never doing that again

[motheringforme]

ugh, my MIL has decided she is gluten intolerant (and she treats it like a deathly allergy).  She also claims she can't eat shellfish, beef, or lactose, and doesn't like most green vegetables.  I certainly believe there are people who cannot eat certain foods (my son has a peanut allergy), but I think she's more hypochondriac than anything.  Anyway, I like to have them over for dinner, but this has made it much harder.  I picked up a bag of Bob's Red Mill gluten free pizza dough.  NEVER AGAIN.  When I make my own pizza dough, the dough is pliable, nice and stretchy, able to roll out.  This was nothing but a sticky mess.  I did my best to spread it over the pan with my fingers, but it looked horrible, and kept tearing and sticking to everything.  Is there such thing as a pliable gluten free pizza dough? 

[kjbrown92]

nope not really. it's a whole different bird. Namaste makes a good pizza dough. But it's still sticky. Without the glue in gluten, it's not pliable dough. That being said, it's very nice of you to try to make safe food for your MIL. There are people who get very ill and react for a long time when they have an intolerance. No it's not a life threatening allergy, but if something is going to make you feel horrible for weeks afterwards, yes, we're going to try to avoid it in any way, shape or form.

[kimbersdawnly]

Yes, of course there is.  I'm writing a GF DF cookbook and need recipes tested so if you'd like to try mine out I could message it to you.  Would you be willing to offer feedback in return please?

Gluten issues are awful!  But may I offer just a bit of my own experience?  When I came off gluten and realized retrospectively just how much it had been hurting and disabling me (I have Celiac's), i became utterly militant about staying away from it.  I had good reason in my mind, as even microscopic amounts bring on the pain and malaise and mind fog and exhaustion of my condition.  I also, as a result of cumulative damage to the intestines, could no longer properly digest almost EXACTLY those same things that you said she can't tolerate (exchange shellfish for citrus and that's me).  So to me, it sounds like she has probably suffered intestinal damage, which could very well indicate as severe a condition as I have, where every minute amount of gluten in one's diet will set back healing by a month or more as it causes new intestinal damage.  Just because she hasn't been diagnosed as a celiac doesn't mean that she isn't - the testing methods all have a high rate of false negatives and docs are often reluctant even to test for it let alone diagnose it.

The good news is that with time, on a completely GF diet, other sensitivities (like to meat and greens) may dissipate or disappear completely as the intestine slowly heals itself.  It gets easier.  But quite frankly, after being "glutened" accidentally a couple of times and suffering the ill effects in contrast to feeling almost well because of a GF diet, I turned into a full on conspiracy theorist trying to imagine any possible way that any substance about to come into contact with me could have been (inadvertently or otherwise) contaminated with that evil gluten. Now I brown bag everything!  I make most all of my food from scratch, and I almost never eat food prepared by others.  I know I drove people crazy.  I drove MYSELF crazy.  It was really difficult and isolating at first, and still is quite a bit, but it's not a casual thing.  It's not something where I can say, "Oh, just a speck won't hurt" because it does, physically, and even very minor amounts can set me back to not being able to digest other normal foods again, which is even worse.  Yeah, I may sound crazy, and it's not fun to live like this.  But its a heck of a lot better than being ill all the time!!!  Sorry, I get passionate...  but perhaps the MIL isn't as crazy as she seems right now?

Just a though from someone who's been there.

[NYCVeg]

There are also many premade gluten-free pizza crusts that you can purchase at Whole Foods and other speciality stores (as well as online). We sometimes use Chebe brand pizza dough for dd, who has a life-threatening allergy to wheat. It's certainly nothing like regular pizza dough, but it has some good Italian spices in it and tastes decent.

[lalaland42]

Why don't you just serve rice and chicken?

[flightgoddess]

Pizza dough is still hard for experienced GF cookers to master. I second that next time, make something naturally GF, like meat and veggies, potatos or rice. Fruit for dessert. Tacos with corn tortillas or shells is fine, if you 'make' your own spice/seasoning, as would be risotto, rice pasta, stir fry with safe, wheat free soy sauce, etc.

Being GF, I am careful thinking about where my food has been, who made it, etc, but I am also grateful for family who has learned to ask what I can and can't have and do/try to make something that I can eat too.

[MountainMamaGC]

There are lots of naturally GF foods. Its best to stick with those. The GF pastas are ok, but the doughs are tricky. Chicken or pork roast and potato dishes are always a sure bet, just make sure any condiments dont contain wheat, like soy sauce and Worcestershire sauce. Rice is another good bet. Fritattas are a good sub for pizza.

[ameliabedelia]

The blog link in my sig had a really good pizza dough recipe!  It really IS good.  No, it's not pliable and yes it is sticky, but it's once cooked it has a very similar taste and texture to gluten pizza dough.   You spread it out with your hands (wetting them with olive oil so it doesn't stick) and then pre-bake it,  Add the toppings and bake again.  Yum!  We make it at least once a week, and my kids love it!

[ameliabedelia]

Also wanted to add, that I do agree it is easiest to stick with naturally gluten-free foods.  Chicken, rice, chicken tacos (with corn tortillas), etc.  Things like that probably would have been easier and better.  You do just need to watch your spices/seasonings.