While flipping through Food & Wine magazine I noticed a photo of a polenta pizza crust and suddenly found my mouth watering. I love polenta and pizza, but combining them is an ideal gluten free pizza crust for yours truly! Making gluten free polenta pizza crust is very easy. My husband and I were able to enjoy two different pizzas, both which cooked together in the oven. How simple is that? If you wish, you can make miniature pizzas for appetizers. Enjoy this unique gluten free pizza crust!
UPDATE:
If you wish your pizza to be mainly rice-based and lighter, instead of mainly polenta based and heavier, make the following changes to the below recipe. (Add or reduce liquid or rice flour as needed):
4 Tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups white rice flour, plus more for dusting
3 Tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese (reduced from 4 Tbsp.)
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder (reduced from 1 tsp.)
1 tablespoon instant yeast
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
Olive oil for pan and basting crust
Change in directions:
Combine dry ingredients in one bowl, Add wet ingredients and combine.
Why spend hours making gluten free pizza crust / dough when you can take the easy way out? Very tasty, too!
Ingredients:
- 3 cups filtered water
- 3/4 cup polenta (uncooked)
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 Tablespoon xanthan gum
- 2 tablespoons white rice flour (next I'll add more)
- 3 Tablespoons Parmesan and romano cheese, grated (or nutritional yeast)
- Additional rice flour for dough
- 1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded (or Daiya brand for vegan)
- 1/2 to 3/4 cup gluten-free pizza sauce (if using on entire pizza)
- Olive oil for pan and crust
Instructions:
- Preheat your oven to 450'F.
- Spray a 12 inch pizza pan with oil.
- Cook the polenta according to the package, but add in garlic powder. I use Golden Pheasant brand polenta and add polenta, water, garlic and salt to a large casserole dish; cover; and microwave for 8 minutes.
- Place hot polenta in the refrigerator to cool down a bit.
- Stir in flour, xanthan gum and Parmesan cheese.
- Scoop the polenta onto the oiled pizza pan. Coat your hands with rice flour and sprinkle some atop the dough. Using your hands, pat the polenta into the baking or pizza shaping it into the desired shape, making the edges a little higher to hold any sauce. I cut my dough in two and slid one over, as I cannot eat pizza sauce due to allergies. I topped mine with sauteed onion, cooked gluten-free sausage (Jones Dairy Farm beef links), freshly chopped basil and mozzarella. My husband enjoyed his deli ham and homemade gluten-free pizza sauce. We both agree that this pizza crust is very filling. You won't need more than 2 slices and you'll be stuffed!
- Baste crust edges with extra virgin oil oil.
- Bake it for 10 minutes.
- While its cooking, prepare your toppings.
- Remove the crust from oven and top with the pizza sauce, half the amount of cheese you wish to use; your toppings and then the rest of the cheese.
- Place back into the oven for 15 minutes.
- Remove from oven and slice. Allow to cool on plates for a about 5 minutes before serving.
Tips
If you're cooking for someone else who is on a gluten-free diet, you probably will not have rice flour or xanthan gum on hand. In that case, you may wish to use 2 eggs to replace these ingredients. It will help hold the polenta together.
You may wish to consider adding a bit of gluten-free baking powder and/or baking soda to puff it up a bit. That will be my next experiment on this recipe.
Check out other gluten free pizza crust recipes:
Carol Fenster’s Gluten Free Pizza Crust and Sauce
Thick Grilled Gluten Free Pizza Crust Recipe
Gluten Free Focaccia Bread Recipe
Hi there – I’m curious what exactly “uncooked polenta” is? Do you mean cornmeal? I’m not familiar with polenta but when I google it I find it’s a finished dish of cornmeal cooked in water with seasonings.
Laura,
Corn can be ground in different ways, superfine to coarse. Polenta is just a particular size corn grain. By “uncooked” I mean dry, uncooked polenta. Bob’s Red Mill makes a gluten free polenta. Polenta is offered in may grocery stores, cooked, sold in a sausage-shaped package in the refrigerator section. If you’re not concerned with cross-contamination of gluten, any brand will do.
Carla
Hi Carla,
I just found this on Pinterest… Can’t wait to try! I was wondering what you thought of using coconut flour instead, since I have that on hand. Have you tried it with baking powder yet? Curious if that would make a lighter crust. Also how did this hold up when you picked it up? Did it fall apart at all? Thanks!
Hi Carrie,
This is not your typical pizza crust. It is eaten with a fork and has a true potlenta texture. The toppings satisfy pizza cravings without much work. If you add about half of this mixture and half white or brown rice flour it will lighten it up, but may have to bake it longer.
Carla
Good to know! I’ll stick with cauliflower then. ;)
So glad to have found your site! I do the ‘cauliflower’ pizza base, but there’s some side effects. I shall try the polenta base – and whilst I’m trying GF, I don’t yet have Xanthum gum (though I do have brown rice flour), so I appreciate the note on the eggs, and will try this soon! (not tonight, I had a non GF pizza last night – I’m feeling it today!)
Welcome, Sarah!
Glad my egg tip helped you out.
What prompted you to try the gluten free diet? Was it health issues, or do you suspect an sensitivity or intolerance to gluten?
Let me know if you have any questuons.
Carla
sorry to nit pic, but be sure if you add baking powder that it also is gluten free… and this is by far the best sounding recipe for polenta pizza crust I’ve found yet.
How long should it cook before adding the toppings?
Hi Linda,
Thanks for catching that. I always try to list baking powder as gluten free when I list it as an ingredient, but I missed it in the tips section. Thanks for catching this. You’re not being nit picky at all. Newbies need to know these things. Thanks again!
Carla
I don’t think nutritional yeast is gluten free. If it is the same as brewers yeast, it is not GF.
This recipe sounds great though. I’ll try it.
HI Linda,
Glad you like this recipe.
Nutritional yeast is gluten free and is not related to brewer’s yeast at all. You just need to check with each manufacture to find out if it is made in a gluten free facility/tested for gluten cross contamination, etc. if you are gluten intolerant.
Carla