My pet menu peeve is restaurants that label items gluten-free that already are naturally gluten-free. They do it to appear trendy, but it’s really a pretty lame stab at trendiness.
I wanted to know what is happening in a category that is NOT naturally gluten-free, so I asked the editor of The National Culinary Review if I could write an article about gluten-free pizza. That way I could get to the bottom of something with genuine ground-breaking potential.
In the process of interviewing restaurants, I thought I’d check in with my favorite local pizzeria, Kansas City-based SPIN! Neapolitan Pizza. Founding partner and co-owner Richard Lozoff told me they indeed do have gluten-free pizza, and it makes up 10% of their sales.
What? That’s absurd. There aren’t that many gluten-sensitive people. I was intrigued when he told me some people just order it because they think it tastes better than the traditional version.
I had to find out for myself. In short order, I was waiting in line to order a gluten-free Pollo Arrosto & Chevre (Chicken & Goat Cheese) pizza.
I was so impressed with the quality and flavor that when I was done with my pizza, I wished I had more of that delicious crust. It was evenly crunchy with a slightly sweet flavor. It is so much better than their traditional crust, and there is nothing wrong with the traditional crust. I don’t think I’ll ever order anything but gluten-free from SPIN! again. And I’m not even a Millennial. I’m a Baby Boomer—the least likely to order gluten free.
Just exactly what ingredients could a pizzeria use that would yield a gluten-free crust? I could only get one source to tell me, so here’s the trade secret. Fast casual operator Pizza Fusion with headquarters in Boca Raton, Fla., makes its dough with filtered water, organic cane sugar, organic olive oil, salt, yeast, rice flour, brown rice flour, tapioca starch, potato starch, potato flour, xanthan gum and pectin (lemon derivative).
A new pizza concept will soon start popping up around the country called PieQ, based in Detroit. Their goal is to transport pizza from “junk food” to “super food” status. This is thanks to known innovator Jimmy Schmidt, considered a mad-scientist chef, who developed a crust made only of healthy things that, bonus, is gluten free. And it isn’t a traditional dough. It’s a pourable batter. They wouldn’t tell me any of the ingredients. That’s another one I’ll have to try.
The biggest issue with gluten-free pizza is avoiding contamination that puts the pizza above the FDA’s gluten limit to bear the claim (less than 20 parts per million). The fact that there’s flour anywhere around the gluten-free version probably disqualifies it. Add to that workers whose hands just handled a traditional crust, a pan that just held a traditional pizza, an oven that just baked a traditional pizza—and you get the idea.
But as one source told me, those who are really gluten intolerant should know better than to walk into a pizza place.
At any rate, genuine strides have been made in the realm of gluten-free pizza. Italy was on it 10 years before the U.S., but as one source told me, “In the U.S., when we get into a renaissance, we really get into it and make it commercial.”
Tell me what you’ve seen.
Jody
