Why choose between sausage and meatballs on your pizza? Enjoy them both by rolling spicy turkey sausage into tiny balls. They’re a naturally gluten-free pizza topper for our favourite gluten-free dough. The secret ingredient in this easy-to-work dough is potato-it provides just the right texture and flavour, as well as potassium. You’ll need a ricer to ensure smooth potatoes for your dough, but we love this gluten-free recipe so much that we think you’ll agree it’s worth the small investment.
Yields 4 pizzas.
ingredients
Gluten-Free Pizza Dough
directions
Equipment: ricer, pizza stone. Note: freeze wrapped, parbaked pizza shells for up to a month. Top pizza and bake from frozen at 500ºF until hot.
Set a pizza stone or baking sheet on an oven rack in the bottom-third position and preheat to 500ºF. Divide the pizza dough into 4 balls. Spray 2 baking sheets with cooking spray and press each ball out into a thin 8-inch round. Put the baking sheet on the preheated stone and parbake until the dough just starts to brown on the bottom and edges, about 10 minutes for a softer crust or about 15 minutes for a crisper crust. Remove and let cool slightly.
Meanwhile, roll the turkey sausage into very small balls, about 1 teaspoon per ball (using damp hands helps). Heat the oil in a medium nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the meatballs and cook until browned on most sides, turning as needed, about 5 minutes. Remove the meatballs and set aside. Add the garlic to the skillet and stir until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the tomatoes, 1/2 cup of water, basil and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Bring to a simmer, then cook until the sauce begins to thicken, about 10 minutes. Return the meatballs to the skillet and continue to simmer until the sauce is very thick, 3 to 5 minutes more. Remove from heat. (The meatball sauce can be made and refrigerated up to 2 days ahead.)
Divide the sauce and meatballs among the 4 parbaked pizza crusts. Divide the mozzarella among the pizzas evenly. Bake, one baking sheet at a time, on the preheated stone until the crust is golden brown and the cheese melts, 8 to 10 minutes. Sprinkle each pizza with Parmesan and garnish with basil leaves.
For the pizza dough, cover the potatoes with water in a medium pot. Bring to a boil and cook until fork-tender, about 25 minutes; remove. Once the potatoes are cool enough to handle, remove the skin and work the potatoes through a ricer set over a large bowl (should have about 2 cups). Set aside.
Stir together the warm water, agave and yeast in a measuring cup or small bowl. Let sit until a small layer of foam develops at the top, 3 to 5 minutes. (If this doesn’t happen, discard and try again with new yeast.)
Add the potatoes, rice flour, tapioca starch and 3/4 teaspoon salt to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed until the mixture is combined and forms a fine, crumbly meal. Continuing to mix on medium, add the egg white and oil, slowly drizzle in the yeast mixture and mix until the dough comes together (it will be slightly tacky). Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and set in a warm place until the dough increases by half, about 1 1/2 hours.
Form the dough into 2 or 4 balls, for small or medium pizzas, then either cook them as desired or wrap them well and freeze for up to 1 month. Thaw frozen dough at room temperature, then shape and cook.