My husband was 8 years old when he was diagnosed with allergies to wheat, tomatoes, and milk/dairy. That was the last time he had pizza or Italian food. The man is allergic to EVERYTHING in a pizza.
Last summer, we were in New York City and visited a gluten-free Italian restaurant. We figured, the chef could probably accommodate and make a special pizza for Jason without the cheese or the tomato sauce. And he did. He made a pizza with just bread and slices of sausage on top. It was lame. How can you even call that a pizza?! But Jason was happy eating “pizza” for the first time since 8.
So finally, after four years of being married to a man with allergies to everything about Italian food, I’ve finally figured out my way around the gluten-free kitchen (and in Shanghai too!). I’ve acquired most of the ingredients necessary to make decent gluten-free meals and breads.
My latest discovery and obsession is making gluten-free, dairy-free, and tomato-free pizza! You’re probably wondering, how can you even call that a pizza? Well, believe it or not, it’s so good that even our neighbors liked it. Jason has been very happy eating his gluten-free, dairy-free, and tomato-free pizza. And I’d tell him, “Yes, you’re eating a pizza!”
Here’s the recipe for the pizza crust from The Gluten-Free Gourmet Cooks Comfort Foods:
Dry Ingredients
1 3/4 cups rice flour
1 1/4 cups tapioca starch
1 tablespoon xanthan gum
2 teaspoons unflavored gelatin
1/3 cup sugar*
1 tablespoon Egg Replacer*
3 tablespoons nondairy substitute*
1 1/2 teaspoons Italian seasoning/herb
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon yeastWet Ingredients:
4 egg whites
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vinegar or dough enhancer
1 1/2 cups lukewarm waterDirections:
- Preheat oven to 400°F. Lightly grease 2 cookies sheets or pizza pans.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients.
- Place the wet ingredients in another bowl and mix together. Turn the mixer to low and add the dry ingredients. Beat on high for 3 1/2 minutes.
- Divide the dough in half onto the prepared sheets and spread in circles about 12” in diameter, making raised edges to contain the sauce.
- Let the dough rise for about 10 minutes, then bake for 10 minutes while preparing the toppings.
- Add the toppings to the pizza, then bake again for about 22-25 minutes.
A few notes about making the pizza crust:
- I didn’t use any of the ingredients marked with asterisk (*) because I can’t find them in China. The pizza tastes fine without.
- The dough consistency is quite gooey unlike normal wheat-based pizza dough that you can pick up, knead, twirl, or toss around. Spreading the dough on a pan is a messy job, but with experience, it’s manageable.
- I bought pizza pans from Metro and tried baking the crust in the pans a few times, but no matter how much I grease the pan, the pizza crust would stick to the pan. Now, I use Silpat instead and it’s awesome! I don’t need to grease the Silpat and the crust slides right off!
- I find that if I spread the pizza crust thin and bake (with the toppings) for just 5-10 minutes longer, the pizza turns out a lot like New York-style pizza—thin and crunchy!
Pizza Sauces and Toppings
I don’t have any recipes for pizza sauces, but it’s quite easy being creative and experimenting with different ingredients. There are plenty of options for pizza sauces that are not tomato-based. I’ve tried using Amy’s organic medium chili (got from Costco in the U.S.) as pizza sauce. I’ve made my own BBQ sauce using Worcestershire sauce, gluten-free soy sauce, and honey. I’ve even tried using curry sauce as pizza sauce. Basically, any sauce that is thick and flavorful will do as the base for the pizza toppings.
As for the actual toppings, here are a few suggestions:
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Pamela Pour said
April 30 2009 @ 11:03 am
thanks for sharing. I use an egg replacer I got in the US. SO do you not use any sugar? I thought the yeast needs the sugar to feed on? My recipe is similar but no gelatin (allergies) and I have to use egg relpacer because my family has egg allergies so we use no egg either. My recipe also calls for more yeast I think.
Try using honey instead of sugar, it has a nice taste, but you only need 2 tablespoons not 1/3 cup.
thanks for sharing. I may try to adapt to your recipe, especially the xanthan gum!
Pamela
admin said
April 30 2009 @ 11:21 am
Yes, I use honey instead of sugar. I forgot to mention that in the post. We try to avoid eating any refined white sugar, and instead, use honey as a substitute.
Also, I had some meringue powder which can be used as egg white substitutes. We’re not allergic to eggs, but sometimes I use meringue powder instead of egg whites.
Kristen said
June 5 2009 @ 9:34 am
I am so glad google brought me to you. My daughter has the allergies in addition to soy, corn both which are NOT in your recipe! Thanks!
Charlotte said
August 5 2009 @ 8:51 pm
A friend was recently diagnosed with all kinds of allergies, and since I love cooking and she doesn’t, I’ve been experimenting with recipes for her - I came across this post searching for ideas.
One of her allergies is tomato, so I decided to devise a pizza sauce for her: I finely chopped carrot and red bell pepper, roasted them in the oven until they were very soft, and then blended them into a puree, adding a bit of lemon juice to simulate the tartness of tomato, and salt and pepper to taste. It was a bit too runny, so I put the puree in a saucepan over a low heat for a little while to reduce it to the consistency of tomato puree. It didn’t quite taste like tomato, but it was very nice under the other toppings: onion, green bell pepper, mushrooms and mozarella - which could be replaced with a vegan soy-based ‘cheese’ for those with allergies to dairy.
I think a sauce - both for pizza and pasta - with roasted red peppers and aubergine (eggplant) would also be nice: trying that one tonight, and I’ll report back if you’re interested
Xanzmome said
September 8 2009 @ 6:43 am
My daughter is allergic to milk, eggs, tomatoes, peppers, and pineapple. She’s extremely hard to cook for, but I’ve managed. One of my biggest tricks is making a paste out of fresh (or canned) mango and canned prune plum pastry filling, with a little lemon juice to make it a little more tart. This makes an excellent tomato paste substitute, which we use as a base for pizza sauce or chili. (For chili: add garlic, cumin, oregano, onions if you like, peppers if you can tolerate them, beef, and beans.)
By the way, Whole Foods pizza crusts are egg-free and dairy-free. We have also discovered Vegan Gourmet brand “cheese”.
Xanzmome said
September 8 2009 @ 6:46 am
One more aside: anyone who is allergic to tomatoes might also be sensitive to other nightshades such as eggplant and peppers (not peppercorns). For my daughter, we avoid them altogether.
natalie said
October 16 2009 @ 4:40 am
Try using Pesto or an olive puree instead of “sauce” there is a gluten free restaurant in New York City called Rissotteria that makes some of their pizza that way and they are fantastic!
natalie said
October 16 2009 @ 4:43 am
Daiya also seems to be the new dairy, gluten and cassein free craze in cheese…it’s supposed to shred and melt the same way dairy cheese does…
http://daiyafoods.com/where.html
and risotteria’s website is http://risotteria.com/
to check out a few pizza ideas for sauce and topping…
Donna said
December 8 2009 @ 12:53 am
I’m going to try some of these recipes. I love tomato and green and red peppers but recently have had to eliminate those, along with cow milk, from my diet. I love spaghetti so remembering that spaghetti squash made a good substitute for pasta, I just purchased one. I can have pasta but my grown daughter cannot, thus the spaghetti squash. All the sauces I find on the shelves of the big chain stores contain cow milk, tomatoes or peppers. I’m 73 and must learn to cook again.