The Joy of Pizza

Greetings all Pizza Lovers!

After posting the pictures of my pizza adventure on Facebook, several people asked me to post the recipe so here goes. I need to give a shout out to Bob’s Red Mill for making the simplest and most delicious pizza crust- thanks guys! Overall, this recipe is FAST, EASY, and CHEAP. Win!

We need smell-o-vision!

Ready? Here we go!

Start with one package of Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free Pizza Crust Mix. The mix makes two crusts but you can’t make a half batch. It’s all or nothing. That’s why I have the one monster-sized pizza. You can follow the directions on the back of the package or do what I did. Put the flour ingredients into a large bowl. Then place the yeast into a smaller bowl and add the prescribed amount of warm water (1 1/2 cups) and let the yeast soften. After the yeast looks like it has dissolved, add the 2 T. olive oil and the 2 organic eggs, mix it well and add it to the flour with a fork. Beat the mixture till it is well incorporated. It will start to form a ball but it will still be quite wet, sort of like a biscuit dough. If you have a pizza pan, this is when you will divide it into two balls. Spray the pan with oil and dump the dough onto the pan. Using WET hands, spread the dough out to the edges of the pan and smoosh the dough to roughly the same thickness.

Next comes the red sauce. Use one can of organic tomato paste and add approximately 1 1/2 t. garlic powder and 1 1/2 t. oregano, mix it up and smear it on the dough. Add a layer of shredded cheese.  I cheated and got pre-shredded cheese as it was on sale at Kroger. (You can get it much cheaper at Costco or shred it yourself.)

Now come the toppings.  I put two Jennie-O Hot Italian Turkey Sausage Links pulled out of their casings,  sautéed with an onion and a red bell pepper diced,  as the total amount of meat for the entire pizza.  Sliced fresh mushrooms and diced tomatoes, olives and artichoke hearts topped with a light layer of mixed cheeses completed the pizza and we did NOT miss the meat.

Just layer it on!

Cook the pizza in a hot oven (450 degrees) for 18 minutes.  I put together a green salad while the pizza was cooking and dinner was ready. Total cost was approximately $12 for a basically two pizzas with seven toppings! Counting the time it took to chop the mushrooms, it took about 40 minutes to mix up the pizza dough, smoosh it into the pan, and layer on the ingredients. All told, dinner can be on the table in about an hour for  hungry family in one hour for $12, and it is much, much  tastier and healthier than take-out.

BTW, this is not an endorsement for gluten-free because it’s gluten-free, it’s because it tastes so flippin’ good and it’s much easier and faster than traditional pizza crust. I stumbled across this product because one of my adult kids eats this and- wham! Sold!