Pizza crust, sans gluten?  Not an easy feat.  Without dairy, soy, eggs, corn, or yeast you say…who would attempt such a thing?  The food allergy-friendly folks at Namaste Foods have taken on the challenge.  So how is it?  With a jumbo bag of their pizza crust mix in hand; I set out to answer this question.

The package contains enough mix for two full-size pizza crusts, and is easy to close up for storage.  All I had to do was add oil, water, blend, and roll out.  Not to difficult, and no rising time.  Thus far, the mix could do no wrong.  I discovered an odd bonus to its gluten-free state.  Though I didn’t have problems with the dough staying together, it is easy to break apart by hand.  This made dough reshaping very easy.  I was able to re-form my pizza crust into a perfectly presentable circle (rather than my usual lopsided, rounded-off, rectangle).  However, the less cohesive behavior did make it a touch more difficult to roll the dough very thin.

After ten minutes of baking, I topped my pizza, and put it back in for another ten minutes.  The crust didn’t really brown, but it was definitely done.  As I discovered when slicing, this was more like a flatbread than a yeasty pizza crust.  It lacked that familiar crisp exterior and chewy center.  However, the crust had a good bread-like texture, and it stayed together well (sometimes a problem for gluten-free breads). 

The overall flavor was unique, but not one I could easily describe.  The flours offered a taste of their own that was mild, and offset slightly by the general mix of Italian herbs.  It wasn’t bad, but didn’t really excite me as a pizza crust either.  My husband liked the flavor, but said it felt like he was carb-loading when he ate it.  I too would prefer that crisp, chewy crust that alas is so difficult to create gluten-free. 

My Extra Notes & Tips:

• I will likely experiment with my second crust from the mix to make more of a flatbread type dish.  Possibly using cold toppings rather than a baked pizza style meal.
• If you are wondering where I got the cheese alternative that melts so well…I was wondering the same thing.  I bought two packages of Galaxy Foods Rice Vegan (or so I thought) cheese alternative.  For some reason, one package melted and the other didn’t.  It seems I accidentally grabbed one hat wasn’t vegan (contained casein).  Oops!  So ignore the toppings (as I did) in the picture, just take note of the crust!

Where to Purchase:

• Online:  Direct from www.NamasteFoods.com
• In Stores:  U.S. & Canada

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