A lot of my recipes these days often begin with, “It had been a long time since I ate…” Lately, much of my recipe creation has revolved around old favourites that I’m healthifying and making new again. For me, this is a creative challenge and after twelve years spent creating recipes, I have far more wins than losses so perhaps I’m also getting bolder in my experiments. Either way, it had been a long time since I had homemade gluten-free pizza.
You can find many gluten-free pizza crust recipe options online but too often without the gluten, they include egg or dairy, or both. I wanted a simple-to-make crust that was free of those common allergens, with a bonus of being vegan-friendly for those who follow that lifestyle. Now, perhaps my next challenge may be to make a paleo-friendly pizza crust without eggs or dairy but I fear it may end up being just a thin slice of cabbage with pizza toppings! (Jokes, jokes!)
The greatest challenge with all ready-made gluten-free pizza crusts, and even the ones you can get in restaurants (yay for that indulgent option!) is that they are largely a mix of a variety of starches and gums to lend the crust that typical light, gooey, stick together consistency we’ve come to know and love with thin crust pizza. Including things like tapioca or arrowroot starch in gluten-free baking is fairly standard. But optimally you have just one and it makes up a portion of the finished recipe.
Common Starches and Binders Found in Ready Made Gluten-Free Flour Blends
- Tapioca Starch
- Arrowroot starch
- Potato starch
- Potato flour
- Corn starch
- Guar gum
- Xantham gum
Psyllium Is My Secret Ingredient
To reduce the need for the crust to be a starch fest, and to avoid using any gums which can be irritating to the digestive tract, I use a little powdered psyllium. You may recognize this ingredient from a few of my baked goods, and the Banana Berry Oatmazing muffin from the UnDiet Cookbook. I love it in baking as it holds liquid, bulks and binds – a triple threat in the gluten-free baking world. And of course, psyllium is a great thing to have on hand for those days when you’re feeling a little, ahem, back-logged.
Tip: Batch Prep The Flour
As this recipe doesn’t have any rising time, it can be done quickly, which is nice. To make it even quicker and easier, batch prep the flour mix. Let’s say you triple the below recipe so that you have the ability to quickly get a pizza into the oven, the ratio of mix to liquid is as follows.
- Combine 2, 3, or 4 times the called for dry ingredients (chickpea flour, brown rice flour, arrowroot flour, sea salt, coconut sugar.
- Store in an airtight container
- When ready to bake, use the following guide to get baking fast.
- 2 1/4 cups + 1 1/2 Tbsp dry pizza flour mix
- 2 tsp olive oil
- 1 cup of water
Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free, Egg-Free Pizza Crust
- Total Time: 35 mins
- Yield: 2-4 servings 1x
Description
An extremely easy and delicious gluten-free pizza crust recipe that is also egg-free, dairy-free, yeast-free and vegan.
Ingredients
- 1⁄2 cup chickpea flour
- 3⁄4 cup brown rice flour
- 1 cup arrowroot flour/starch
- 1 1⁄2 teaspoons ground psyllium husk
- 1 teaspoon ground sea salt
- 2 teaspoons ground coconut sugar (optional*)
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- 1 cup warm water
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450° and if using a baking stone, place it inside the oven.
- In a large bowl, sift together flours, psyllium, and arrowroot starch. Add salt and sugar and mix well.
- Once flours are mixed, add in the olive oil and warm water and mix throughly with a spatula.
- If making two pizzas (which is recommended in a home oven and with standard cookie sheets), split dough into two balls.
- Sprinkle a sheet of parchment paper with flour, and plop one ball of dough on top. Sprinkle with more flour so it’s not too sticky to touch. Add another sheet of parchment over top and roll out the dough to about 1/4 inch thick.
- Do the same with the second ball of dough.
- If you’ve had a pizza stone in the oven, using a second cookie sheet, mindfully transfer pizza crust on parchment onto pizza stone. I like to trim the extra parchment off from my pizza to avoid burning paper at this high temperature. If using a regular baking sheet transfer to the oven. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or once the edges start to brown slightly.
- Remove your first crust from oven, slip the second one in. While the second one is baking, add your toppings and bake for another 8-10 minutes, or until toppings are ready.
- Repeat with second pizza.
