On the left is Amy’s dairy free cheeze pizza with a rice crust. On the right is Udi’s gluten free crust with tomato paste, arugula pesto, and Daiya mozzarella vegan cheese.
I tried the Amy’s pizza a couple of weeks ago after an exhausting day. I was in a bad mood and didn’t want to put any effort into cooking. And I probably should have looked at the meal’s ingreds closer.
Pros: It’s dairy free and gluten free. And takes no time to bake. I made it in the oven following the directions on the back of the box.
Cons: As you can see, the ingredients list for this is looooong. And there are FODMAPs up the yin yang.
Also, it’s pretty small and I had to supplement the pizza with a salad.
The crust was on the fluffier side, but it still wasn’t like a normal bready (wheat) pizza dough.
Flavor-wise it was great! There was enough sauce and “cheese” to suit my taste buds, and it actually did get a little melty in the oven (although not stringy like real cheese when you pull it apart).
But it definitely upset my gut. I have no doubt it was the various FODMAPs like garlic and onion (in the sauce) and then there’s the soy protein, inulin, and agave. Basically, lots of faux ingredients trying to compensate for the dairy and meat and gluten. Successful in the taste department, but not for people with IBS who are sensitive to FODMAPs.
Which brings me to these…
Not totally fair to compare, because this is just the crust. Also, it has eggs so it’s not vegan.
Pros: You can customize as you want, making it easier to cater to multiple dietary sensitivities. It’s also big enough that a whole crust can make a personal pizza big enough to satisfy one person’s appetite. And there are two crusts in the package, so you can make pizzas with different toppings.
Cons: It’s really thin. It’s also not vegan, so for those who don’t eat eggs or any animal products, it’s not going to work.
I topped it with tomato paste (a kinda bland choice, but at least it’s FODMAPs free as it doesn’t have onions or garlic) and arugula pesto, and Daiya mozzarella.
Then I baked it in the oven as per the instructions on the back.
The Daiya melted as per usual and did it’s stringy thing much better than the Daiya on the Amy’s pizza, which made me wonder if there was something that happens to Daiya when it’s frozen that makes it lose it’s cheesiness. Or maybe the Amy’s pizzas don’t actually use Daiya in all their products, just a few.
As for the crust, well, it got really crispy, which some may like, and some may not. I was okay with it. It’s not pizza like in my opinion. If I’m craving pizza, I’m craving thick doughy crusted pizza. Something you can really sink your teeth into. This is like fancy artisan pizza.
It was a little hard to cut because of how crispy it got.
See how thin it is?
That said, it was absolutely delicious (I burned my mouth because I couldn’t wait to enjoy it) and most important of all, my GI system tolerated it.
So there you have it. The GF pizza showdown.
Of course you could always make your own dough, but in the gluten free world that’s harder to do. If you have a favorite GF pizza recipe or ready made product let me know about it.
I’ve also tried Vicolo crusts which are awesome.
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