This is hands down the BEST gluten free pan pizza you will ever have! Just like the thick crust almost-fried-on-the-bottom pan pizza we used to get back in our days of delivery!!
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Ya’ll are not gonna be-LIEVE how good this pizza is!!!! It seriously took me back to a time when I was able to order delivery pizzas from Pizza Hut. Back when everything was so much simpler, especially when I just.didn’t.feel.like.cooking.dinner! Am I right?
As much as I love to cook and bake, there will always be times when I wish someone would make ME dinner! I hope someday the city I live in will be more gluten free friendly, but for now I have to cook all my own meals. At least if they taste like this pizza, I can totally deal 🙂
How Do I Make Gluten Free Pan Pizza?
When I first made my gluten free focaccia bread and it came out beautifully, I had an immediate hunch that it would also work perfectly as the crust for a pan pizza. And that hunch was spot on!!
It all begins with my gluten free English muffin dough. It’s so easy to mix up in the morning and be ready to go for dinnertime. Half of the dough will fill a 12-inch cast iron skillet. You can also use the whole recipe and fill two skillets. Or you can use a large baking sheet (17 by 11 inch) and make one large rectangular pizza. Another option is to make mini (personal) pan pizzas! These are great for when you want just enough to feed yourself. For that, you’ll need a small 8-inch cast iron skillet (affiliate link) or an 8-inch round cake pan (affiliate link).
- Pour olive oil into a cast iron skillet (affiliate link) (or pan as above) and dump the dough right on top. Add a little more oil on top of the dough and, using your fingers, spread the dough to the edges of the pan. It’s fine if there are holes in the dough as they’ll fill in when the dough rises and bakes.
- Cover the skillet with a tight-fitting lid or plastic wrap and allow the dough to rise for about 30 minutes. You won’t be looking for the dough to double in size, just be slightly puffed.
- While the dough is rising, preheat your oven to 450 degrees.
- If using a skillet, this is optional but I like to place it over medium-low heat just to get the crust started before putting it in the oven. Carefully add the sauce so you don’t deflate the dough (try my Pizza Hut copycat sauce recipe!). If you’re using a baking sheet, just add the sauce without heating on the stove.
- Then add the cheese and any other toppings of your choice.
- Bake for about 16-20 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and bubbly and charred in spots.
The Case for White American Cheese
Ya’ll. Lemme convince you to use white American cheese instead of mozzarella on this pizza. I know it sounds TOTALLY weird, but trust me on this, please!! Scott is from Scranton, PA and his favorite pizza place is a little neighborhood pizzeria called Maroni’s. Every time we visit, someone always orders Maroni’s Sicilian-style pizza for Scott because he misses it constantly. This is a thick crust pizza that’s covered with white American cheese and NOT mozzarella.
I tasted Maroni’s pizza years ago (BC) and was blown away by the creaminess of the cheesy topping. It was like nothing I’ve ever tasted on a pizza. I loved it so much, I now use it at home quite often on my pan pizza. Maroni’s uses shredded white American cheese, but I can’t seem to find shredded in my area. So I just use slices of white American that I get from the deli counter at my local grocery store.
If you get a chance to try white American, please let me know what you think! I’m sure you’ll see what Scott’s family has known for a long time–it’s AMAZING on a pizza, especially this one!!
Make this pizza tonight for dinner! Your whole family will love it, even the gluten eaters 🙂
The BEST Gluten Free Pan Pizza
Ingredients
- ½ recipe gluten free English muffin dough
- ¼ cup olive oil
- copycat Pizza Hut pizza sauce (or your favorite recipe or brand)
- shredded mozzarella cheese or several slices (about ½ pound) white American cheese
- any other toppings of choice
Instructions
- Make dough as instructed through step 2, allowing it to rise for roughly 2 hours. You may refrigerate it until you're ready to make your pizza, but it's not absolutely necessary.
