Homemade Gluten Free Pizza Crust

My older son has been gluten free for almost 3 years now and anyone gluten free or living with one can tell you that there are some really great products out there now! Pasta, cake mixes, cookies, crackers, pretzels and cereal are all things that we buy and are pleased with in the gluten free department. But, pizza had remained something to be desired either in taste, texture or both. Before I started eating gluten free myself (most of the time...) I had certain crust criteria I was fond of. Crispness, chewiness, thin but not too thin. When I tried gluten free pizza for the first time I was disappointed. I knew it wasn't going to be the same but I was not impressed. I have tried many restaurants crusts, store bought dough and recipes for homemade but still I was in search for one just right, one good enough to make pizza not seem like a facsimile of a sham. A few months ago I tried a recipe (this recipe) and it was good! Texture was decent, it didn't flop around when I picked up a slice or try to break my teeth when I bit into it. Flavor was mild and was a good background for the toppings. But, I am a tinkerer of a cook and also fearless to improvise when I am short an ingredient. Magically a few nights ago I discovered the best crust yet. Are you ready for this? It was crisp, chewy, thin but not too thin. It held shape from plate to mouth in hand, didn't hopelessly stick to the pan. It's still not regular pizza, but it is good. Here's how you can have good pizza too:

Flour blend:
1 cup sweet white rice flour (yes, it really does matter if it's the sweet)
1/3 cup sorghum flour
2/3 cup brown rice flour
1 cup potato starch
1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum

1 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 Tablespoon instant yeast
2 Tablespoons honey
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 1/4 cups warm water (110-115 degrees)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place all dry ingredients in stand mixer bowl and blend together. Dissolve honey in warm water and add oil. On low speed add wet to dry then mix on medium speed for 1 minute. It should come together in a ball and not be too sticky. Oil 2 large pizza pans well and your hands. Divide dough evenly and press into about a 12 inch circle with a slightly raised edge (this step takes time, press from the center out and keep it very even until about 1/4 inch thick). Pre-bake for about 10 minutes. Top as desired and bake another 10-15 minutes ( go for longer cause I like that crisp crust!) Let cool for about a minute and then remove from pan on to a board to cut. It may stick just a little to the pan but nothing a good spatula and a little loosening won't fix.

Now, the flavor is something I am still working on because it still tastes gluten free. Next time I plan to replace the water with warmed beer and add some fresh finely grated Parmesan. If it is a success I will add in the variation. Now go try this pizza!

5 Tips to Eating On a Budget

I'm not going to give you a bunch of useless common sense tips that you could deduce on your own (like don't eat out every meal). But rather things I have just figured out for myself or have learned from my mother.

Buy whole ingredients. Sure you can get a really cheap box of something-or-other, but are you really getting a good deal? Realistically can you feed your whole family with one package or box? Let's take a seasoned rice for example. For $1 you get 3 servings of rice (6oz package, $2.32/lb). Or you could buy rice in a 10 pound bulk amount for $5.79 (57 cents/pound) and you get 116 servings and you get to make it whatever flavor you stinkin' want!

Don't buy your chicken cut up. When you look at the per pound price of chicken you will see there is a 2-3 dollar jump from a whole chicken to pieces whether boneless/skinless or bone in/skin on. This is because you are paying for labor. Same chicken but cut up buy some big guy in an bloody apron holding a cleaver. Get a good knife, watch a video on how to cut up a chicken and don't look back. Also, learn how to roast a chicken properly. Buying a fully cooked rotisserie chicken may save time but if you plan ahead, making your own roast chicken on the weekend and stashing it in the fridge doesn't take more than 15 minutes of actual working time.

Learn to like what's on sale. So, you like grapefruit. But, it's July. Grapefruit is wicked expensive right now because it's not in season. But, look! There is watermelon on sale! Dirt cheap. You just don't "feel" like watermelon. Get over it.

Bake. No, not get baked. Bake! Put wet stuff in dry stuff and mix up some magic! Like, today, I made two loaves of GF sandwich bread, one loaf GF cinnamon raisin bread and GF english muffins. For a few hours work I saved about $20. Not even kidding. Gluten free has a bit better return on making it yourself because it is a grossly overpriced specialty food, but you can see a pretty good return on the regular stuff too. If not in cost than at least in better quality!

And, shop with a list and a calculator. There are so many times I go in the store with only so much money and I can not go over! So, as I put things in the cart I add them up on my phone calculator. If I go over I pick something I don't 'need' and either don't grab or put it back. Yes, it's annoying to have to deny yourself, but less embarrassing than coming up short at the register (been there).

There are tons of other ways I make our tiny budget work. Feel free to ask me!

Til next time.

Going Back to Gluten Free... This Time Me Too.

So after nearly a year off gluten we tested Puzzle Boy to see if he could handle it again. After about 3 weeks the answers was very clear... nope. He needs to be gluten free for his own well being and ours as his caretakers! But this time I am going to be joining him! Recently I have just been feeling "blah". You know, sluggish, tired, gross and well... fat. Attractive, huh? Yeah, I don't think so either. So I am back to being diligent on myfitnesspal.com and I have done a bit of research on Blood Type Diets. I was vegetarian for a period when I was younger as well as attended a yoga class weekly and felt amazing. Granted I wasn't a mom at the time and I had the time to really focus on my well being. But, now it is imperative that I get this figured out. I need energy! I am going to be doing a loose-ish version of the diet for my blood type (A positive). This includes a mostly vegetarian diet with limited fish, chicken and turkey, no processed foods, no wheat except sprouted wheat, limited dairy (mostly cultured). I am not going to be restricting veggies and fruits at all, except ones that clearly bother me. Life without any tomatoes? Uh, no thanks. So while I will not be super strict GF, I will be mostly GF.

Luckily, we have quite a bit of gluten free baking mixes and flours left. When those are gone I will be trying out making my own flour mix using aramanth, brown rice, millet, oat, soy and sorghum flours and sweet rice, tapioca and arrowroot starches. Mixing my own will result in about $1.55 per 1000 grams of finished flour which will save me about $5.64 per batch compared to buying Bob's Red Mill AP gluten free Baking Flour. See! I can still save money even on GF! May not be as cheap as regular flour but healthy is worth it for me and my little man. I am sure I will play with different flours and such for different baked goods but that combo will be my starting point. I will share the recipe for it when I make it :-)


Have a good week!