Wednesday, March 19, 2008

WANTED: GLUTEN-FREE PIZZA DOUGH RECIPE

Do you know a recipe for excellent gluten-free pizza dough?

Luanne Alese of Shoreham, Long Island, wrote to Newsday (March 19, 2008) hoping to find a recipe for gluten-free pizza dough. Food writer Erica Marcus went to celiac.com and ate up a bunch of recipes—but only with her eyes, it seems. She wrote
The bottom line is that bread made without wheat - hence, without gluten - is never going to approximate the real thing.

I found quite a few bread / pizza crust recipes at celiac.com and, in addition to nonwheat flours made from rice or tapioca, they all called for thickening agents such as guar gum, xanthum gum or gelatin. It's hard to believe that the results are going to be very pizza-like.

Instead of searching in vain for a decent wheat-free pizza, I'm going to suggest you dig into the world of global flatbreads....
So what do you think? Is it futile to search for an excellent gluten-free pizza dough recipe?

If you have a recipe, feel free to let Erica Marcus know by leaving a comment or emailing her here, or by writing to her at
Erica Marcus, Food/Part 2
Newsday, 235 Pinelawn Rd.
Melville, NY 11747-4250

3 comments:

Harlan said...

The other day I made a chickpea flatbread, called cecina, that was pretty good with olive oil. I was thinking it would make an interesting base for a pizza. Here's the recipe:

http://www.romans-in-britain.org.uk/arl_roman_recipes-cecina.htm

Anonymous said...

Aside from the fact that the columnist made it sound very depressing and futile in our vain search for a decent wheat-free pizza, she is also obviously unaware of "hidden" ingredients and cross contamination. She recommends other types of flatbreads and flours without mentioning or warning to be careful of cc. I saw this in the paper this morning and I will email her.

Unknown said...

Hi All,

I have just launched a new web site which is a resource for Gluten Free eating. View it at www.gfeating.com