Gluten-Free Pizza Margherita with a Psyllium Crust

Ingredients

• 150 g brown rice flour
• 100 g tapioca starch
• 50 g potato starch
• 15 g psyllium husk powder
• 7 g fast-action dried yeast
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for your hands
• 320 ml warm water
• 200 g tomato passata
• 1 garlic clove, finely grated
• ½ tsp dried oregano
• 250 g fresh mozzarella, torn and patted dry
• 1 handful fresh basil leaves
• ¼ tsp ground black pepper

Method

1. Whisk the rice flour, tapioca starch, potato starch, psyllium, yeast, sugar and salt together.
2. Add the olive oil and warm water and mix with a spatula for about a minute into a soft, sticky dough. Cover and leave for 10 minutes – the psyllium firms it up so you can shape it.
3. Divide the dough in two. With oiled hands, press each piece out on its own sheet of baking paper into a 26–28 cm round, a little thicker at the edge. Do not roll it. Cover and leave to rise somewhere warm for 30 minutes.
4. Meanwhile heat the oven to 240 °C (220 °C fan) with a baking tray or pizza stone inside. Stir the passata with the garlic, oregano and a pinch of salt.
5. Slide one base, still on its paper, onto the hot tray and par-bake for 8–10 minutes, until set and dry on top.
6. Spread half the sauce over the base, leaving the edge bare, and scatter over half the mozzarella. Bake for 8–10 minutes more, until bubbling and golden at the edges. Repeat with the second base.
7. Scatter over the basil and black pepper, drizzle with a little olive oil and leave for 2 minutes before slicing.

Gluten-free check: Buy rice flour, tapioca starch, potato starch, sorghum flour and psyllium husk labelled gluten-free – naturally gluten-free flours are often milled alongside wheat. Fast-action dried yeast is normally gluten-free – check the label. Use block or fresh mozzarella: some ready-grated cheese is coated with an anti-caking starch that may contain wheat. Extra toppings such as salami or ham must be labelled gluten-free. If a pizza oven or stone has been used for wheat pizza, bake on baking paper or a separate tray.