Gluten Freebird

The appreciation of pizza is hard-coded in my DNA. For my 10th birthday, each girl in my class got to design and bake her own pizza. Hot, gooey cheese, a hint of herbs and garlic, a slightly sweet, crispy crust…what’s not to love? Well, maybe the pineapple and ham combo, but that’s just me.

When my diagnosis came back, pizza came to mind pretty quickly. I’ll never be able to bust a gut on 3 a.m. grease bombs again, I thought. Not so. I’ve been making my way through gluten-free pizza options (frozen, restaurant, and dough-from-a-mix varieties) and will chronicle my experiences in this pizza smackdown.

First up: Glutino.

Overview: This Spinach and Feta single-serving pizza is a good size for a lunch pizza.
Flavor: First off, it’s tomato-free, so not for traditionalists. Salty, so I’d recommend adding a few mushrooms or peppers with a few minutes left in the cooking time to redistribute the seasoning and add some texture.
Crust: Without the gluten, crusts lose their spring. I’m searching for a worthy substitute, but haven’t found it yet. This is a thin-crust pizza, so it’s far from the pillowy fluff you’d find in a Wolfgang Puck or restaurant pizza. With this pizza, crust is something you endure to eat the melted cheese. I surely wouldn’t eat the crust along. I might prefer dough-flavored jerky.
Overall: For a single-serving pizza with a nice mound of cheese, it’s slightly bulge-inducing, but not terrible at 13g fat and 380 calories.