Pizza/French Bread Mix and Pizza Crust

I cannot even tell you how long and frustrating my search has been for a good pizza crust.  Up until this one, everything had been totally inedible.  Then I decided to try the Pizza/French Bread Mix in "The Gluten-free Gourmet Bakes Bread" by Bette Hagman.  She said in the book that it was good, but so had all of the other recipes I had tried, so I didn't believe it.  But....success!  Tonight I served it to some friends, and they didn't even guess it was gluten free until they saw my husband eating it too.  Plus, it's so convenient to have the mix on hand -- it saves time and effort and when followed exactly, produces predictable results.  So here's the mix recipe:

Pizza/French Bread Mix -- 12 Cups

7 Cups white rice flour
5 Cups tapioca flour
1/4 Cup xanthan gum
4 (7-gram) packets unflavored gelatin
1/4 Cup egg replacer
1/2 Cup granulated sugar

Mix together well; store in container in your pantry.

And now for the good part:

Seasoned Pizza Crust

Dry Ingredients:                                                             1 Crust                      2 Crusts
Pizza/French Bread Mix                                             1-1/2 Cups                 3 Cups
Dry milk powder                                                        3 Tablespoons            1/3 Cup
Italian Pizza Seasoning                                                3/4 teaspoon              1-1/2 teaspoons
Salt                                                                            1/2 teaspoon              1 teaspoon
Dry yeast granules                                                      2-1/2 teaspoons         2-1/2 teaspoons

Wet Ingredients:
Egg whites                                                                 2                                4
Olive oil or vegetable oil                                             1-1/2 Tablespoons     3 Tablespoons
Vinegar                                                                      1/2 teaspoon              1 teaspoon
Warm water (more or less)                                         3/4 Cup                     1-1/2 Cups

Preheat oven to 400.  Lightly grease 1 (2) cookie sheets or round, solid-bottom pizza pan(s).
Blend the dry ingredients in a medium bowl.  Set aside.
Place the wet ingredients in the bowl of your heavy-duty mixer and blend.  (Reserve some of the water.)  Turn the mixer to low and add the flour mix.  Add more water if needed to get a firm dough that can still be spread.  Beat on high for 3-1/2 minutes.

Spoon the dough onto the prepared sheet(s) and spread in circle(s) about 12 inches in diameter, making sure the edges are raised to contain the sauce.  (I do this with a thin spatula, turning the pan and forcing the dough to thin out except at the edges.  It takes a while, so be patient!  Try to get the dough pretty evenly distributed so you don't have thick/thin places.)

Let rise about 10 minutes and then bake until crust just starts to brown.  Meanwhile, prepare your toppings.

Spread on your choice of pizza sauces, cheese, meats, and vegetables.  Bake again about 20-25 minutes, until cheese is bubbly and outer crust is brown.

For this pizza I used a white sauce (garlic ranch--they sell it ready-made at my supermarket in the refrigerated section), about half a pound of mozzerella cheese shredded, 6 green onions chopped, canadian bacon to cover top, sliced fresh mushrooms to cover top, 1/4 lb medium cheddar cheese shredded, and a can of sliced olives.  Be creative -- use anything and everything you like.  See what a nice crisp bottom crust you get?  I just had to flip one over to show you :).

The next post will be French Bread made from this same mix.  Stay tuned!