The bench · Gluten free
For a coeliac buyer the question is not which dough tastes best. It is which one is safe. Those are different questions, so we keep them on different pages.
Five UK sellers will post you ready-made gluten-free pizza dough balls, at £3.24 to £4.13 each. Two carry a formal certification claim, one claims gluten-free status without naming a certifying body, and two publish no ingredients at all. The recipes divide into starch-based Italian formulations and a chickpea-flour alternative that behaves and tastes noticeably different. Below is every claim, quoted word for word, with the price per ball beside it.
Read this first. Below we quote each seller's own certification wording, word for word, and link to the page it appears on. We are not a certifying body and we do not endorse any claim. Certification, recipes and production facilities change — if you are coeliac, confirm the current status with the seller before you order.
| Product | Pack | Per ball | The claim, quoted | Base |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ooni UKCB-G01 | 8 × 250g £25.95 |
£3.24 | "This product is certified Gluten-Free, containing <20ppm gluten. When pizza made using this dough is prepared and cooked in an environment free of gluten or contamination, they are safe for people who have celiac disease." |
Rice & corn starch |
| Woody OvenCB-G02 | 12 × 250g £39.99 |
£3.33 | "Gluten Free | Lactose Free | Certified Organic" No certifying body named. No ingredients list published. Frozen life stated as 18 months. |
Not published |
| Great Balls of FlourCB-G03 | 12 × 250g £4.30 single |
£3.58 | "FREE FROM: LACTOSE, GLUTEN, GMO, NO PALM OIL, NO HYDROGENATED FATS, NO COLOURS. MAY CONTAIN TRACES OF MUSTARD AND SESAME." No certification or dedicated-facility claim stated. |
Chickpea & potato |
| Chefs for FoodiesCB-G04 | 12 × 250g £49.50 |
£4.13 | "Coeliac UK certified safe – Made in a dedicated gluten-free facility" |
Rice & corn starch |
| BabadohCB-G05 | Mixed pack Details not published |
— | No claim published Gluten-free dough included in a mixed pack; no ingredients, weights or certification given. |
Not published |
A dedicated gluten-free facility and a <20ppm test result are different assurances. A "free from gluten" line with no certifying body behind it is a third thing again, and the weakest of the three. The price order does not follow the strength order.
Two of these are starch-based Italian formulations that behave alike in the oven. Great Balls of Flour is chickpea and potato — a different dough with a different flavour, and one that carries a mustard and sesame trace warning the others do not.
That depends entirely on the individual product, and the five on this page make materially different claims. Chefs for Foodies states "Coeliac UK certified safe – Made in a dedicated gluten-free facility". Ooni states its dough is certified gluten-free at under 20 parts per million, and adds the condition that it must be prepared and cooked in an environment free of contamination. Woody Oven states "Gluten Free" without naming a certifying body. Great Balls of Flour states free-from status but no certification, and warns of possible mustard and sesame traces.
We report those claims; we do not verify them. If you are coeliac, confirm current certification with the seller before ordering, because facilities and recipes change.
Two different approaches. The starch-based route — rice starch, corn starch, potato starch, rice flour, pea protein and a cellulose thickener — is what Ooni and Chefs for Foodies both sell, and it produces a dough that stretches and crisps closest to wheat. The chickpea route, used by Great Balls of Flour, adds chickpea, sorghum and millet flours for a nuttier, denser base with more flavour of its own.
Neither contains wheat flour, and neither behaves like wheat dough in the hand. Expect to press rather than stretch.
Gluten-free balls run £3.24 to £4.13 each against £1.50 to £2.29 for wheat — roughly double. The ingredients are more expensive, the volumes are smaller, and a dedicated gluten-free facility costs more to run than a shared one.
What is harder to justify is the spread within gluten-free itself. Two products on this page carry near-identical ingredients declarations at £3.24 and £4.13 a ball, a 27% difference.
Yes, and in some ways it suits a domestic oven better than wheat dough does. Starch-based bases crisp at lower temperatures and do not need the fierce heat that gives wheat dough its rise and char. Give the tray or steel a long preheat, bake a minute or two longer than you would wheat, and do not expect a puffed, leoparded rim — that is not what this dough does.