Gluten Free Pizza Crust Recipe – St. Louis Style Thin Crust

St. Louis Style  Pizza is a crisp, but also tender, thin-crust pizza that is traditionally cut into squares. The crust is leavened with baking powder instead of yeast, so it’s perfect for those of you who need to be gluten free and yeast free.  St. Louisans top their pizza with Provel cheese, which is generally only available in the St. Louis area.

This recipe is a gluten free adaptation of a Cook’s Illustrated recipe.

Dough:
2 cups (9 oz.) Mary’s GF  or GF, SF Flour Mix
2 Tbsp. cornstarch
2 tsp. xanthan gum
2 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 1/8 c. water
2 Tbsp. olive oil

Sauce:
8 oz. tomato sauce
3 Tbsp. tomato paste
1 Tbsp. sugar
2 tsp. oregano

1.  Whisk the sauce ingredients together in a small bowl and set aside.

2.  Move one of the racks to the next to lowest position in your oven and place a pizza stone or inverted baking sheet on the rack. Preheat your oven to 475 degrees F.

3. For the crust, combine the flour, cornstarch, salt, sugar and baking powder in a large bowl.  Add the water and oil and stir until the dough starts to come together. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead a few times until the dough is smooth and pliable.

4. Divide the dough into two equal pieces.  Roll out one piece of dough into a 12″ circle and move it to the hot pizza stone or baking sheet. Bake the crust for a few minutes until is is very slightly browned.

5. Remove the crust from the oven. Top with sauce and cheese and then put it back into the oven to bake until the cheese has browned on top.