The Best Almond Flour Pizza Dough Recipe

Some of us have been through it. The dreaded stomach aches that come after eating bread, pasta, and worst of all, pizza. Gluten sensitivity is more common than you think. In order to keep eating the foods you love, you may need to start swapping out wheat flour in favor of other ingredients. While I’m personally not sensitive to gluten, I have friends and family who are – so I’m always cooking at least one gluten-free pizza and have had a lot of practice perfecting it.

The quickest way to make a good gluten-free pizza crust is by using almond flour, because it’s a standard product carried in many grocery stores. Almonds are inherently gluten-free, so grinding them into flour is a gluten-free favorite. Best of all, it makes for a delightfully chewy pizza! Here is a guide to making a perfect almond flour pizza crust.

What Does it Mean to Be Gluten-Free?

Gluten sensitivity or allergy, also known as gluten intolerance, means that one is sensitive to gluten, which is a structural protein commonly found in grains. Not everyone is gluten sensitive. Those who have difficulty breaking down gluten during the digestive process have abnormal symptoms such as bloating, gas, stomach pain, muscle spasms, and even mood swings.

Those who are gluten-free cut out all sources of gluten from their diet. This means consuming no items containing wheat flour, glutenous oats, and grains. That is a long list of foods to cut out! 

Here are some common foods that GF folks have to modify or eliminate:

• Pizza
• Pasta
• Bread
• Couscous
• Cake
• Cookies
• Crackers
• Cereal
• Pie
• Breaded foods

Be sure to talk to your doctor before cutting foods out of your diet. If you suspect you may have a gluten allergy, make a medical visit asap! 

Why Almond Flour?

Being gluten-free isn’t all bad, though! The GF food industry has come so far within the last few decades and there are a lot of great alternative products for people with sensitive tummies. One of the best pizza flour swaps in many different recipes is almond flour.

Almond flour is made from very finely ground, blanched almonds and has a lovely texture when baked. It holds together nicely and creates the crispness that we associate with pizza. Many gluten-free flour blends can become mealy or soggy when making GF pizza dough, but almond flour really holds up to the high heat. The result is a slice of pizza that is not floppy or ill-textured. 

How to Best Use It

When shopping for almond flour, you want to look for finely ground. You may also come across something called almond meal. Almond meal is similar to almond flour, but they are not the same.

When making almond meal, the skins are included in the grinding process. The grind is also much less fine than almond flour. Almond meal makes for great GF streusel topping, but it does not make for great pizza crust. Be sure to locate the finely ground, blanched almond flour. If you can’t find it in-store, you can order it online.

Use almond flour like you would traditional flour in your pizza crust. The one ingredient that may change is the use of yeast. Yeast binds to gluten and causes traditional pizza dough to rise. Because of the absence of gluten in almond flour, you will not get any rise from yeast. However, you can still add yeast to almond flour dough for flavor.

Almond Flour vs. Other GF Flour

Almond flour has a deep, nutty texture that goes well with pizza sauce and cheese. It is our pick for the best gluten-free flour in pizza dough. There are quite a few flours out there that are absent of wheat, including:

• Tapioca flour
• Cassava flour
• White rice flour
• Brown rice flour
• Chickpea flour
• Coconut flour
• Gluten-free oat flour

And the list goes on! Some companies even mix these flours together for a GF “all-purpose” flour. When it comes to pizza, because these flours do not contain gluten, yeast will not cause them to rise, therefore making GF pizza-making much quicker than traditional.

In the end, we like almond flour in pizza dough for the flavor, texture, and crunch. If you cannot have gluten, don’t sweat it. We can show you exactly how to make a perfect pizza using almond flour.

Ingredients to Make Almond Flour Pizza Dough

Making almond flour pizza dough is fast and simple. Here are the ingredients you will need:

• 1½ cups finely-ground almond flour
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon active dry yeast (for flavor)
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon dried Italian herbs
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 large egg

How to Make Almond Flour Pizza Dough

Preheat your conventional oven to 450 degrees F.

To a large bowl, add the almond flour, baking powder, yeast, garlic powder, and Italian herbs. Mix well with a whisk to combine everything well. Then, add the olive oil and egg. Mix well until the dry ingredients moisten.

Using your hands, knead the dough a few times to ensure the ingredients are incorporated well.

Slice the dough into two halves. Roll out one half of the dough between two layers of parchment paper, one under the dough and one on top. Keep rolling so that you end up with a circle of dough about ½-inch thick. Repeat with the other half of the dough.

Peel the top layer of parchment off of the crusts. Slide the bottom (with parchment) onto baking sheets.

Par-bake your crusts for 7-8 minutes until it begins to brown.

Remove the crusts from the oven and add your pizza toppings. Place back into the oven for another 5 minutes until the cheese melts.

It all happens so fast since you don’t need to allow the dough to rise! You can have homemade GF pizza in under an hour.

Almond Flour Pizza is Where It’s At!

Not everyone has an easy time digesting gluten. That’s why almond flour pizza comes in handy! It not only is gluten-free, but it is delicious and has a fabulous texture. Plus, almond flour pizza is done and on the table in under an hour. If you have never made gluten-free pizza before, now is a perfect time. Be sure to check out our homemade pizza sauce recipe to put on your almond flour crust, which is also gluten-free!