- Pour most of the olive oil into the bottom of a 12-inch or two 8-inch cast iron skillets (or pans). Dump the dough into the skillet and add the rest of the olive oil on top. Using your fingers, gently spread the dough out to the edges of the pan. It's okay if the dough is dimpled from your fingers.
- Cover with a tight-fitting lid or plastic wrap and allow to rise for about 30 minutes while preheating the oven to 450° F.
- This is totally optional, but I like to get the crust started on the stove top so it creates a crispier crust (and it seems to stick less). Place it over a medium low flame for about 2-3 minutes while carefully adding the sauce and cheese before removing it from the flame. Bake for about 15-20 minutes, or until cheese is melted and bubbly, charred in spots. The baking time will depend on your skillet size and your oven, so begin checking at 15 minutes, but it may take as long as 30.
- Allow to cool slightly before cutting and serving.
Hey there Kim, thanks so much for all the recipes and information you’ve provided!
I am curious, I see you can put half the dough in a 12-inch cast iron skillet, and to use about a fist full of dough for a personal 8-inch cast iron skillet…If I have a 15-inch cast iron skillet and want to make a large pizza, how much of the dough would you recommend? Is there any other changes you’d recommend for this large of a skillet?
Thanks so much for all you do! You are making my family very happy!
Hmmm, maybe 3/4 of the dough? That’s a tough one to estimate, but I don’t think you’d need to change anything else within the recipe.
I’m so glad you and your family are enjoying my recipes 🥰
I can’t wait to try this. I just recently found your website Kim on a pop-up. Everything I made has been great. As far as the white American cheese….many years ago I was working a little mom and pop pizza shop. That is all the owner used was Fisher white American cheese in a block and she would shred it… that was my job …her job was making the crust in the sauce. It is still my all time fav pizza.
So cool to hear this! May I ask where the pizza shop was? I know in some parts of Pennsylvania they use either American cheese or a combination of American and mozzarella and I just love how creamy the cheese gets on top!!
This was a dead ringer for Pizza Hut pizza. My family loved it. The crust did not get soggy, but I did the stove trick. Also it didn’t stick the second time—I used beef tallow instead of olive oil to grease the skillet. It didn’t stick much even with the olive oil! Thank you for devising the wonderful recipe!
We tried this twice today.
Both times we couldn’t get it to not be soggy.
It could be the toppings. Here in Australia we like a good amount of toppings like ham, salami, capsicum, mushrooms, prawns. Maybe that prevented it from cooking properly.
The second time we even baked it first for at least 15 minutes with no toppings. That looked promising because it rose, well likely inflated.
So I’m wondering a couple of things specific to what we did that we need to change.
1. Make sure the dough is up to room temp before we start. Cold dough out of the fridge sitting in a cold skillet for proofing.
2. Maybe your finger method when you spread the dough where you leave holes through to the pan provides lots of vertical surface area for the dough to cook. Maybe this is actually a key part of the method for it not to be soggy in the middle.
We will try again!
Kim- made the English muffin dough like you suggest.
But I have to ask, why that dough instead of your regular pizza dough for this PAN pizza?
It is a sweeter dough. Can it be made with your regular pizza recipe and perhaps adding sour starter?
It can sure fool a gluten eating person ( my husband )
And for me much easier to make than using pizza peels and steels🥴
The English muffin dough offers more pockets of air that I thought would be more similar to that of a pan pizza. But you could certainly try to use the regular pizza dough to make a pan pizza. I’m sure you’d still get great results 😊
Your recipes are great, but my pet peeve is the misspelling of y’all. It is never, ever ya’ll.
This is a nonsense comment
This doesn’t work for me. I followed the instructions thoroughly but I can’t get the pizza to not stick to the bottom of the cast iron skillet. The pizza was doughy from inside & I had to scrape the crust off of my pan afterwards. Any suggestions?
