Product Review: Chebe pizza crust mix

Posted on | March 31, 2012 | 1 Comment

Chebe sent us this pizza mix to test out, and I couldn’t wait! I’m a huge fan of their foccacia bread, cheese bread and breadsticks, and hoped this gluten free pizza crust mix was up to par. It retails for around 3.49 and makes a medium sized crust.

Preparing this pizza crust was very similar to their other cheese bread mixes. I added a cup of hard cheese (mixture of parmesan and pecorino), an egg, and milk. I mixed the dough with a fork, and then kneaded it by hand until it formed a smooth ball.

Pressing the pizza dough in the pan proved to be a bit challenging, since the dough was thick and firm. I used the heel of my hand to spread the dough and with some patience and muscle, was able to get the dough fairly uniform in thickness. I also created a thick edge for a crust, something I usually don’t do with other gluten free pizza crust mixes due to the thinner, more elastic texture. I topped the pizza with peperoni, white onion and mushrooms.

The pizza baked for 20 minutes and smelled wonderful! I couldn’t wait to sink my teeth into it. The included spices in the crust really smelled good. Unfortunately, the flavor of the crust turned out to be way too strong for my toppings. The garlic and onion flavor, which reminded me of their breadsticks, really competed with my marinara sauce and veggies. It just didn’t taste good and I felt this gluten free pizza crust mix would be better as a stand alone breadstick or cheesebread. If you want to try this as a pizza crust, I would suggest mild toppings with no extra seasonings.

The texture was reminiscent of their breadsticks as well, crunchy and firm on the exterior edges and the bottom of the crust, with a soft, thick, doughy center that added a nice bit of chewiness. I wouldn’t classify this mix as a traditional pizza crust mix, but I did enjoy the combination of crunchiness and chewiness it offered.

Overall, I enjoy Chebe bread mixes, but this pizza crust was not a winner for me

Rating: 3 stars

Pros: great crunch and chewiness, easy to prepare

Cons: mix contains very strong seasoning, which competes with toppings.

********************

Ingredients: manioc (tapioca) flour, modified manioc starch, iodine free sea salt, garlic, onion, oregano

Nutritional Snapshot ( 1/10 of mix): 70 calories, 0 g fat, 103 mg sodium, o g fiber, o g protein

********************

Want to try this mix?

This mix may be purchased individually from vitacost.com or amazon.com:

Comments

One Response to “Product Review: Chebe pizza crust mix”

Jeff
June 21st, 2012 @ 10:34 am

Chebe Pizza Crust is not just ok, it’s a home run for being the best GF crust out there (no, I don’t work for Chebe!). The rest taste like cardboard. We make homemade pizza frequently and ONLY use Chebe now. My nonGF friends like it as well, so we don’t have to make different pizzas. Just sayin’.