Dr. Gourmet's Food Reviews

Udi’s Gluten Free Margherita Pizza

We have tried a number of gluten free pizzas, both from the freezer case and in restaurants. Here's a roundup of some new choices for you along with links to older reviews.

Previously we reviewed Udi's gluten free pizza crusts. These are available in the freezer case at your grocery store and recently I noticed that Udi's is making their own frozen pizzas. There is only one that we could review because their Three Cheese Pizza and Pepperoni Pizza came in at over 800 milligrams of sodium per serving (and a serving was half of a personal sized pizza!). Their Margherita Pizza was somewhat more reasonable at 260 calories for one half of a pie and less than 500 mg sodium. That is, however, a very small pie and most people might eat the whole thing. While the calorie count isn't outrageous, the salt content is pushing it.

Out of the box this is an odd looking frozen pie. Their white doughy crust is topped with tomato sauce and dots of mozzarella that aren't well distributed but clumped in the center. We baked the pie using the instructions for conventional oven and it did take right at the 12 minutes recommended.

This has almost exactly the taste of pizza that I was served in elementary school. Too sweet sauce and mozzarella that is overly chewy. There's not much flavor in the sauce. All in all the pizza is really bland. The crust is, however, pretty good and has the same crispy texture and slightly buttery flavor as our previous review of the plain Udi's crusts. The take home message here is to only take home the crusts, keep them in your freezer and add your own toppings for a much better and much healthier pizza.

More and more pizza restaurants are offering gluten free crusts. One that I tried recently was Pitfire Pizza in Los Angeles. The women who took my order at the counter assured me that they baked the gluten free pizzas in a separate oven from the wheat pizzas. With the demand for gluten free products today this doesn't surprise me.

The toppings were excellent with a great tomato sauce, basil and fresh tomatoes sliced very thinly. Their crust is made off site by The Sensitive Baker and the result is not completely fresh tasting but is pretty good. It is a darker brown - like a whole wheat crust - and really quite good. Thinner than a lot of crusts we have tested it was not overly crisp like flatbread and not too chewy.

More and more it is getting easier to eat good quality gluten free pizza. Making it at home is still the best for the majority of those who have to eat gluten free. Here is a new recipe for a Gluten Free Whole Grain Pizza Crust inspired by the one at Pitfire.

Here are our other reviews of gluten free pizza and gluten free pizza crusts:

Gluten Free Pizza Crusts
Against the Grain Pizzas
Glutino Gluten Free Pizzas
Whole Foods Roasted Vegetable Pizza
More Glutino Gluten Free Pizzas
Wildfire Grill

Posted: June 29, 2012