Quest to Find the Best Gluten Free Pizza: Week 1

The thing I miss most since going gluten free (besides Picasso’s chicken finger subs in West Seneca, NY) is pizza.  Pizza was my go-to food!  While gluten free pizza is much easier to come by recently, it still isn’t as easy as picking up your phone for delivery!

We have decided to compare and contrast everything gluten free pizza!  About once per week, we will take on a new type of gluten free pizza, including ready made pizza crusts, homemade pizza crust, frozen pizzas, gluten free pizza from pizza shops.  We will rate each pizza based on:

• Taste.
• Texture.
• Ease.
• Bang for the buck.

We were a little aggressive in week one.  We tried two “ready made” gluten free crusts – Schar gluten free pizza crust and Barkat brown rice gluten free pizza crust.  Both products are available at our online gluten free store.  Our overall impression:  both decent and instant front runners! 

Taste:  Greg compared the taste and thickness of Schar’s gluten free pizza crust to greek-style pizza.  I liked it because it didn’t crumble and wasn’t chalky.  Barkat came in a close second.  The taste was good.  It didn’t crumble.  The only negative to Barkat was that it didn’t seem to hold up to sauce and cheese.  The crust absorbed much of the sauce, which left bread and cheese.  It reminded of the microwave bread, ketchup and cheese sandwiches I made as a kid.  Category winner:  Schar.   

Texture:  Schar held up well to sauce and was not crumbly.  Barkat became a little soggy and absorbed the sauce.  Both gluten free pizza crusts were moist and not chalky.  Category winner:  Schar.

Ease:  Both crusts are ready made, which meant that it took a total of 2 minutes to assemble the pizzas.  Both crusts are available through our online gluten free store in both single sizes and by the case.  Category winner:  Tie – Schar and Barkat.

Bang for the Buck:  Each Schar package comes with two small pizza crusts for $7.19.  Barkat is a single small crust for $7.39 each.  Category winner – Schar.

Schar was the clear winner of week 1.  Stay tuned for next week when we try to make gluten free pizza crust with the random gluten free flours and other gluten free baking ingredients in our pantry.