Wheat free, gluten free PIZZA

Ok - a LOT of us like pizza, and some of us have developed an intolerance to gluten, so going out for a pizza (and dare I say a beer) is not as easy or fun as it was when we were 22. Such is the case with my wife and I. We still like pizza, but we're losing weight and getting a standard pizza with all the fats and sodium is just not practical, plus - every commercial place I have knowledge of makes their crust with wheat flour... not a good thing on a gluten free or gluten restricted diet.

So when my wife said she'd really like pizza last Thursday, I had a challenge. She was home - 20 miles from town - and I was getting off work. So... I decided to take the bull by the horns and see what I could do to meet that desire head on. Here's what resulted from my attempt (it's pretty darned good...)!

ChaosMoosie's Gluten free, wheat free, honest to goodness old timey home made sausage and cheese PIZZA!!!

Assemble your ingredients. I found a Gluten Free pizza mix made by Bob's Red Mill. No yeast needed - it's included. I also purchased pepperoni (but didn't use it), ground mild Italian sausage, white onions, sliced White Mushrooms, Anaheim peppers, best choice shredded pizza cheese, a touch of olive oil and Naturally Preferred Organic Mushroom Pasta Sauce.

If you have an electric pizza maker, everything can be made in that one device. If not, preheat your oven to 425 degrees.

Assemble your tools - you will need a pizza pan or two, or an electric pizza maker; a large mixing bowl, cutting board and some sharp knives for mincing onions and peppers, a frying pan to brown the sausage, a mixer (power preferred); and a small bowl to stage your yeast prior to mixing. I also utilized a large pan to simply run quite warm water in... more on that later.

Thoroughly mix the yeast included with the Red Mill with warm water following the included directions. I ran some very warm water into a large 22 quart pan and set my yeast bowl in it to keep the yeast mixture warm. This encourages continuing growth from the yeast.

Mix the Bob's Red Mill - Gluten Free Wheat Free Dairy Free Pizza Crust Whole Grain Mix, following the directions on the package.Set the mixed dough, still in the mixing bowl, in the large pan of very warm water. The mix should be divided in two before covering it to let it rise, if you are using 12" or smaller pizza pans. Cover and let it rise for several minutes. I let my dough rise for approximately 15 minutes.

While the dough is rising, brown 4 ounces of ground mild Italian sausage and drain. Set it aside.
Slice / chop / mince a small white onion (2 1/4 - 2 1/2" diameter) and an Anaheim chili pepper.
Measure out a cut of Shredded pizza blend cheese. Non-dairy cheese can be substituted for a dairy-free pizza.
Oil your pizza pan / pizza maker using Olive Oil. Warm the pan slightly.

For a 12" pizza, take 1/2 the dough, plop it into the center of the pan and using WET hands (you'll stick like glue to the dough with dry hands - use plain warm water and keep a bowl handy to re-wet your hands as necessary), pat the dough to spread it to the edges of the pan / pizza maker. Pop the crust in the oven or turn on the pizza maker and bake the crust until browned slightly on top. The crust will pull away from the sides of the pan slightly. You will bake the crust about 7 - 9 minutes - keep your eye on the crust and stop when you see the high peaks of the crust turning lightly brown.

To the baked crust, add @ 3/4 cup of Tomato Paste or Pasta Sauce. Spread it around the crust from edge to edge.
Add mushroom slices to taste, and spread your sliced / chopped / diced onion and pepper over the surface.
Add the browned Sausage.
Spread @ 1/2 to 1 cup of Shredded Cheese (Pizza Blend) over the top of the pizza.

Pop into the oven or close the pizza maker and bake for 15-20 minutes. Time will vary with the method employed.

Let the pizza cool on a rack or pizza stone, slice into 1/8ths and enjoy.

Essential information:

Using my ingredients - whole eggs, real cheese, Johnsonville Ground mild Italian Sausage and the vegetables that I used, two slices of 12" pizza has 501 calories, 53 grams of Carbs, 18 grams of fat, 20 grams of protein, 5 grams of fiber and (shudder) 1094 mg of sodium. Using tomato paste instead of the Pasta Sauce I used will reduce that sodium number by about 200 milligrams.

Now the real question - how does the Gluten-free, Wheat Free Pizza TASTE? Well, I am not locked into a gluten-free diet by necessity, but this is so good I see no need to go to a wheat full menu except for economy. A mix with wheat will be less expensive by a couple of dollars. Not a real deal breaker when you make two 12" or 1 16" pizza with one of these mixes.

Cost breakdown.

Pizza Mix - @4.00
Sausage - @ 4.00 / 12 oz. - enough for three pizzas easily.
Onions - pennies the pound.
Anaheim Chili - pennies the pound
Cheese mix shredded - @ 1.25
Sliced mushrooms - @ 1.75/cup
Tomato paste - @ .75 / pizza
Pasta Sauce - @ 1.00 / pizza

Cost per 12" pizza - about $8.00, an hour of time, and a few cents of electricity or gas.

This could be made on a charcoal grill as well. That would give a different twist to the flavor.

Greatest thing about the whole deal = it tastes great (and is better the SECOND day!) and you did it, not a pizza chain store!