe for gluten free pizza dough on the blog which is very much my own. Indeed, it is also a recipe I love. But it is very different to the Crispy Pizza base shared here… being a soft and fluffy dough which lends itself more towards a deeper traditional pizza.
The interminable trouble with gluten free Pizzas
I’m picky about pizza. And good gluten free pizza bases are notoriously difficult to find either in shops, recipe books or on the internet… They are often either gluey to the extent that they are difficult to cut and chew… Or dry to the point that they would be better called ‘crackers’… And then there are gluten free pizzas which are soggy underneath because they lack the structure to utilise the heat of the oven for rising and baking well.
The ‘no yeast’ pizza trend…
There has also been a recent rise of gluten free pizza recipes on the internet that don’t use yeast. Instead, they are made with gluten free flour, yoghurt and baking powder… The ‘3 ingredient pizza’. It’s something I tried years ago on the back of a non-gluten free trend… And there’s a reason why it never made it to the blog… It was not good!
But with the rise of gluten free versions, I recently questioned whether I may have just got it wrong… Perhaps my ratios were off, or the flour was not balanced. And with that, I decided to give it another go… This time with a ‘best ever’ recipe from the most popular of gluten free bloggers out there…
I followed the recipe exactly, even buying a bag of self-raising flour for the task.
The pizza once cooked looked great… Just like a pizza should… But it was really unpleasant to eat… Stodgy yet hard and so unappetising that the whole family ended up scraping off the toppings and binning the base. So, while the sentiment towards a super-quick yoghurt-pizza base is a good one (and clearly works when gluten is present)… I think I’ll stick to yeasted versions. Not only do they taste better, but they can still be frozen ready for when you need them in a hurry.
Is Adriana’s Gluten Free Crispy Pizza base easy to make?
Absolutely yes! To be honest, while it contains a few more ingredients and is made with yeast (so needs a little time to proof), I honestly don’t think it is any more difficult to make than ‘yoghurt-pizza’… It’s a simple case of mixing everything in a big bowl and then shaping!
It’s actually fun… A bit like stepping back into pottery classes in school. Shaping the dough involves a very wet hand to gently smooth it little by little into a fine disc on baking paper. Almost like moulding clay.
What flour should I use for Gluten Free Crispy Pizza?
Crispy Pizza doesn’t require any special flour blends… On the baking course, Adriana Rabinovich used Doves (Freee) plain baking flour. Since then, when making at home, I have used Gluten Free Alchemist white blend A. This has worked equally well. So, I suspect that your usual flour blend will be good for making this particular base.
Can this Gluten Free Crispy Pizza base be frozen?
Yes! One of the things that’s great about this Gluten Free Crispy Pizza is that it is very ‘freezable’. Because the base is part-baked before being topped and baked again, it is super-easy to freeze mid-way, after the first bake. It’s then ready to fetch out and top at a later date, for a super-quick meal.
Do I have to make this pizza thin and crispy?
Yes. While Adriana’s dough makes a great thin or crispy-based pizza, it does not lend itself well to either a ‘deep pan’ or ‘stuffed crust’ style. The dough is not one that can be either kneaded or folded. Nonetheless, it is delicious and a great option to have in the baking repertoire.
A Gluten Free Crispy Pizza that is also dairy free and vegan
Even better… This particular Gluten Free Crispy Pizza base is not only gluten free, but is also dairy free and vegan too! With no milk or eggs in the mix, it doesn’t even require any ingredient substitutions. Just make sure you choose toppings that are safe to eat and use a vegan cheese that you know you love.
What toppings are good for a Gluten Free Crispy Pizza?
I guess a better question is ‘What’s your favourite pizza topping’?
As you can see from the photos, pretty much anything goes well on a gluten free Crispy Pizza base. I usually spread some Italian tomato Passata or Pesto directly on the base, before topping with anything from roasted vegetables, ham, chicken or pepperoni, to prawns, goats cheese and pumpkin seeds/pine nuts.
In the recipe shared here, I’ve offered some topping ideas for making a Roasted Vegetable Pizza.
Have you made Gluten Free Crispy Pizza?
If you make this recipe for Gluten Free Crispy Pizza, do let me know… Leave a comment, rate the recipe and tag me on social media with your amazing pizza photos so I can see how they turned out. And tell me your favourite toppings too… I always love the inspiration that comes from other people’s discoveries and I just adore trying new flavours and pairings!
