One of the toughest things to find a good gluten-free replacement for is pizza. Over the past few years, I have found a few good substitutes, though, and I thought I’d share my findings.
Obviously, you have two options: make pizza at home or go out. Personally, I like making pizza at home because you have more control and the risk of cross-contamination is far less. Here are the at-home options I’ve tried and how it went.
- Big Life Pizza: These pre-made fresh and frozen pizzas are gluten-free and delicious. I love the pepperoni flavour! It can be found at the Halifax Farmer’s Market as well as various organic stores in Halifax.
- Kinnikinnick frozen pizza crusts: These are a staple in our freezer. (In fact, I think that this is what Boston Pizza uses.) They are fairly thin, square shaped, and quite tasty, although a little chewy. Find them in the frozen gluten-free section of your supermarket. $7.99 for four crusts.
- Udi’s gluten-free pizza crusts: Definitely the best option that I have found so far. Fresh, thin, and pretty close to “real” pizza. Way better fresh than frozen. You can find them in the bakery or the frozen gluten-free section of your supermarket. $5.99 for two crusts.
- There are also lots of pizza crust mixes out there. I’ve tried Bob’s Red Mill, and although it was pretty dense, it had a good flavor.
If you’re wondering what to add for toppings, remember that most vegetables and cheeses are gluten-free. Bacon is a good choice, too – just remember to check the ingredients. Pillers makes several kinds of gluten-free salami and spiced meats. As well, Maple Leaf Natural Selections salami and Pizza Delight pepperoni contain no gluten, although they are not guaranteed to be gluten-free.
If you’d rather go out for your pizza fix, here are some options.
- Boston Pizza offers gluten-free pizza with quite a few toppings. One of my favorites.
- The Pizzatown chain in the Halifax area has gluten-free pizza. Although it’s good, toppings are pretty limited.
- The Pizza Market in Truro and Pictou also has good gluten-free pizza with plenty of toppings.
- Bramoso Pizza (Quinpool Road in Halifax), Pizza Delight, Pizza Pizza, and Martha’s Pizza (Bedford) all have gluten-free options, too! I haven’t tried any of them, though, so I’d like to hear from anyone who has.
If you have any other pizza suggestions, we’d love to hear them! How do you satisfy your pizza craving?
Gluten For Punishment 
#1 by Diana on April 23, 2012 - 9:11 am
Conte’s is making one is pretty good. Against the Grain is my favorite at home pizza. I do like Chicago’s Pizzeria Uno uses French Meadow’s crust for their GF pizza. In Chicagoland area 30 Pizza has a great GF crust they make. I have tried a few other places with GF crusts, but these are the best@
#2 by Don Canter on April 29, 2012 - 7:26 pm
There are some good selections by Bella Monica.
#3 by Dave on June 5, 2012 - 9:59 am
Hey there,
First off, thank you SO MUCH for doing this blog. I live on the South Shore and have celiac, and it’s just fantastic to be kept apprised of the new developments in terms of eating-out options in the Halifax area.
Second, I can help you with the GF pizza thing–I used to live in New York City, LIVED on pizza, perfected my own pizza-making at home, and then got diagnosed with celiac. So I’m a little bit of an expert on making GF pizza at home that tastes like the real thing (or at least, close to it!)
I’ve found what is just about the best way to make delicious NY-style gluten free pizza. It sounds complicated, but it really isn’t once you do it a couple of times.
— 1 box of Gluten Free Pantry’s French Bread and Pizza Mix (available at Superstore and Sobeys)
— 5 Tbsp dry milk powder (or soy milk powder)
— 3 short tsp of xanthan gum (or guar gum, but use X-gum, it’s better)
— 5 tsp yeast (the pizza mix comes with a packet of yeast, which counts as 2 tsp, so you’ll just need 3 tsp of your own yeast)
— 2 and a half cups warm water
— 6 Tbsp regular (not extra-virgin) olive oil
You’ll also need:
— a pizza stone and a pizza peel (I have a 14″ stone and 16″ wood peel)
— a 12″ round baking pizza pan
— some gluten-free flour (I use Bob’s Red Mill All-Purpose GF flour) for dusting pizza peel and adjusting dough dryness/wetness
— spray oil (PAM) (optional)
— a spatula
Recipe is as follows:
Combine all the dry ingredients in a mixer, then combine the wet ingredients in a bowl. Pour the wet into the dry, and mix together. As it mixes, quickly note if it’s too dry or too wet. I recommend having some Bob’s Red Mill All-Purpose Gluten Free flour on hand just in case it’s too wet..you can add some of that to dry it a bit. If it’s too dry, pour a little more water in. You want the consistency to wind up being solid, but not too dry. Mix for 3-4 minutes.
