After a catered pizza event and just some changes in life and routine, I fell out of the habit of making pizza. I made some here and there, but I wasn't hosting any dinners and evaluating whether I was properly equipped to continue doing catering (or even wanted to). It really wasn't about those things or even pizza. It was a re-evaluation of all things that were bringing contentment (or not) to my life. In any case, while I knew I would always make pizza for friends and family, I became less certain that I have any aspirations beyond that. More on that in a future post.

Anyway, I lost touch with friends as we both got far too busy and so when we reconnected, I suggested a proper pizza night. They were enthusiastic at first and then broke it to me that she is now gluten free after an exhaustive battery of tests to diagnose some health issues revealed sensitivity to gluten. The whole family is not gluten free, so she was going to be a good sport and "bring something else" while the rest of the family enjoyed my normal pizza fare. However, I saw this as a challenge.

I am most definitely not gluten free. I am enthusiastic about gluten in all its forms. I knew nothing about making gluten free pizza, but felt like I would be no friend at all if I didn't at least try to come up with an alternative for her.

So, off I went in my search for a gluten free recipe, but more importantly, a Neapolitan recipe. Fortunately I didn't have to search for too long. I found this recipe that I followed religiously and I couldn't have been happier with the result. When I found the recipe, the author hadn't yet posted the section recommending the Caputo flour, but since I use only that flour, I had already bought a bag of their Fioreglut. The Caputo Fioreglut is a rice flour-based blend so there are other similar products. I can only speak to the workability and flavor of the Caputo however.

Although obviously the recipe varies in ingredients, the approach wasn't really all that dissimilar from my sourdough or IDY recipes. This recipe still does an initial bulk ferment although this is a room temp ferment rather than the cold ferment I usually do. When that completes, I made the individual dough balls and did a cold ferment for three days and not unlike my regular recipes, these developed quite a bit of flavor. I was concerned there would not be enough sugars for the yeast to eat, but that ended up being a non-issue. The cool thing about this dough is that it won't actually over-ferment.

The Leopard Crust recipe is detailed with video shorts to illustrate preparing dough balls for your bake. This is important since if you use the same techniques to open your regular dough balls, you aren't going to have much success. With these dough balls, you're not opening or stretching them - you're more spreading them by smushing gently. My first dough ball was a complete failure as I wasn't gentle enough and immediately started ripping holes in the dough.

Trying again, I dusted the ball generously with chickpea flour and took my time spreading out the dough by just pushing down and out. Because this has a 80% hydration, you need to use quite a bit of flour to make sure it doesn't stick to the prep surface and also to transfer to the peel. As I was alternating between the GF and my regular sourdough dough, I had to keep shifting between the two techniques for spreading. 

Once launched into the oven, it didn't really cook any different from one of my regular dough recipes. This pizza (a truffle chicken pesto) was the first in so the oven was just a little under temp. I got more char on subsequent pizzas. 

Once in the oven, there were no surprises. It was easy to work, no issues with sticking, and behaved like any other pizza. I was using a 1000° oven with ~850° floor temp and it puffed up and was light and airy.

Flavor was definitely different from my sourdough or IDY recipes, but just that: different. It brought a different flavor that was still neutral enough where toppings shined. 

Here's the deal though. As I served one sourdough pizza, then one GF, then sourdough and so on, the gluten free was consistently more consumed. Wait! Is the GF better?

The GF pizzas were good. As good as my sourdough or even long ferment IDY recipes? I feel confident in saying it's not, but it stands on its own. However, as my friends commented, they have ordered gluten free pizzas in probably a dozen different restaurants since they started the whole GF journey, and they've always been wildly underwhelmed by what they were served: thin, pale tasteless crusts.

I was more than a little surprised. There was a learning curve for me and a change in process, but this came out better than what restaurants are putting out? That's pretty disappointing. 

I had a conversation with my nephew who's a salesman for a wholesale food company and he was telling me about one of his customers that has a thriving neapolitan pizza business, but is reluctant to offer any gluten free items. Granted, the flour is stupid expensive in comparison to the Caputo pizza flour, but you could charge accordingly. 

I think though there is the fear of the process change. If you're cranking out 100 pizzas an hour, you have a process, a rhythm, that diverting to make the GF pizzas could throw off the flow of the whole kitchen. So, I understand the concerns of adding that to your offerings, but those that have already commited to it and are just phoning it in, that doesn't make any sense.

While still midway through my bake, my friend was asking for the recipe and sending it to her friends, so this was deifinitely as success. With the first one out of the way - and more expected - it will get easier as I develop my own process.