I have a 10 inch cast iron skillet. I know you said that 1/2 English muffin dough recipe is good for 12 inch skillet. Can I put all dough in 10 inch skillet instead of 12 inch or if not all how many ounces should I use for 10 inch skillet? I could save little left over dough for something else. Just don’t want to mess it up.
A 10 inch skillet should work fine with half the dough, but might need a little extra time in the oven. I would start at 5 minutes more and check it at that point for doneness. If not done, add another 5 and check again.
I made the dough last night and baked it today. The only difference I made to the flour was using hemp protein instead of whey. I made it a Detroit style pizza with a steel pizza pan. It turned out ALMOST perfect! I think I will parbake the crust for about 15 minutes before I put the toppings on, because it turned out a tiny bit doughy for me. The cheese was starting to burn so I didn’t want to bake it any longer. My last Detroit style pizza recipe had me parbake it so it’s not a surprise. It was still super tasty though and the dough texture was better than the last recipe I used! Thanks for the great recipe again Kim!
Thanks for the info, Jenny!! I’m going to try it very soon 🙂
Marone’s – the one in Ardmore? If so, I loved their pizza in my pre GF days. I was under the impression that they used only provolone cheese on their pizzas and that’s how I typically e mine. I might have to try American cheese!
No, this one is in Scranton and it’s spelled Maroni’s with an “I”. The white American is unbelievable and you should definitely try it!
The recipe for English Muffin Bread says it needs to be refrigerated for at least 4 hours. Do I need to put my dough for pizza in the frig for four hours too?
No, it’s not necessary. Although they’re the same dough, they are used for different applications so the pizza dough doesn’t need to be refrigerated at all 🙂
Kim – Is this dough able to be fried like you would make a “fried dough”? If not, which of your gluten free doughs do you recommend for that? My daughter-in-law found out that she needs to be gluten free about a year ago and the ONLY recipes I have had success with are yours. I trust that if I follow them carefully the end result with be gobbled up by everyone!
Awe, thank you so much, Cheryl!!! I appreciate your kind words 😍😍😍
I honestly have never tried this dough fried (or any of my doughs). Are you looking for something like Indian or Navajo fry bread? I would think maybe my tortillas would work better for that. I will have to put fry bread on my list of things to attempt to make as it’s something I haven’t had in years, but fondly remember it.
Can you freeze this dough for later?
I’ve honestly never tried this particular dough because it’s a very loose dough, but you could try it. The others freeze very well, so it should work just the same. I would put it in a container with a tight fitting lid.
I tried this yesterday and it was incredible!! Thank you so much for the recipe! I made focaccia for the family and a pan pizza for me 😉 it was absolutely delicious!!!
Thank you, Vivian! I’m so glad you liked it. It’s one of my family’s favorites 😍
Been experimenting with a few GF pizza doughs and this one is AMAZING! Shout out to the flour mix! 2 questions though: 1. is it supposed to be the stickiest substance known to man? Even if I cover my hands in oil it sticks to me and instead of spreading it across the pan it just comes off onto my fingers.
2. It seems to rise and puff a lot for me as I heat the pan pre-oven. This coupled with the aforementioned stickiness has lead to a little too thick and breast of crusts. I am using active yeast instead of instant and blooming it in water (factored into amount of milk I use) could this be why? Again LOVE this recipe thank you!
Hmmmm. It IS supposed to be rather sticky (did you watch the video?) but if I pour olive oil over it, it doesn’t stick to my fingers and instead spreads in the pan. I think it depends on the size of your skillet as to how thick the crust will be (mine is a 12-inch cast iron skillet). If you have a smaller skillet, it may be too bready so I would either use a larger skillet or not dump the entire amount of dough into your skillet.
As far as the super stickiness, did you substitute anything within the flour blend itself? Sometimes substitutions can cause less than great results. That’s where I’d start first in figuring out your dilemma.
This is something my family begs for and I’m the only celiac/GF person in the house. Tonight I made the full batch and I’m going to attempt some Pizza Hut copycat breadsticks too. Thank you for always having the best recipes!!
