PIZZA! PIZZA! October Daring Bakers Challenge

3 years ago this month I was diagnosed with celiac disease.  That means it's been 3 years since I've had a great slice of pizza...until now!  I'm excited to announce that I've found a pizza crust that I love.  So much in fact, that we've had pizza 3 times in the last two weeks.  Hurray for pizza!

I've based my recipe off the one used by Emeril in a recent episode of Emeril Green.  I played with the flour types a little and came up with the following:

Gluten Free Pizza Crust

(makes 2 18 inch pizza crusts)

1 1/2 cup warm water (120 degrees F)  

1 tablespoon sugar  

2 tablespoons active dry yeast  

2 cups gluten free flour blend 

1/2 cup soy flour  

1/2 cup corn flour  

1 cups millet flour  

2/3 cup instant non-fat dry milk powder  

3 teaspoons xantham gum  

1 teaspoon salt  

3 tablespoons olive oil  

2 eggs

Combine warm water, active dry yeast and sugar in a small bowl and let it sit 5-10 minutes until it's nice and foamy. If it doesn't foam, your yeast is bad and you'll need to start again with new yeast. Spray two large baking pans or pizza stones with vegetable oil and set aside. Combine the remaining dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Mix well. Add the yeast mixture, olive oil and eggs slowly to the dry ingredients and mix on low until the mixture is well incorporated. Increase the speed to high and continue to mix for 4 minutes.  The dough will be sticky.

Remove the dough from the mixing bowl and divide into two balls. With damp hands gently press each dough ball into a circle about 1/4 inch thick, leaving the edges a bit thicker to prevent sauce from dripping onto the pan. Heat oven to 100 degrees and place pizza crust in the oven to rise for 10-15 minutes until double.

Without removing the pizza crust, turn up oven heat to 400 degrees and cook the crust for 10 minutes (including the time it takes for oven to heat). Remove from the oven and top with pizza sauce and your favorite toppings. Place back into the oven and continue to cook until the crust is golden brown and crispy, 15 to 20 minutes longer. (Note: if the baking pan is not liberally greased, the dough will stick. If this happens, use a flat metal spatula to separate the dough from the baking pan.)

Enjoy and eat often!