Gluten-Free Pizza

Jeff and I discovered a blog post a while back that mentioned something about a gluten-free pizza chain in Korea, called Imsil Pizza.  While Jeff isn't a huge fan, I'm quite happy with a slice of pizza now and then.  

Yesterday, Jeff mentioned the pizza chain while walking me home from work.  I expressed a saddened interest, as I assumed this specific chain was nowhere in Ansan.  Well, I was wrong.  As Jeff and I walked down the street, he pointed to it, and led me through the door! 

As I double-checked with the cook that the flour was 100% rice flour and it was safe for people with a wheat allergy (gluten intolerance or celiacs disease was too complicated for my translating skills), Jeff perused the menu.  To be on the safe side, we ordered a regular sized cheese pizza with tomato sauce.  My longtime favorite is pepperoni, and in Korea, my favorite is pepperoni with a sweet potato paste around the crust.  In the hopes of avoiding gluten in filler-meats like sausage and pepperoni, however we went for the plainest of options.  I had my eye on a veggie pizza, but it was made with a white sauce (which I feared contained wheat flour as a thickener).  

Even though is was a plain cheese pizza, it was glorious!  It felt like I was cheating, gobbling up all the bready goodness!  But my body can testify today that I do not have a stomachache.  At least for my level of sensitivity, this pizza passed the test!  As we munched away, we got inspired for our next Imsil Cheese Pizza purchase.  Our plan is to order one to go, take it home, and doctor it up with sauteed mushrooms, onions, tomatoes, (feta cheese if we can find a good deal on it), and most importantly, grilled kimchi!  (The best pizza I've EVER had was one topped with kimchi, pepperoni, mushrooms, and onions.  I've been dying to recreate it ever since!)

Another option I am excited to recreate is honey-dipped pizza that I've had twice before.  My Korean friends ordered a mushroom pizza (with white sauce), that they rolled up and dipped into a small cup of honey.  A dessert-like way to enjoy your pizza!

Once back in America, I am excited to make my own gluten-free pizza, too.  (Oh, how wonderful access to an oven will be!)  After this experience with Imsil Pizza, I'm extra encouraged to know that rice flour works well for pizza dough.  As I've been browsing the internet for gluten-free baking tips, I've noticed that non-wheat flour is sometimes finicky in terms of rising properly.  The rice flour used at this restaurant seemed perfect just the way it was, though.  It tasted and looked like a true pizza!  (Except for the corn that Koreans always include in their pizza, and the pickles that I've grown to expect as a side dish.)

The only fear I had about this pizza was the stuffed crust.  What appeared at first glance to be cheese-stuffed pizza crust, turned out to be rice-cake stuffed crust.  Not too surprising in Korea.  I was a bit afraid since I have had a bad reaction to rice cakes in the past (sometimes they are dusted with flour that, according to my body, contains gluten), but as I said, I'm feeling fine today, so I'll definitely go back for seconds.