G-free Pizza Crust & A Cookbook Review

Learning to cook and bake gluten-free has been a bit challenging. I am sure it's that way for anyone who's used to doing something a certain way all her life, only to have to abruptly change it. Thankfully, the learning curve is generous, and I've had some great friends give me a good handful of g-free resources and recipes.

My sweet friend Linda, who helps tremendously behind the scenes here at Penny-wise, sent me a wonderful cookbook: The Gluten-Free Kitchen. This cookbook, written by Roben Ryberg, doesn't have any recipes in it that might seem daunting or weird. It's just plain ol', simple, cooking...my kind of cooking. I have already made the pizza crust (recipe posted below) and the traditional pie crust; and both were easy and tasty. In fact, I made two pizzas, and there were no leftovers! A few of the recipes contained in this cookbook are:

• Fried Chicken (YUM!)
• Hot Cross Buns
• Chicken Pot Pie
• Pancakes
• Gravy
• and of course, pies, cakes, and even streusel!

I plan on trying many more recipes. Linda, thank you AGAIN for this invaluable resource!

And now, The GF Pizza Crust (which is, by the way, much less expensive than buying a mix or a pre-made, frozen crust...very penny-wise!):

Ingredients:

1 packet yeast (about 1 Tbsp.)

3/4 cup milk, room temperature

1/2 cup potato starch (not potato flour)

3/4 cup cornstarch*

1 Tbsp. xanthan gum

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 cup shortening

Preheat oven to 375.

In a small bowl, combine yeast and milk. Stir to dissolve yeast and set aside. In a medium bowl, combine all other ingredients and mix well. (I used my KitchenAid mixer, and it worked very well.) To these ingredients, slowly add the yeast/milk mixture and mix well. Dough will look wet, thick, and pasty but is quite workable if you spray your hands with nonstick spray or keep your hands damp with water. This is a soft dough.

Roll or pat out dough onto a lightly greased baking tin or pizza pan. For a thick crust, pat out to 1/4 inch thickness. For thin crust, pat out to 1/8 inch thick. A 12-inch circle will produce "hand-tossed" thickness.

Top as desired.

Bake 15-25 minutes, until crust is lightly browned. Use a spatula to lift up the pizza to check for light browning on the bottom of the crust the first time you make it.

This crust is freezable! Bake the crust and freeze it without toppings. Then you only have to thaw, top, and bake briefly.

*Lindsey's Note: I made this crust exactly according to the recipe the first time. Then, I wanted to see if I could add more nutritional value by using other flours in combination with the cornstarch. For my second crust in place of 3/4 cup of cornstarch, I used 1/4 cup cornstarch, 1/4 cup brown rice flour, and 1/4 cup sweet white sorghum flour. The taste and consistency were not noticeably different from the original recipe, so I will probably use this method in the future.

Written & submitted by Lindsey @ Penny-wise