Pizza! Pizza! Pizzzzza!

Homemade Gluten Free Pizza never looked so good! And, it tastes good too!

This week on Gluten Free•dom NY, we’re talkin’ Pizza! One of my all-time favorite foods, and I’m guessing one of yours too. Back in my heyday, I was even called a “pizza snob!” My friends would come to me and ask where the best pizza places were in town, and I had all the answers.

That was all well and good until I was diagnosed and had to go GF! Then everything changed. Since then, it has been my mission to find a delicious local GF pizza. One that even non-GF people would want to eat. My quest for finding even a relatively good GF pizza has been rather disappointing, to say the least, over the past 3 years. 

 

During my first demoralizing month of having to go GF,  I heard that Pizzeria UNO had a GF pizza. At that time, they were one of the few that offered GF anything, so imagine my excitement. Maybe my pizza days weren’t over after all! (Insert the “wrong answer” buzzer here!) Well, when my “pizza” came, I remember nearly coming to tears with disappointment. The crust was just about inedible. I could barely pick it up without it falling apart. What a letdown. But that  didn’t stop me from trying others and continuing my mission to find the best!

Three years later, I can say that there are only two places that I would recommend. One is in this area, and the other one is on the state line of Nevada/California. In our area, there is Harvest and Hearth, located on Rte. 67 in Saratoga Springs. See my review of Harvest and Hearth at http://glutenfreedomny.blogspot.com/p/harvest-hearth.html. The other is Straw Hat Pizza, located in Harvey’s Hotel on the Nevada/California state line. 

Straw Hat Pizza is my favorite  so far. Put it this way, it was so good that I ate one whole pizza all by myself in one sitting. Then I went back the next day, and did it again! It’s really too bad this place is so far away from home. It’s a little too far to travel on a Friday night to get a pizza, and I’m guessing they probably won’t deliver. But I did some calling and eventually spoke with Straw Hat’s manager, and found out that they order their crust from Venice Bakery in California. You can check out all of their GF products online at http://www.venicebakery.com/info/Our-Products.html. I ordered their crusts online and had them shipped from California. They were still good, but not as good as getting it from Straw Hat Pizza itself, so I haven’t ordered them again. I figure I’ll just have to go back out there sometime and order another one.  If you’re in the area,  give them a try!

After lots of searching, coming up with only a few pizza shop choices that were noteworthy, I moved onto trying to make my own crusts, using recipes from other GF experts I found online. My favorite pizza crust recipe so far is from Jules Shepard, who makes Jules Gluten Free™ All Purpose Flour (this week’s featured product). Go to http://glutenfreedomny.blogspot.com/p/jules-gluten-free-all-purpose-flour.html for my full review on Jules Gluten Free™ All Purpose Flour.

 I must say this pizza comes out great. You can make the crust however you like, thicker or thin depending how far you spread the dough. This crust really browns up nicely, and has great texture and taste. The crust doesn’t have the “chew” that a normal wheat flour crust would have, but it’s still really good. My husband, who is not GF, was really impressed with this pizza overall. Every time I make it for myself, he always asks for a bite. He gives it the thumbs up!

So, you don’t have Jules Gluten Free™ Flour? Try your favorite GF all-purpose flour in place of hers in the recipe. It may be slightly different, but [using Jules™ has produced the best results for me so far. Like my mom always says, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!").


Click here for Jules™ Pizza Dough Recipe and start making delicious pizza tonight! 
(Although almost all of my recipes are family recipes, or truly adapted and changed by myself, this pizza dough recipe I use just as it was written. So, due to that reason and for copyright purposes, I have linked you directly to Jules'™ blog to get her pizza dough recipe instead of posting it directly on my site. Hey, you got to give credit, when credit is due!)