Gluten-Free Sourdough Pizza Crust

Why You Will Love This Recipe

- Customizable. Make the crust thin or thick!

- Make-ahead. You can pre-mix the dough 1-2 days ahead or even freeze it!

- Flavor. The best gluten-free pizza crust I’ve had so far!

- Easy to handle. The dough can be easily rolled out or shaped by hand.

Sourdough Starter

Sourdough starter is wild yeast that people used to bake bread before the invention of commercial yeast. It tends to be better for digestion as richer in flavor than bread made with regular commercial yeast.

You can easily make a starter at home with only water and gluten-free flour of choice! I have a detailed recipe for a starter using brown rice flour and another starter with millet flour.

I also make gluten-free sourdough vegan bread with my starter and love it! If you don’t have a sourdough starter yet, you can make one from gluten-free flour and water. It will take 1-2 weeks for the starter to become active and fit for gluten-free sourdough recipes!

All you need to do is follow a few simple steps. It is easier than you think! If you would like to make pizza crust without sourdough, check out my no-yeast cassava flour pizza crust.

Substitutions

Brown rice flour – you can use oat flour, white rice flour, sorghum flour, buckwheat flour, or other types if you need to. Keep in mind that some flours absorb liquids better than others, so you might need to adjust the amount based on the texture.

Cornstarch – I am using cornstarch to make this pizza nightshade free (potato free) but you can use potato starch, tapioca starch, or arrowroot starch instead.

Psyllium husk – I do not recommend substituting psyllium husk. If you substitute psyllium husk, your crust will be less stable and more crumbly. Psyllium husk is by far the best binding agent for gluten-free sourdough pizza! Xanthan gum, guar gum, or other options are just not good enough. Read this quick psyllium guide for more information!

First, add psyllium husk to the room-temperature water, whisk to combine, and set aside for 5 minutes. Psyllium husk will absorb the liquids and form a gel.

After five minutes, add the sourdough starter (fed or unfed) to a mixing bowl and pour psyllium husk gel into it. Mix to combine.

Add all the dry ingredients to the mixing bowl and mix with your hands.

Cover with a kitchen towel or plastic wrap and leave the dough to ferment and rise for 3-6 hours at room temperature or longer in the refrigerator (anywhere from overnight up to 2 days).

Preheat the oven to 400F/200C together with the baking tray you are using. I like to use my cast iron skillet to bake pizza crust! You can use a pizza stone or a simple baking sheet.

Then, transfer the dough onto a piece of parchment paper and divide it into two parts if making two medium-size pizzas or use the whole dough for a large pizza.

Pour a little bit of oil onto the dough to prevent sticking. Now, roll the dough out or shape it with your hands. For a thinner pizza roll the dough out thin, for a fluffier thicker crust roll the dough less.

Then, form the borders of the pizza and create a nice round shape.

Transfer the dough together with the parchment paper onto the baking tray (in my case, it is a cast-iron skillet) and bake the crust without toppings for 15 minutes (20 minutes for a crunchy crust). This step is called par-baking meaning you pre-bake the dough before the toppings go on it.

Favorite Pizza Sauces & Toppings

- Basic tomato pizza sauce with mushrooms, tomatoes, fresh basil, and cheddar.

- Olive oil & minced garlic base with olives, feta cheese, red onion, mushrooms, and arugula.

- Tomato pizza base with bolognese sauce.

Proofing Explained

In sourdough bread, there are two stages of bread fermentation – the bulk rise and proofing. With sourdough pizza crust, we only do one stage which includes both in one. Proofing is the fermentation & rising process of GF pizza dough before baking.

For a more sour pizza you will need to proof your dough in the refrigerator for 12-16 hours, where for a less sour crust it will only need 3-6 hours in room temperature.

You can even leave the dough in the refrigerator for up to 2 days if you need to make the recipe ahead or if you want to make a few pizzas at different times during the weekend.

Expert Tips

- Weigh your ingredients. I myself was hesitant to use grams in place of cups, but once I learned how to, I started preferring a digital scale to cups! It is so much easier and time-saving. I still use cups for liquids, oats, sugar, and some other things but GF flour has to be weighed for recipes to turn out well!

- You can use either a mature starter at its peak activity or starter discard. If you use starter discard, make sure to add 7g of instant/dry active yeast or 20g of fresh yeast. The rising time will also be shorter.

- You can use a pre-made gluten-free flour blend instead of the flours listed in the recipe, just keep in mind that the dough might behave differently and have a different flavor. Use 240g of GF flour for the recipe. I have a great homemade gluten-free flour blend you can try.

- Keep a bottle with filtered room-temperature water on the kitchen counter to use in sourdough recipes. I know how inconvenient it can be to not have room-temperature water when you need it!

FAQ