Awe, thank you so much, Elyse!! I really appreciate your kind words 😍😍😍
My husband and I just finished enjoying my first attempt at your recipe. it was AMAZING. I followed the recipe directions to the T including the initial about 3 to 4 minute pan fry over medium heat. (On a gas stove top) I did bake the crust for 10 minutes without toppings following the 30 minute final proof in a 12 inch cast iron skillet. After adding the sauce and cheese I baked for another 10 minutes or so. The crust had perfect texture and chew with perfect air pockets that you would expect to see in a thick crust pizza. For those wondering about the size of the skillet the 12 inch skillet is the right size. It’s the best pizza we’ve had since my husband was diagnosed with celiac disease 18 years ago. Thank you!!!
Awesome, Mary! So glad your husband could enjoy pizza again 🙂 Thank you so much 😍
Instructions here are SOO CLOSE to the mark.
Since the dough is more like a batter, you should give it time to bake by itself before topping (in lieu of the stovetop suggestion). Also, using cast irons means longer retained heat, but also slower up to temperature times, meaning you should preheat the cast iron before pouring in the batter. I did 7 minutes of dough alone, take out to add toppings, finish for 10 min. I did use a sheet tray so this may be an added variable, but it was still soggy in the middle. The upside was that I finished the bottom of underdone slices in a stovetop skillet and got an insanely nice crisp on the bottom. The crux here is that the hydration point is so high that as long as you are in the 17-23 min range of total bake time, you don’t need to worry about burning the bottom, and will basically always be erring on the side of soggy. Also, 10 min was just about the perfect amount of time for toppings to get golden brown.
*I know a lot of ppl are keen on this already, but throwing extra cast irons you have laying around in the oven while preheating and baking is a great way to retain high heat.
**Also small critique on the batter. If you use milk straight out of the fridge, it takes a lot longer for the yeast to get active. Bring it up to room temp/lukewarm to save time.
K thanks for the recipe, Kim.
Another perfect recipe!! I am an experienced GF baker and this has probably been my favourite pizza crust I’ve made, and I don’t even usually love pan pizzas! Crispy bottom, fluffy middles- SO good. FYI, instead of using a cast iron skillet I used a 1/4 sheet pan, baked for 23 minutes, and it came out perfect. Thanks so much for sharing your amazing recipes, Kim!
Awe, thanks so much, Denise! I’m so glad you liked it!!
I’m not a fan of thick crust pizza can you make this thin crust and bake on a pizza stone?
I have a New York style pizza crust on the blog! Here’s the link: https://www.letthemeatgfcake.com/amazing-gluten-free-pizza-crust/
The pan pizza was dinner tonight. It was so good that I burst into tears. Seriously. Finally, a gluten-free pizza that doesn’t feel like a punishment!! Thank you for this wonderful recipe! I can’t wait to try your other recipes!
Made your cinnamon rolls recipe this morning after refrigerating the dough overnight. First cinnamon rolls I have been able to eat in 10 years & it was soooo good!! Now I am copying lots of your recipes to try. I made lots of yeast breads breads prior to Celiac but after so many flops gave it up. Staying at home with less gluten free available in my online / pickup grocery shopping decided to try baking more once again. Thanks for the great recipes, confidence builder, and a very happy boost in these difficult times!! You have made my Holiday weekend great & my hubby says Thanks too.
Thanks so much, Nancy! So glad you liked them and can’t wait for you to try other recipes 🙂
Can you tell me the carb count for this crust? I’m doing keto.
Hi, Peggy! Unfortunately, I have no idea what the carb count is. The nutrition information is an extra cost for me on the recipe plugin. I think there might be online tools you can use to find out, by putting in the recipe information. Sorry, Peggy 🙁
Just as an FYI for any future keto dieters: the bread flour blend used for this recipe has about 57g carbs per 1 cup of flour. Since this recipe calls for half of 3.5 cups, so 1.75 cups, that is almost 100 grams of carbs for the whole pizza.