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Thanks for stopping by
Other gluten free pizza-inspired recipes you will love…
Gluten Free Crispy Pizza topped with Roasted Vegetables
Key equipment
- Oven
- measuring jug
Ingredients
Crispy Pizza Base
- 110 g plain gluten free flour mix Doves or GFA Blend A (See NOTES) have both been tested
- 220 g corn flour (corn starch)
- 55 g ground almonds almond meal
- 2 tsp fine sea salt
- 2 tsp xanthan gum
- 2 tsp caster sugar
- 14 g dried active yeast (this is NOT instant yeast)
- 350 ml tepid water blood temperature
- 2 tbsp olive oil
Suggested toppings for a Roasted Vegetable Pizza
- tomato passata
- a selection of vegetables e.g. courgette, tomato, mushroom, baby corn, squash, garlic, sweet pepper, artichokes, mushrooms, chilli
- cheese of your choice (Cheddar/goats cheese/blue cheese/vegan cheese) grated or sliced
- pine nuts and/or pumpkin seeds lightly toasted
- fresh or dried herbs
- fresh black pepper and other seasonings as preferred
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200 C/400 F/Gas 6. To bake the pizza crispy, you will need to bake straight onto a hot surface, so make sure you preheat your intended baking trays at the same time. I used upturned baking sheets to get as flat as possible.
- Combine all the dry ingredients in a bowl and whisk lightly to make sure they are well-incorporated.
- Measure the water and olive oil into a jug and make sure the liquid is at hand temperature.
- Add the liquid to the flour mix and combine using either a wooden/silicone spoon or your hands, until the dough comes together. It should be soft and a little wet. If it seems too dry, add a tiny bit more water (cautiously).
- Beat the mixture with a firm spoon for about a minute until the dough comes away from the sides of the bowl.
- Divide the mixture into thirds (for three pizzas).
- Cut three large sheets of baking paper and fill a jug or bowl with cold water.
- One at a time, spread each piece of dough-batter on a baking paper sheet as follows : Dip your hands in the cold water and gently flatten the dough.
- Keeping your hands wet, gently smooth the dough from side to side, turning the pizza as you go, to gradually flatten and spread into a circle. Keep doing this until your pizza base is thin as you want.
- Set aside for about 20 minutes in a warm place to proof.
- When ready to put in the oven, drizzle a little olive oil across the top.
- Slide the pizza (still on the baking paper) straight onto the hot baking tin surface (the direct heat helps it to cook and bubble up).
- Bake the base (without toppings) for 8 to 10 minutes until golden and crisping slightly at the edges.
- Remove from the oven ready for your toppings. You can cool and freeze or chill at this stage, to be topped and eaten another time.
- When ready, top each pizza with a thin spread of tomato passata, then a layer of roasted vegetables followed by any other toppings you are using and cheese.
- Place back in the oven for a further 10 to 15 minutes until the cheese is melted and the other toppings are hot through and crisping.
- Remove from the oven, slice and enjoy.
Notes
Nutrition
© 2019-2023 Kate Dowse All Rights Reserved – Do not copy or re-publish this recipe or any part of this recipe on any other blog, on social media or in a publication without the express permission of Gluten Free Alchemist
Gluten Free Crispy Pizza shared with
- Cook Blog Share Week 27 2021 with My Dinner
- Fiesta Friday #387 with Angie
- Full Plate Thursday #544 with Miz Helen’s Country Cottage
- What’s For Dinner #321 with The Lazy Gastronome
- Sundays on Silverado #48 with The House on Silverado
Thanks so much for this amazing recipe. It truly was the best pizza we’ve eaten in the four years we’ve been gluten free!
I’m just wondering if there an alternative to almonds you could suggest that we might try for this recipe? We are trying to reintroduce almonds back into our sons diet but it isn’t going so well – and we’d still love to enjoy this yummy pizza!
You are very welcome Emllyn. I’m so pleased that you enjoyed it.
Regarding almond replacement, I haven’t tested with an alternative. However the amount of almond is not huge and it should be possible to switch without too much impact.
Given that the almonds offer both protein and natural oils, this would be my starting point…
– Switch the almond for a protein-rich flour (sorghum, buckwheat, millet, oat) – check out my Gluten Free Flours post for protein options (https://www.glutenfreealchemist.com/p-gluten-free-flours-and-flour-blends/)
– Possibly… add an additional ½ tsp (max) oil to compensate.
I hope this helps (and works) for you.
Best wishes
Kate x
This looks fabulous! You just can’t beat a proper homemade pizza, can you? Eb 🙂
Thanks Eb…. Absolutely! And it’s really not that time-consuming either x
Kate, made your pizza yesterday and it was the very best we have ever made and we have made plenty. Can’t thank you enough for all you do. Also love and can work with your pie crust recipe. One question though, if you want to pre bake the pizza bases to use later in the same day (have company/party) how would you recommend storing them for say 8 hours? Appreciate your thoughts. Again thank you for all you do for the gluten free community.
Best,
Suzi
Hi Suzi
Yay! Thank you for your lovely feedback. So pleased you enjoyed the pizza and that the pastry works well for you too.
