Gluten Free Tavern Pizza

Rolled thin, docked, cured, par-baked, and flipped. All the tavern crunch, zero gluten.

Time: 18 min | Yield: 1 14-16 inch pizzas | Difficulty: Intermediate | Serves: 3 | Published: 2026-07-24

Tavern-style is the crispiest pizza I make, and this is how you get there gluten-free.

The dough is a paste, 93% hydration King Arthur GF pizza flour, chilled so you can handle it, then rolled paper-thin on parchment and docked all over. The two crunch multipliers carry over from my regular Tavern Style: curing the docked dough uncovered in the fridge for 12-24 hours, and a par-bake-then-flip so the dried top becomes the shatter-crisp bottom.

Bake it right on the parchment, sauce and cheese to the edges, and cut it into squares. Nobody at the table will clock it as gluten-free.

Ingredients

150 g Gluten Free flour
140 g water
12 g olive oil
5 g sugar
8 g salt
2.5 g instant dry yeast

Directions

Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl, then mix the wet ingredients with a spatula for about 2 minutes.
Put the paste-like dough in the fridge (covered) for at least 30 minutes to firm up.
You'll know it's right: The mixed dough is a thick paste, not a kneadable ball. That's correct for GF at this hydration, don't add flour to 'fix' it.
Pull the dough out of the fridge and shape into a ball.
Lay down parchment paper. I use a 16x16 inch sheet, or you can use multiple sheets.
Place the dough ball on the parchment paper and flour the top.
Press/flatten the dough with your hands while maintaining the circular shape.
Keep adding a little flour from time to time if you need to.
Use a rolling pin to get the dough as thin as possible. To about 14 or 16 inch circle. If there's excess, or if it's not a perfect circle, you can trim off the excess.
You'll know it's right: Roll to a 14-16 inch circle so thin you could almost read through it. Excess dough can be trimmed for a cleaner circle.
Use a docking tool or a fork to poke holes in the dough.
You'll know it's right: Dock everything, dozens of holes an inch apart. Undocked GF dough bubbles and bakes unevenly.
Put in the fridge, uncovered, for 12-24 hours. This is called curing the dough which results in a crispier texture. You can skip this step and make your pizza immediately if you prefer. 12-24 hours later
You'll know it's right: After curing, the surface should feel dry and leathery. That dried face becomes the bottom after the flip, and it's where the crunch lives.
Preheat your oven to 550 degrees convection with the baking steel or stone.
I recommend using rice flour or GF flour to dust the peel and/or to rub on top of the dough. The top of the dough is going to be the bottom of the pizza.
Bake directly on the parchment paper.
Into the oven for 4-5 minutes, or until you see the bottom starting to brown.
Pull the par baked dough out of the oven and flip the dough over. The top is now the bottom.
You'll know it's right: Flip confidently after the par-bake, the browned top becomes the bottom. Then build the pizza on the fresh side.
start making your pizza!
I recommend sauce and cheese as close to the edge as possible and bake for about 10 more minutes.
Enjoy!

Troubleshooting

Dough was unmanageable

Worked it warm. The 30-minute fridge rest firms the paste into something you can shape. Cold, floured, and on parchment is the only way to handle it.

Not crispy enough

Skipped the cure or the flip. The 12-24 hour uncovered fridge cure plus the par-bake-and-flip are the whole crunch system. Skip either and you get a softer pie.

Dough stuck to the rolling pin

Not enough flour dusting. Flour the top of the dough and the pin, re-dust as you go. GF dough is stickier than wheat, keep it moving on the parchment.

It bubbled up in the oven

Under-docked. A docking tool or fork, everywhere, an inch apart. GF dough bubbles worse than wheat when it isn't perforated.

Used a different GF flour and it fell apart

This is tuned to King Arthur's GF pizza flour. GF blends are not interchangeable. Dave built this on King Arthur GF pizza flour specifically, start there before experimenting.

Notes

I used King Arthur gluten free pizza flour for this recipe. You can trim off any excess dough or to form a better circle with a pizza cutter.

Nutrition (2 squares (about 1/8 of the pie)): 230 calories, 8g protein, 32g carbs, 8g fat.