The best keto safe pizza crust recipes are either “fathead dough” made from cheese and almond flour etc, or cauliflower crust or ground chicken crust. But for just gluten free, this is a great recipe!
So this AH-MAZING #glutenfree #panpizza happened tonight
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❤️🍕❤️
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Thank you @letthemeatglutenfreecake for your amazing #glutenfreeflour blends and #glutenfreerecipes
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Typical of me, I didn’t read through all of the instructions BEFORE setting out to make this recipe. Once I saw that this was recommended with Kim’s GF English Muffin dough recipe, my heart sank. I had made the GF Artisan Bread dough two days prior (the bread was wonderful!) and wanted to use the remaining dough I left “fermenting” in the frig for tonight’s pizza crust. 🤦🏻♀️
Well I decided to forge ahead with her pan pizza recipe and hope that this dough worked out somewhat “edibly”and it turned out perfectly for our tastebuds. I think it may have been thinner than what the original recipe suggests but that helped it get nice and crispy on the bottom (with a touch of bite in the center) the way we like it.
Kim, you have earned QUEEN STATUS in our house this week! Thank you for sharing your beloved recipes and wisdom with all of us!
Oh my goodness, Jeannine!!!! You are too kind 🙂
Update: I made this again tonight and tried the step of putting the skillet on the stove top while putting the toppings on. Terrible idea. The bottom burnt and the middle is doughy. I did not have that problem the other times I’ve made it. So I will go back to the other way…skipping the stove top step. Still a great recipe though!
Oh no! That’s a total bummer!! I wonder why it works so well on my stovetop and not yours (although maybe it’s the high altitude thing?) I found if I didn’t start it on low on the stove, it would be doughy when I took it out of the oven.
Goose bump inducing deliciousness. I have made this several times and it comes out delicious every time. For some perspective, My husband and I met at Domino’s Pizza in the 80’s and went on to become franchisees in the 90’s. Ending up GF from Celiac in 2014 has turned my world upside down.
The first couple of times I used half the dough recipe for one pizza. After that, I was scrimping on the dough to stretch it out and actually liked a quarter of the recipe a little better. I use a 10” cast iron skillet and bake it for about 20 minutes. I live in the mountains of Virginia, just in case altitude matters.
I love the “goose bump inducing deliciousness” description, haha! That is awesome!! We all (my husband, son, and I) usually have something just as pleasantly descriptive to say every time I make this pizza.
Thanks for the high altitude tips. I will keep them in mind if anyone else asks. I also live in Virginia, but at the beach. I hope you and your family are doing well through this current crisis.
This is really yummy! I’m not even celiac & it was soo good!
YUM!!!!!! So good – airy bready yeasty soft gluten free pizza! Tastes great even compared to a gluten filled pizza. Definitely worth the wait of 6 to 8 hr rise time:) Maybe I own a smaller cast iron skillet, but I found I only need a quarter of the English muffin dough per pizza. Thank you for another astounding recipe!
Thank you, Mars!! I should have specified what size cast iron skillet. I think mine is a 10 inch, but I’m not sure. Now you can make something else with the leftover dough 🙂
Hi, I like this recipe! Unfortunately, the center comes out pretty doughey, though. What size pan do you use? Maybe I’m using the wrong size. Thanks!
I’m so sorry yours came out doughy! I should have put the pan size I use. I use a 12-inch cast iron skillet, but here is another suggestion. Start it out on a medium low stove top with a lid on it, just the dough (no sauce or toppings) for just a few minutes. What the lid would do is kind of create an oven, allowing it to “bake” sans toppings and hopefully prevent it from being too doughy.
Please let me know how if you try it and how it turns out 🙂
spread the sauce and cook it on a stove for approx 5 minutes (don’t burn it) before putting it in the oven.