Pizza

One of the hardest foods to give up for us was pizza.  At first, my husband had a really hard time with the thought of never again having pizza from the Bell Chalet in Hurley.  Even now I sometimes really wish I could throw a frozen pizza in the oven and have an "easy" meal.  Those days of Dina Mia pizzas for lunch are over. 
Yesterday, we made three homemade pizzas.  We baked two for supper and put one in the freezer. 

It took many tries before we were able to find a recipe for an edible pizza crust.   We can't use rice because that is one of the allergies for our oldest son.  So many gluten free recipes use rice. 

This recipe makes a crispy crust.  This version makes enough dough for three 12 to 14 inch crusts.
To save time the next times that I will make the crust I put the dry ingredients into Ziploc freezer bags to make my own mixes.

2 T. dry yeast
1 1/3 bean flour
1 cup tapioca flour
4 T. dry milk powder
4 tsp. xanthan gum
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. unflavored gelatin powder
2 tsp. Italian herb seasoning
1 1/3 cup warm water
1 tsp. honey
2 tsp. olive oil
2 tsp. cider vinegar

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
I use a Kitchenaid stand mixer.  Using regular beater(not dough hook), blend the dry ingredients on low speed.  Add warm water, honey, olive oil, and vinegar.  Beat on high speed for 3 minutes.
Cover 3 pizza pans with foil (or not), spray with cooking spray and then dust with corn meal(or rice flour).  Separate dough onto the three pans.  Liberally sprinkle the dough with corn meal(or rice flour), press dough into pan, continuing to sprinkle dough with corn meal to prevent dough sticking to your hands.
Bake the pizza for 10 minutes.  Remove from oven.  Spread pizza crust with sauce and toppings.  Bake for another 20 to 25 minutes or until top is nicely browned.

I am the mother in a gluten free family from the Western Upper Peninsula of Michigan.  Three of us have celiac disease; one is allergic to wheat,gluten,and so many other things; and I am the cook for everyone. 
When my husband was diagnosed in December of 2005, I started reading all I could on celiac disease.  After reading that it is an inherited disease, we were sure that our youngest son also had it.  We had been told that he had failure to thrive for almost a year.  In February of 2006, our baby was diagnosed with celiac disease at the age of 18 months.  It seemed like a miracle to see how quickly he started gaining weight after going on a gluten free diet. 
During the summer of 2006, our daughter was diagnosed with celiac disease and our other son was diagnosed with many food allergies including wheat and gluten.
With four out of five of us having to be gluten free it was decided that our household should be gluten free.  I cleaned the pantry, cupboards, and freezer out and gave away all the gluten laden food.  I think for the year of 2006, the only reading I did was about how to feed my family.