Gluten Free Pizza Dough

Okay guys this was almost another fail.  I'll show you pictures at the end.  You might wonder why I would attempt another GF thing like this, so closely on the heels of the GF cinnamon rolls that almost made me forget what day it was (Christmas).  Well, it's from the Simply Gluten Free Magazine my sister gave me this fall (the fall baking special) and almost everything in this magazine that I've tried I have been really pleased with.  And, I had bought the stuff for pizza a while back and never made it yet.  AND the two GF pizza dough mixes I have bought and thought were okay (just okay) were $6 for one and $10 for the other (both of them made two crusts each).  And premade GF pizza?  Don't even bother.  Pizza Hut has a GF pizza that will do in a pinch (like if everybody else in your family is getting pizza and you don't want to just watch them eat) but the one in our town closed.  All these things are the driving force behind me trying this recipe.  First the recipe, then the pictures, so I can share my thoughts at each step without interrupting the flow of the recipe...

Gluten Free Pizza Dough
1 ½ cups gluten free all purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1 ½ tsp xanthan gum
1 tbsp active dry yeast
1 envelope unflavored gelatin
½ tsp kosher or fine sea salt
½ tsp sugar or honey
2 tbsp olive oil
2/3 cup very warm water (about 110*)

Preheat oven to 425.

Combine all ingredients in a bowl of an electric mixer fitted with whisk attachment.  Mix on low until combined.  Scrape down bowl once.  Turn mixer to high and mix for 3 minutes.

Dust work surface generously with GF flour.  Knead dough a few times until it is smooth and no longer sticky.  Press dough into pizza pan or baking sheet (use a rolling pin if needed).

Bake for 10 minutes.

Add toppings and bake an additional 18-25 minutes.

Ok so after I combined all the ingredients in the mixing bowl and mixed it on high for 3 minutes, this is what it looked like:

Hmmmmm.  That doesn't look too good.  So I took a rubber spatula and tried to squish it all together to see if it would come together into one ball.

It mostly did.  So I reluctantly proceeded (at this point, well probably before this point, I should have added another tbsp of olive oil to see what would happen...but I tend to stick to the recipe as written the first time I make it...to the point of disaster, sometimes haha).  I turned it out onto my (well dusted) pastry mat and rolled it out into a circle and put it on the pizza stone, then put it in the oven.  Then was like "whoops forgot to take a picture of that."

Baked it for 10 minutes.  Pulled it out and thought "we cannot eat this."  It seemed so dry.  Cracking.  But I had no good alternative for dinner that I could prepare in the amount of time I had left before the hubs got home and then potentially would leave again for basketball (which he didn't make it to, but it wasn't the pizza dough's fault).  So, while mentally preparing my apologies to the family, I proceeded.  I topped it with tomato sauce, a thick layer of mozzarella, and then bacon, onion, and green pepper, then another thin layer of mozzarella.  Then put it back in the oven.  I had stopped taking pictures at that point, because I couldn't bear to share another fail with you all.  Pulled it out of the oven.  Sighed.  The crust looked so dark and dry.  BUT we are troopers, so I cut it into four pieces (Nathan is on an "I don't like pizza kick") and put it on plates.  To my surprise and amazement, this was really good.  Even the kids and the hubs, who eaten gluten daily and glutinous pizza regularly, liked it.  About halfway through my piece, I was like "wow!  I should share this one after all!  Take a picture of your half-eaten piece, self!"  And so I did.  Just pay attention to what the crust looks like.  The cheese is dark, but I love it like that, so I gave myself the burntest piece. 

Now the end parts are the parts that a lot of people leave behind.  I usually eat mine because I love the crunchiness.  The part of this crust uncovered by sauce and toppings you could break a tooth on.  We couldn't eat that part.  But seriously the whole rest of the pizza turned out very yummy.  Shockingly surprised.  A keeper for sure.  But I will try with a bit more oil next time.