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 20 mins
- Category: Dinner
Of course, pizza isn’t pizza without the toppings. Though I wish I could tell you that I also make all my own tomato paste from scratch, I don’t. I buy organic in glass containers. I’ll take a small jar of tomato paste and mix in some olive oil and my choice of herbs and spices – usually keeping it simple with oregano and basil. I also love pizza with a pesto base instead of tomato sauce.
Pizza Friendly Pestos:
Please let me know when you try this pizza! You can tag me on Instagram @meghantelpner, or post a comment below and share what you topped your gluten-free pizza with.
22 responses to “Easy and Delicious Gluten-Free Pizza Crust (Yeast-Free, Dairy-Free, Egg-Free, Vegan)”
Do you have a favorite substitution for chickpea flour? Sadly I am reactive to it 😫
Hi Cathy! In terms of this specific recipe I’m not sure, as I tested it with chickpea flour. However, in general, you could try subbing chickpea flour with another bean flour or almond flour.
Hi Meghan,
Can’t wait to try this! I’m on a pizza kick at the moment. Could the brown rice flour be subbed for buckwheat do you think?
Hi Joanne! It took me awhile to get a crust that I really love, and this one is it! I haven’t made this with buckwheat but you could try it and let me know how it goes.
Aaah! This is the best pizza crust ever! Mostly because it is as instant as it can get and doesn’t require much prepping!
Thanks Meghan for this wonderful recipe! I tried it yesterday, just that 1 cup of water seemed a little too much so i had to add an extra half a cup of flours (combination of chickpea and brown rice).
But that biscuit crust was just fantastic!
Thanks once again!!
★★★★★
What would be a gluten -free substitute for brown rice flour?
You could try another gluten-free flour like buckwheat, millet, sorghum, teff, etc., but I can’t guarantee it will turn out the same as this version. Let me know what you try and how it works out!
What is on the pesto pizza?
Hi!
In the ‘Batch Prep The Flour’ tip, I wanted to confirm that the amount of water should read 1 cup instead of 2 cups?
My partner and I loved the crust and have been enjoying our pizzas this week! Thanks for the recipe :)
★★★★★
Can i store pre-made crust overnight for next day use if i’m making multiple pizzas?
Going to try doing it this week. But just checking if someone’s already tried storing?
I usually bake the two at once, but I think you should be OK if you store it overnight in the fridge (you can always crisp it up for a few minutes in the oven before adding toppings). If you’re going to leave it longer than a day, I’d recommend freezing it. Please let me know how it turns out after being in the fridge overnight!
You can try substituting sweet potato flour for the other flours.
★★★★★
Thanks for this recipe, Meghan! I tried making it tonight and I followed the instructions, but the dough was kind of liquidy after I mixed everything. There was no way I could make it into balls. I had to add more flour to make it able to form a dough. I used psyllium flakes instead of ground. Could that be the reason? I did everything else according to the recipe. Thanks!
Best tasting gluten free pizza base I’ve tried. Made it exactly as stated but had a pretty soupy mix at the dough stage – had to add another .5 cup flour blend and it was fine. Am new to trying gluten free stuff so was happy as other recipes I’ve tried were average.
★★★★
I subbed buckwheat for the brown rice because it was what I have and it turned out great!
Thanks for sharing! I don’t tolerate rice, food sensitivity, and having a substitute for rice flour is very helpful.
I made my first pizza crust tonight. As it’s just me eating it, I wanted to use half of the premade flour mixture (under Batch Prep the Flour Mixture). I think it should be 1 cup of water, not 2 there? I used 1 cup with 1/2 of the premade mixture and it was like soup. I added the remaining prepped flour mixture and will make the full recipe. I am going to try freezing one. Looking forward to trying my dough. It’s been so long since I have had pizza!
Hi Kathi – I’ve updated the batch prep instructions. You’re right, it should be 1 cup of water. Thanks for catching that!
Is there anything that can be used to substitute the arrowroot flour? More brown rice flour, maybe?
The arrowroot helps to bind the crust and also offers a lighter texture. You could try tapioca flour/starch instead. You could experiment with other flours like almond flour, or more brown rice. I haven’t tested it this way and the crust may not bind as well and end up denser.
I was very excited to see this recipient as I am looking for a healthy alternative for myself and family. Unfortunately I’m very allergic to psyllium. Would ground flax or chia work instead?
Tks
Jacqueline
Hi Jacqueline! I haven’t tried this recipe with flax or chia, but it could work – you’d need to give it a try. If you can tolerate eggs, one egg could work here as well.