Brown Rice Flour Pizza Crust

I have always loved to make my own pizza crust. I think I finally convinced my husband to date me years ago by inviting him over on numerous occasions for homemade pizza. I baked and cooked my way into his heart for four months! Now that I follow a gluten free diet  my first attempts with homemade crust was disappointing. I started with some store bought mixes and tried several recipes. I always ended up with sticky slimy crust. Blech! Now this crust is NOT your Chicago deep dish style. It is a crisp, thin, and slightly chewy. The recipe does not require you let the dough rise. If you have time to spare you could let it rise for an hour. Also I love making crust in batches and divide it up  and freeze. To freeze place the dough in zip-lock freezer bag and press the dough down so it forms a flat square inside the bag. Take the crust out of the freezer the night before you plan to use it and defrost the dough in the fridge.

Brown Rice Flour Pizza Crust

2 & 1/4 tsp of active dry yeast (1 packet)
1 tsp of honey
1 cup of warm water
1& 1/4 + 1/2 cup of brown rice flour ( may need more depending on the flour's texture)
1/2 cup of potato starch
2 tsp of xanthan gum
1/2 tsp of garlic powder
1/2 tsp of dried oregano
1/2 tsp of dried basil
1/2 tsp of sea salt
4 tsp of olive oil
2 tsp of cider vinegar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix honey into water in a small bowl and then add yeast. Set aside for 5 minutes until yeast is foamy. In a large mixing bowl mix 1& 1/4 cup of flour, potato startch, xanthan, garlic powder, spices, and sea salt together with a whisk. Place flour mixture into bowl of stand mixer with bread hook attachement. If you do not have a stand mixer you can do this by hand, but make sure to mix thoroughly. Next add the yeast mixture and combine. Then add in olive oil and vinegar. Your dough will be sticky. Begin to add the remaining 1/2 cup of rice flour 1 tablespoon at a time. Mix after each tablespoon you add. You want your dough to form a soft ball of dough that is not sticky. Continue to add flour by tablespoonful until it reaches this consistency. Roll the dough out between 2 pieces of parchment paper into a 12 round circle. Remove top piece of parchment paper and keep the dough on the bottom parchement paper and slide it onto pizza pie pan. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove crust top with desired toppings and bake for 10-15 more minutes until toppings are browned.

I topped this pizza with Pomi tomato sauce, fresh spinach, goat cheese, parmesan cheese, and cooked lean ground turkey breast.

Read With Me!

I've been reading "Sugar Nation" by Jeff O'Connell. The author discusses his diagnosis of pre-diabetes and the crisis of Type II Diabetes. As a health care provider I see people come in and out of my pharmacy daily with this disease. In fact one of the main medications to manage this disease has been the #1 dispensed medication for our pharmacy. What is sad is that it is no longer a disease of the elderly, but more and more children are becoming Type II diabetics. Here are some stats from the American Diabetes Association to illustrate this:
Children less than 20 years of age

• 215,000, or 0.26% of all people in this age group have diabetes
• About 1 in every 400 children and adolescents has diabetes

Those that are 20 years or older but less than 65

• 25.6 million, or 11.3% of all people in this age group have diabetes

Age 65 years or older

• 10.9 million, or 26.9% of all people in this age group have diabetes

Tips N' Tricks

Did you notice the new tab on the blog today? NO!?! Well its called "Tips N' Tricks."  My latest video is How to Grind Your Own Flax See at Home and here's the video. Some day I will have a "cool" still frame face like Zoolander. I will perfect my "blue steel" face.

Let's Connect!

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Until next time stay strong and carry on!

Brooklynn