I've done it!

I have finally mastered the art of crafting the perfect gluten-free pizza.

A little background: I discovered last year that I am gluten-intolerant... meaning my body simply won't digest anything with gluten in it. And the only way to manage this little problem is to stick to a gluten-free diet.

What is gluten? It's the protein that's in wheat, and it's also used in about a million other things, such as salad dressings, sauces, and of course, any product made with regular flour. So regular bread, pizza, cookies, pasta, cakes, etc. are now off-limits to me. Forever. A wise friend once told me I wouldn't miss these things, since eating them makes me sick. (And the words "permanent intestinal damage" scare the hell out of me).

All is not lost, as I am lucky to live in an area where all sorts of alternatives are readily available to me. I have easy access to all sorts of products which are gluten-free, and to flours that are made with other grains. (Eating out is a challenge, but that's another story.)

But I HAVE missed pizza. I found a gluten-free frozen pizza which is good, but it's just not the same as the doughy, cheesy goodness that is a North Beach Pizza creation. And it's a little pricey, too. I tried a pre-packaged dough mix which was okay...but again, not great. So I'd settled for a pizza dough recipe that requires 10,000 ingredients (hello, anyone have xanthan gum and guar gum in their pantries? I do!) and is a little challenging to work with -- those alternative flours are very delicate, and VERY sticky, once made into dough.
It, too, was okay...but not great.
Until two weeks ago.
I don't know what I did, but the pizza I made was FABULOUS. Doughy, chewy, excellent "mouth-feel" (as they say in wine-tasting) . The thing is... I didn't know what I'd done differently to make this particular pizza so yummy. I figured it was a fluke, and that I was doomed to pizzas that were just....okay.
But it happened again this past weekend. Another fantastic pizza. Hallelujiah!

(I know... I know. We're at war, people are trying to pick up the pieces of their lives along the Gulf Coast, and I'm obsessing about pizza. What can I tell you? I am a dork.)