I can remember many birthdays, sleepovers, all-nighter college cram sessions, or Friday-mom-doesn’t-cook movie nights where Pizzahut, Papa John’s, Dominos or another local pizza joint got our phone call.
But in the past year pizza has become a luxury.
If you read Part 3 update: Life in 2012 you’ll know I am allergic to barley. Think about that soft moist fluffy thick crust-that texture has partly to do with . . . you guess it barley.
Just to remind you, I live where Deep Dish Pizza reigns supreme: New York. Yet out of the 7 plus pizza joints in a 10-mile radius of our home none have a gluten free (and therefore barley-free) option. (I know this because my dear husband spent close to an hour on the phone asking each of them).
So it is a delight when we get the craving to make homemade pizza.
Unlike my memories of waiting for the pizza deliveryman, Luke grew up making pizza at home. The first time we made pizza together I was surprised by the methodical order that is “Greene pizza making”.
It goes like this:
First is the dough.
We use a mixture of Gold Medal Whole Wheat Flour and Gold Medal Organic Flour (basic all purpose flour uses barley as a filler as do most organic flours).
Then when the dough has risen we knead it and roll it out onto our pizza stone.
On top of this goes a thin layer of pizza sauce (usually our preference is Hunt’s Zesty and Spicy Pasta Sauce.)
Next is a good layer of mozzarella cheese (I try to buy a skim-milk variety) and fair amount of seasoning: garlic powder, Italian seasoning, etc.
Then the veggies and meat get piled on. We vary which veggies we put on from time to time, but we like the “Supreme” style of having a healthy dose of crunchy veggies.
This goes in the oven for 15-20 min. at 350F.
Then with 2-5 minutes left the pizza gets pulled out and we lay tomato slices on top.
And voila: Pizza al Greene!
It’s thick and loaded and absolutely amazing! I never knew pizza could be so good without the pepperoni and cheesy grease. Plus between the whole-wheat crust and the thickly piled goodness in each bite, I don’t need to eat many slices to feel happily full.
So don’t feel bad for me. I think my life upgraded in the area of pizza because of my allergies. Don’t you?
Now for those of you who are gluten free, I have experimented with several gluten-free pizza dough mixes. (I know it’s hard with rice flour to get a crust with texture better than a cracker.)
Here are some I would recommend trying:
1. King Arthur Gluten Free Pizza Crust Mix
2. Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Pizza Crust Mix
3.Arrowhead Mills Gluten Free Pizza Crust Mix
How do you like your pizza?
A.Greene's Adventures 
Made me hungry for pizza at 8:00 AM! Great pictures.
Wait – so are you allergic to gluten or barley?
I’m allergic to barley. But in my process of becoming barley-free I learned to eat gluten-free quite often. Plus five of my close family members are gluten free or gluten intolerant so I consider them often in my baking and blog posts.
Today I actually have been working on future blogs that will explain how I discovered my barley-allergy and my journey to become barley-free -so everyone stayed tuned for that!
I’m curious if you know exactly what in barley you’re allergic to. I’m guessing it’s not the gluten, since wheat and barley gluten are quite similar.
true-it’s not gluten-I do not have celiac-diease. To be honest I don’t know what element of the grain I’m allergic to-it is a good question I’ll explore and write about when I find out! 🙂
I was wondering how the pizza night went. I read your article, but I didn’t need to.. The pictures told the whole story. Great layout. And that pizza looks fantastic. One of the best parts of course is the NAME. :>) And as a Gluten free person I vote for Bob’s Redmill. :>)
I can certainly understand. The only time I order pizza is when I go to B J’s. Nice that you have found a receipe that works for you. Thanks for sharing.