It wasn’t intentional, but this has turned out to be classic American food week on America’s Table; first a steak sandwich, now pizza. What’s special about pizza? Its infinite variety, for starters. Thick crust, New York-style thin crust, endless toppings, dripping cheeses: can you imagine life without out it? I asked a friend with celiac disease what food they most missed eating, and the answer was…pizza. That’s exactly why I wanted to make gluten-free pizza, because if someone told me I couldn’t have pizza anymore, I wouldn’t be able to think about eating anything else. If you have to be gluten-free, you still deserve a great pizza – and it’s not that difficult to make at home.

You can do it the long way, with a mixture of gluten-free flour, rice flour, tapioca flour, sorghum, millet, xanthum gum, and various ingredients to get that yeasty, doughy crust, or you can buy gluten-free pizza dough mix and let someone else do all the ingredient-gathering and mixing. I think a mix is ultimately less expensive, unless you cook regularly with all of these ingredients. It certainly is faster, and time is often a deciding factor in whether people cook or carry in these days.

Once you’ve got the pizza dough conundrum settled, there’s the cheese to consider. I like a nice, moist mozzarella, but if you can’t eat dairy products, there are cheese substitutes that you can use. For the sake of those who are lactose-intolerant, I used a cheese substitute on this pizza, but in all candor, I prefer real cheese. However, if you really can’t have dairy, this is a reasonable substitute. You’ll still get the pizza experience.

Now the fun part – loading up on all your favorite toppings and making this pizza your own little slice(s) of heaven! I used mushrooms, red peppers, whole black olives, and shredded basil, but obviously the only limit here is your imagination. One other little tip: if you have time to make the dough, and let it sit in the refrigerator overnight to rise, you will get a better pizza crust. (The slow-rise method tends to make the dough less yeasty.) I had doubts about how the dough would taste, but I was pleasantly surprised. It had texture, plenty of flavor, and it baked to a nice golden brown. The only thing I would add is to be sure to save some of the pizza dough mix to sprinkle on the wet dough when you’re prepping it for the pizza pan. I forgot to do this, and had to use rice flour to finish the crust because I’d used up all of the gluten-free mix in the dough. Enjoy!

Serves: 6 large slices

Prep time: 45 minutes plus time for the dough to rise – at least 20 minutes or overnight in the refrigerator