Once you’ve got a nice little bit of dough happening in the bowl, cover the bowl and let it rise in a warm place for at least 40 minutes (sometimes can take an hour). While that’s happening, put your pizza stone in the oven off to one side, on the bottom-most rack, and turn your oven as high as it will go (mine goes up to 500 degrees, but I enter the “calibration” function of my oven and jack it up another 30 degrees that way). Let the oven preheat at that high temperature–that will heat the stone.
When the dough is well-risen (check to make sure), separate it into three portions. Put two portions in a tupperware container and put that into the fridge for future pizzas (it won’t go bad for at least 2 weeks). Take the remaining portion and put it on the well-oiled 12″ pan (I use PAM original spray oil…be careful to use only the Original, as some flavours of PAM contain gluten! But you can just oil the pan with some olive oil if you prefer). Wet your hands, and smooth the dough out with your hands evenly into the pan. You’ll need to constantly re-wet your hands so that you shape the dough and not drag it to and fro.
Once you’ve got the dough in the pan, put it in the oven next to the pizza stone on the bottom-most rack (you may need to slightly lean the pan on the edge of the stone, that’s totally okay). Bake for around 8 minutes…by then, the edge of the dough should be brown. Take the pan out with an oven mitt, and with the spatula, carefully transfer the dough to the very lightly dusted pizza peel (you don’t need to dust the peel very much, or even at all…I just like it because the very light dusting of flour will blacken and char a bit when you bake the pizza on the stone, giving it a little bit extra taste). Put the sauce, cheese and toppings on while the dough is on the peel; then use the peel to slide the pizza back into the oven, onto the stone.
Bake another 4 minutes. You want to leave it in there as long as you can; I tend to leave it in there until the cheese is just about browning. Once it’s ready, take it out with the peel, and slide it back onto the 12″ pan or a cutting block, where you can cut it into 6 pieces. Bon appetit!! 🙂
I got this recipe mostly from this site:
http://cymry-pa.blogspot.ca/2011/01/new-year-new-kitchen-adventures.html
#4 by Dave on June 5, 2012 - 10:02 am
Oh, forgot to mention–you can also add a little golden flaxseed for fiber content if you like. And, if you find the pizza is too fluffy, cut back a bit on the dry milk powder and/or xanthan gum. Incidentally, when you spread out the dough on the 12″ pan, it should be relatively thin, not thick crust. If you find it’s too thick, just thin it out and use the extra to create a raised edge all the way around the pizza.
#5 by Dave on June 5, 2012 - 10:50 am
Also, I wanted to mention that I, too, was using Bob’s Red Mill Pizza Crust Mix for the longest time, as that seemed the best mix out there. This recipe I posted just now blows it away…no comparison!
#6 by glutenfree4hfx on June 5, 2012 - 11:58 am
I’m glad you’re finding our blog useful! Your pizza recipe looks amazing, and thanks for all the tips! Would it be OK if we tested it out and shared it with our readers? I know the quest for the best pizza is a big deal amongst Celiacs!
#7 by Dave on June 5, 2012 - 12:29 pm
Absolutely, the more the merrier! 🙂 As I say, I was so thrilled to find this recipe online on cymrys blog site…I had tried so many home pizza recipes, but none came anywhere close to what I remember from my halcyon NYC pizza days. This is really close. If you have any questions before/during your test bake, feel free to let me know–you can contact me by email or on Twitter (@canadavenyc). I’m sure you’ll love it (as long as you have a pizza stone and pizza peel).
#8 by Dave on June 5, 2012 - 4:57 pm
By the way, if you or anyone else reading this blog wants an in-person demonstration of this recipe, and sample some of it once it’s done, you’re more than welcome to come to my house outside Liverpool and watch it happen 🙂 It’s worth seeing it firsthand so that you can get it right–because having this pizza available for the rest of your life will totally be worth the trip.
#9 by glutenfree4hfx on June 6, 2012 - 10:12 am
Thank you for the invite – that’s very generous! Pizza party anyone? 🙂