Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Frozen Pizza: my Holy Grail

It is often said that time is money. Going gluten-free surely shows this and that gluten-free means it often costs more money. Since going gluten-free, I wanted some of semblance of normalcy. I  feel like there were a few American staples that would need to be replaced. One of those staples would be pizza.
I have tried a variety of gluten-free crusts, but finding a gluten-free, yeast-free pizza crust that tasted like one that was not was impossible. It has become my holy-grail. Schar's Pizza crust are the best pre-made crust, but contain yeast. Delicious, but made me sick. Rob's Red Mill Pizza crust is fantastic, but requires yeast to make it rise and you have to prep it ahead of time. (Which does not appease a working woman's hungry tummy when she gets home.) Again, it would make me sick. I have been using Chebe's pizza mix which is void of yeast, gluten and corn. It can be prepared without dairy too. This is closer to what I remember pizza to be like, but has it drawbacks. One is that no grocery store carries it in town. I have requested it at two different grocery stores and can't get it. We have to bring back packages from another town 100 miles away. (We travel there to visit friends and always make a quick stop to check out the gluten-free section there.) I also tried a rice based thin pre-made crust with is okay if you are desperate.
Along this journey, I was delighted to find a recipe for pizza soup, that tastes like pizza, but looks nothing like it. I will have to post that another time.
The box sans pizza
This past week, my husband I went to the grocery store to pick up a few items. We always swing by the gluten-free section just to see if there is anything new, or sales too good to have missed. And there it was... waiting in the freezer section for me... I saw a new gluten-free pizza and of course flipped it over and read the ingredients. I scanned for yeast and saw there was none! It is a frozen pizza made by a company called Against the Grain. They are gluten-free and yeast-free. We, of course had to buy it despite it's over $10 price tag for a 12" pizza.
At work every Tuesday is a pizza day. Which means when I get home, I always want to eat pizza. Today was no exception. I preheated the oven, got out my pizza stone, my gluten-free cornmeal, the frozen pizza and the oregano.


I had low expectations and couldn't believe my eyes when the totally cooking time was 12-15 minutes. It was a first, a "real" cooking time.
I covered the pizza stone with some cornmeal, laid the pizza down, and heavily dosed the pizza with oregano. Then I popped it in the oven and waited.

Once it was ready, I couldn't wait to cut it and eat it.

The final product 
I typically add a little brown sugar to my homemade pizza to eliminate my heartburn from pizza.  So I knew it was going to be different than my own.
Even with the oregano, the pizza lacked pizzaz. It didn't leave you wanting more. I decided to add some garlic powder to the extra pieces.
When I reheated the leftovers, the garlic was exactly what it needed.

A company that avoids many allergens
I can check a frozen gluten-free, yeast-free pizza off my list of must haves, because I found a quick suitable solution. :)

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