How can I improve my gluten-free pizza dough?

Question

I've been making pizza dough for years, and recently found that I have a gluten allergy, and can no longer eat wheat flour! Very sad news, indeed.

So... I bought Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Pizza dough mix, which has a bit of xantham gum in it, and serval kinds of flour (rice flour, tapioca, flour, corn flour, etc). The dough itself was difficult to work with, a bit crumbly, and not as stretchy as I would like. I know that the "stretch" I'm talking about truly come from gluten, but is there anything I can add, to help with the consistency? The flavor was perfect, and the calzones were wonderful, they were just really hard to form...

Thanks for your help!

Answer 1

It seems like a lot of recipes recomend gelatin, which could add to the stretchyness. I frequent serious eats and a while ago they posted this recipe and they claim that it is great and stretchy.

http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2011/04/gluten-free-tuesday-easy-pizza-crust-recipe.html

Answer 2

For my son's Gluten Free diet we get a lot of these same challenges. Xanthan Gum works ok, but I have found that when I need gluten like properties that a combination of Xanthan and Guar gum helps. I will also double the suggested amount of Guar gum. It doesn't seem to change the taste, so use it liberally. Unfortunately, it still doesn't match the stretchiness of wheat flour, but it may help

Answer 3

Ive found that psyllium binds together gluten free doughs well. A google search for "psyllium gluten free pizza dough" turns up several recipes, including this one from the Food Network.