Re pre-baking the pizza crust… If it is only for a few hours, I would probably cool and then leave it at room temperature foil-wrapped ready to re-heat in the oven with toppings. If longer, do the same in the fridge. If the weather is particularly hot, then use the fridge too.
Should be fine.
Or… My other pizza base (which does need some minor tweaks, but I have been using for years and it’s still good) is part-baked before being topped and then you finish with toppings (its a more traditional dough base though).
I hope that helps
xxx
This pizza base looks delicious. Perfect for a Friday night. Thanks for sharing it on #cookblogshare
Thanks Marita. You’re welcome. Thanks for hosting xx
I’ve been looking for a good GF pizza base and this looks amazing. I will be giving it a try for sure, thank you for posting.
Thank you Jo. You’re very welcome!
Enjoy xx
Oh man that looks amazing!!! Thanks for sharing at the What’s for Dinner party!! Have a great week and Happy 4th of July!
Thank you Helen. Hope you had a great 4th July xx
Hi there, this looks lovely! Annoyingly I’m wheat, rice and nut free… do you have any pizza base recipes I would be able to use?
Hi Jennifer.
I’m sorry to hear that.
It may be worth trying the pizza dough that I used for the Pizza Heart recipe (linked below). The dough is my favourite pizza base.
https://www.glutenfreealchemist.com/pizza-hearts-gluten-free/
To make it wheat, rice and nut free, you could try subbing all the flours and almond for an equal weight of my GFA Blend B Rice Free Flour Mix (also linked below… from my Flours Page – the Rice B blend is at the bottom of that page)
https://www.glutenfreealchemist.com/p-gluten-free-flours-and-flour-blends/
I recommend testing first with half amount if you want to be cautious. And it should be fine to use milk in place of the water + milk powder, if preferred.
Although I’ve not tried it (I should really!) I think it should work well.
Best wishes
Kate xx
Your pizza looks so delicious and what an interesting mix in the base too. Also didn't know that Cook Blog Share was still going on, so I've now learnt that too 😉
Thanks Choclette. Cook Blog Share seems to be shared between a number of bloggers right now. I had difficulty finding it for a while and then came across a handy calendar over on Hijacked By Twins : http://www.hijackedbytwins.com/p/cookblogshare.html
What a delicious looking pizza and I love the idea of ground almonds in there! Thank you for a fabulous entry to #CreditCrunchMunch;-)
Thanks Camilla. Ground almonds are fantastic in GF baking because they add structure, texture and nutritional value. I use them a lot and (interestingly) saw my cholesterol levels drop dramatically when they were introduced regularly into my diet!
This pizza looks delicious – stopping by after seeing you in the #FFF link up.
Thanks Shari and thanks for stopping by!
That is really interesting about the gelatine, or agar agar. I wonder if it would help with regular wholegrain loaves too, and very fragile free from cakes.
Lovely pizza. Thank you for sharing with #CreditCrunchMunch
It was a useful tip Helen. It would be interesting to know if it works elsewhere (it was only a small amount added), but I wouldn't put it in cake as this has a much lighter texture. I tend to use ground almonds and extra moisture in cakes, often with a little xanthan gum.
This is a pizza fit for a king. Seriously. It looks so good. I like Adriana tip of using gelatine. It is something I haven't heard before either. The base looks thin and crunchy like a proper pizza should be.
Thanks Alida. Fit for a queen I hope too! It was definitely a great pizza…. I really went to town on the toppings!!
wow this sounds really interesting – sort of worrying for vegetarians to hear that gelatine is useful in making gf bread but as I know quite a few non-vego gf people that is useful also! You pizza looks magnificent too.
Thanks Johanna. The gelatine addition seemed random yet obvious somehow. But we were assured that agar agar or vegegel were just as good an alternative, so once I have got the gelatine ratios right, I will test it for the veggies as well! Will post as I learn… xx
Great gluten free alternative, well done! Any excuse to make pizza available to all 😀
As guest co-host I'd like to say thanks for linking up with #FabulousFoodie Fridays this week
Thank you Malinda. Everyone should have a pizza option!
Loving the sound of the pizza – roast veggies are always a winner in my book!
Thanks Stuart…. In mine too!
That pizza looks lovely. Sounds like a great cookery course. #freefromfridays
Thank you Emma. It was fun to learn new stuff!
I love a good veggie pizza – this looks loaded up with great toppings
Thanks CC. I love roasted veggies…. Interestingly whenever I have pizza out, I always choose veggie ones there too!
I've been on the hunt for a good GF pizza base and so far I've failed. I'm definitely going to give this a try (and yours too). #CookBlogShare
Let me know how you get on Charlotte. They are both very different recipes!
Sounds wonderful Kate. Even though I don't need to eat gluten free I'd still give this a go.
Thanks Laura. It was fun to make….. a very different process to my usual experience. And always once to have another string to the repertoire!