Gluten Free Stuffed Crust Pizza!

It snowed today.  I am not a person who loves the snow.  Since my knees make skiing, sledding, and really any activity which might include slipping (walking, getting into the car) a really bad plan, I have never learned to enjoy snow.  I see it coming down and I want to retreat into my cave and hibernate until spring.

So much for raking the leaves (yeah I'm really heart broken about that).  There will be no bike rides.  After braving the weather for grocery shopping the kids and I decided to return to our cave and watch movies and eat pizza.  My little guy requested stuffed crust, and I said what the heck.

Stuffed crust pizza is really not a lot trickier than regular pizza.  Since I feel that we all have to eat all our crusts when it's gluten free pizza (this stuff is too expensive to throw away) stuffed crust makes that more enjoyable.  Today, I had some fresh mozzarella curds, and I have to say they tasted even better than the string cheese I normally use.

So here goes, this is the same crust/focaccia bread recipe I've posted before, but I re-sized it.  It will make two 14 inch pizzas.  If you don't want to make that much, you can cut it in half, though I recommend making up extra crusts, par baking them and freezing them.  Then you have an easy work night dinner.

Make the biga:

540 g warm water

9g dry active yeast

225 g sorghum flour

375 g brown rice flour

150 g tapioca flour

75 g potato flour

75 g corn flour

15 g xanthan gum

Dissolve the yeast in the water and set aside.  Measure the dry ingredients into a bowl and blend well.  Stir about one third of the flour blend into the water/yeast mixture, until it has the consistency of a thick cake batter.  Cover the bowl with a damp towel and set in a warm place to proof for at least 3 hours.  Add 15 g baking powder to the flour mix.  Cover the remaining flour and set aside.  You can do this step in the morning and leave it in a warm moist place all day, just make sure it's in a really big bowl so it can rise without overflowing.

 

Make the dough:

420 G Water

120 g oil

15 g psyllium husk

15 g salt

Stir together and let rest for at least 10 minutes.   The psyllium will absorb a great deal of the moisture and will look like a thin jelly.

 

Pour the biga, the water and psyllium mixture and the remaining flour into the bowl of your mixer.  Blend the dough on low speed until combined then turn the speed up to high and mix for 3-4 minutes.

Divide out the dough into the pans and spread it out like you do for a normal pizza.  This is easiest if you get your hands damp.  If the dough starts to stick, simply rinse your hands again.  Once the dough is spread, use either small fresh mozzarella curds or string cheese sticks cut in half lengthwise and press the cheese into the dough all the way around the outside edge.  Now gently roll the edges of the dough over the cheese to the inside of the crust.  Then press the dough outward again until it covers the pan.  Press down the edges of the dough to seal the cheese in.

Pre-heat oven to 425

 

Let it rise for about 30-45 minutes until soft and puffy looking.

If you are going to be freezing a crust, par cook it for 10-12 minutes, cool and freeze.  When you are ready to use it, thaw it, top it, and bake for 10-15 minutes until lightly browned on top.

If you are eating it today, top with your favorite sauce and toppings and cheese.  Bake for 20 minutes.  If your oven browns things too quickly (like mine)  you can loosely cover the pizza with aluminum foil that has been generously sprayed with Pam.  Bake it covered for 10-15 minutes and then remove the foil to lightly brown the cheese and toppings.

Allow to cool for about 5 minutes before slicing and serving.