Product Review: Gluten-Free Bistro Pizza Crust

After reading this article on exactly why wheat is so bad for you and having the living daylights scared out of me, I found myself suddenly motivated to get as gluten-free as possible. Even as motivated as I am, however, it has been slow going because I haven’t really found that many gluten-free items that taste much better than cardboard. The other day, for example, I brought home gluten-free English muffins that were indistinguishable from rocks, and about the same texture/consistency. After forcing myself to down one, I could not bring myself to eat a second one, and we ended up throwing the other five away (thereby wasting food, which I really dislike doing).

Enter my husband. Well, my husband’s co-worker, Chris, to be exact. Chris’ daughter, Barbara, is the co-founder and COO of a company called “The Gluten-Free Bistro,” based in Boulder, CO. Barbara and two other enterprising, gluten-intolerant Moms decided to start their own gluten-free company because they weren’t happy with the gluten-free choices available on the market. Although their current product line is small – consisting of frozen pizza crust, dough ball, penne, fettucine, and an all-purpose gluten-free flour blend, their company has enjoyed astonishing success. Since its founding in 2009, the Gluten-Free Bistro can now boast that their offerings are sold in 80+ restaurants and 35+ Whole Foods Markets in the Rocky Mountain region.

Right out of the bag, nice and frozen.

Slathering with marinara. Yum.

Next comes the Mozzarella...skim, of course.

And after 13 minutes in my oven (which is unusually hot), le voila! Yummy yum yum.

Unfortunately, they are not yet in the Whole Foods near me, so I had to use my “inside connection” with Barbara to get 5 gluten-free pizza crusts sent to me to try. I also bought five pounds of their all-purpose flour, and let me tell you, this is the best-tasting gluten-free company I have tried yet! The pizza crust is not too thick, is nice and crunchy, and doesn’t at all taste like it’s gluten-free – in fact, I really couldn’t believe (at first) that it WAS gluten-free. I could have sworn they were lying.

Then, I used their all-purpose flour mix to make sweet cornbread, and those came out tasting seriously delicious as well. By that, I mean RIDICULOUSLY delicious. So now I’ve traipsed down to my local Whole Foods to request that they carry this product, but so far, no good. But at least I can order the pizza crust and the flour on-line, and believe me, I will. I just used up the last pizza crust yesterday and I’m already jonesing for more.

My little girl really likes the gluten-free pizza as well, saying, “Pizza? Pizza?” whenever she sees me bake it, and then asking for second, third, and fourth (“Have some more?”) helpings. Thank you, ladies, for creating the yummiest gluten-free pizza crust around! And I hope to find you on a natural foods retailer shelf near me very soon…