How To Freeze Homemade Pizza Crust?

[imsohungry]

Although I have successfully wasted hundreds of dollars on my gluten-free cooking experiments, I have tried exactly two recipes that I can actually make. One of them is for a gluten-free pizza crust; I made it about a year ago. Since I don't have time to cook everyday, I thought about mixing a couple of crusts at one time and then pulling them out of the fridge/freezer as I need them for the week.

My question: Should I bake all of the dough at once or store it in the fridge and bake it as I need it? Or should I just bake the crusts, and then freeze them all? Or should I just bake them and refridgerate them? I will probably eat them all within the week, but what if I don't...how should I store them?

Please don't laugh; I know I'm totally clueless in the kitchen.

Thanks. -Julie

[chrissy]

i would probably bake them all and then freeze them.

so what's the recipe, we haven't made one we like yet.

[Turtle]

Yes, please share the recipe...

[Guhlia]

Bette Hagman has a great pizza crust recipe, it's the Easy Pizza recipe. It's in at least two of her books. It is excellent. I serve it to friends all the time and they look at me like I'm nuts when I take a bite and say "I thought you couldn't eat real pizza". Ha! Then I tell them it's gluten free.

[TinkerbellSwt]

I made my pizza dough and tried to refrigerate it until the next day.. didnt come out to well. I think maybe I will try baking and then freezing them.

[imsohungry]

Angie,

If you don't mind, could you post your recipe from BH's cookbook?

Chrissy and Tinker,

Thanks for the tip; I will try baking and freezing!

I'm embarrassed to share my recipe; I kind of made it up myself. It doesn't look like traditional pizza crust at all, but it doesn't taste bad and holds together fairly well. When I get it "perfected," I'll share it.

I made it tonight for dinner. Yummy, it wasn't Domino's or Pizza Hut, but it was pizza and satisfied my craving!

Thanks for the replies and suggestions! -Julie

[gaynonna]

Look at Italian Flatbread post today. Actually it is called focaccia. It makes a wonderful pizza crust, or Bette Hagmans pizza crust made with her featherlight mix is really good.

[GFBetsy]

Julie -

With my pizza crust recipe, I almost always bake several at once and then freeze most of them in a gallon Ziplock. (They are about the size of a medium Boboli crust.) Then I just defrost one in the microwave for 30 seconds or so, top it with sauce, cheese, etc., and then bake it for another 15 minutes at 400 degrees or so. It works really well.

My sister spent this summer as a counselor at a church based youth program here. The youth come for one week and live on campus at BYU. My sister was a counselor for several sessions. One Wednesday she called and said : "One of my girls has celiac, and we're supposed to be having a pizza party tonight, and there isn't going to be anything she can eat. Could you . . . ?" I told her I'd make a pizza, and it honestly only took me about 30 minutes (including baking time) because I already had crusts stored in the freezer. I just made some pizza sauce, cooked some BBQ chicken, and threw the pizza together. My sister told me later that the girl cried because she hadn't had pizza in so long and it tasted so good . That made my day!

My older sister has also made several pizza crusts in pie plates, then topped them and THEN froze them. Then all she had to do was pull one out of the freezer and bake it (kind of like the nasty cardboard Totino's pizzas the grocery store sells).

And by the way . . . people eat those nasty Totino's pizzas all the time . . . so it's not just people with celiac who have a tough time finding a good pizza! :lol:

[mamatide]

I recently tried the pizza crust recipe in Annalise Roberts' cookbook and the recipe actually recommends that you make it in advance (several hours) of eating it - or freezing the crusts (instructions for wrapping are included).

The crust is substantially different in texture from the one on Carol Fenster's website (savorypalate.com) in that it's fluffy and breadish. The Roberts' crust is a rising crust and to be honest in terms of leftovers it gives a nicer texture for eating cold in lunches and the like.

The kids liked it in any event.

mamatide

[FrostyFriday]

This recipe by Carol Fenster is very good and egg less as well as gluten free. I mixed it by hand and it turned out great.

Pizza Crust & Pizza Sauce

Pizza Crust

1 tablespoon gluten-free dry yeast

2/3 cup brown rice flour

1/2 cup tapioca flour

2 tablespoons dry milk powder

2 teaspoons xanthan gum

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin powder (Knox)

1 teaspoon Italian herb seasoning

2/3 cup warm milk (110º) or non-dairy liquid

1/4 teaspoon honey

1 teaspoon olive oil

1 teaspoon cider vinegar

Extra rice flour for sprinkling

Pizza Sauce

1 can (8 oz.) tomato sauce

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano leaves

1/2 teaspoon dried basil leaves

1/2 teaspoon crushed dried rosemary

1/4 teaspoon garlic

2 teaspoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

Toppings of your choice

Sauce: Combine all ingredients in small saucepan and bring to boil over medium heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes, while Pizza Crust is being assembled. Makes about 1 cup.

Crust: Preheat oven to 425ºF. In medium mixer bowl using regular beaters (not dough hooks), blend the yeast, flours, dry milk powder, xanthan gum, salt, gelatin powder, and Italian seasoning on low speed. Add warm milk, sugar, oil, and vinegar.

Beat on high speed for 2 minutes. (If the mixer bounces around the bowl, the dough is too stiff. Add water if necessary, one tablespoon at a time, until dough does not resist beaters.) The dough will resemble soft bread dough. (You may also mix in bread machine on dough setting.)

Put mixture on lightly greased 12-inch pizza pan or on baking sheet (for thin, crispy crust), 11 x 7-inch pan (for deep dish version) that has been coated with cooking spray. Liberally sprinkle rice flour onto dough, then press dough into pan, continuing to sprinkle dough with flour to prevent sticking to your hands. Make edges thicker to hold the toppings.

Bake pizza crust for 10 minutes. Remove from oven. Top Pizza Crust with sauce and your preferred toppings. Bake for another 20-25 minutes or until top is nicely browned. Serves 6 (1 slice per serving).

Calories, 153; Fat 1.5g, Protein 4g; Carb. 33g; Chol.1 mg; Sodium 635 mg; Fiber 3g (crust and sauce only)

Dairy Alternative: 2 tablespoons tapioca flour or sweet rice flour in place of the 2 tablespoons dry milk powder or non-dairy milk powder. However, the crust won't brown as nicely.

[imsohungry]

Thanks for the suggestions and recipes everyone!

Mike, Nonna, and Frosty

Thank you SO MUCH for posting your recipes. Frosty, I'm glad you listed the "alternatives" section. I am always wondering what I can substitute (i.e. for the milk powder...which I don't keep around the house usually).

Mamatide and Betsy,

I'm so grateful for the storage suggestions...I really am totally clueless b/c before I was gluten-free, I only cooked instant food. Glad to see you listed websites too.

Betsy, You are cracking me up about the Totino's pizza! I've burnt bread that tasted better than some of that stuff! That is so sweet that you made that girl cry tears of happiness! It's amazing what a touch of kindness and good gluten-free cooking can mean to someone. I'm sure that touched your heart!

I can't wait to get started with these recipes. I need to go to the store this weekend though, I'm out of geletin and yeast and....on and on.

Happy cooking!

[imsohungry]

  mike sans gluten said:

imsohungry,

You are welcome. Glad I could help.

I hope the ingredients in my version are easy enough to locate - the only ones that may be an issue would be the sweet(glutinous) rice flour and regular white rice flour perhaps. If you can use dairy, that's good, since I use some milk and bit of parmesan cheese in my version for added flavor.

Hope your baking goes well.

Mike, I have everything that the recipe calls for EXCEPT glutinous rice flour, where would I find that? Is there a possible substitute...I have the regular white rice flour. I scrolled down to the picture in the cast iron pan. Boy, does that look yummy! I really wish I had a Whole Foods near me. Makes baking gluten-free difficult. Thanks again! -Julie

[Guest Robbin]

Hi EnerG foods has sweet rice flour in a box. I got some at our local health food store, but you could probably order it online. Also, if you have an Asian market near you, it is what they sell, and much cheaper there, from what others have told me. Alas, we don't have one near me, so I pay $$$ to much for it, but it is worth it to get good results.

[imsohungry]

  Robbin said:

Hi EnerG foods has sweet rice flour in a box. I got some at our local health food store, but you could probably order it online. Also, if you have an Asian market near you, it is what they sell, and much cheaper there, from what others have told me. Alas, we don't have one near me, so I pay $$$ to much for it, but it is worth it to get good results.

Thanks Robbin! We don't have an Asian market, but I will double check my grocery store. They just put in an expanded health foods section, and I'm still learning where things are one the shelves. If I don't find it, I'll order from EnerG. -Julie

[imsohungry]

Thanks Mike,

I'm going to get the flour this weekend from the local health store. I want to try my new pizza recipe on Sunday; I'll post as soon as I make it!

[imsohungry]

  mike sans gluten said:

This weekend when I was out shopping I checked around on the glutinous rice (aka Sweet Rice) flour availability. I found it at Trader Joes, Wild Oats, and a couple of small local "health food" stores that cater to gluten-free diets. Hope you were able to find it OK somewhere, imsohungry. From what I can see here in NE Ohio, it seems to be rather common now.

Mike,

I'm ordering the flour on-line. Unfortunately, our only store with a health foods section didn't sell it. I tried your recipe this weekend though (despite the missing ingredient) and the flavor is FANTASTIC! It reminded me of the breadsticks at Pizza Hut...yummmy! The consistency was wrong though (which I expected because I didn't have the sweet rice flour) and I also made a skillet error that I won't make next time (mine was too big). SOOOOO...considering all that I did wrong (and still managing to get a pizza crust out of it), I can't wait to try it again when my flour arrives!

Thanks again. -Julie