Review of: Nature's Hilights Brown Rice Pizza
Nature's Hilights pizza crust is made with whole grain rice and is yeast, wheat and gluten-free.
The crust was 10 oz. and came with 2 to a frozen package. We paid $4.99 at Whole Foods.
Preparation is a four step process:
1. Defrost the crust - about 15 minutes if you put it on the stove top while the oven preheats to 500 degrees
2. Prebake for 4-5 minutes at 500 degrees before adding toppings
3. Add toppings
4. Bake for 8-10 minutes at 425 degrees
Please note: we use a pizza stone which we highly recommend for preparing any gluten-free pizzas.
Over two nights I prepared one pizza and my husband made the other one.
The pizza I prepared was topped with Sacla Italia Olive and Tomato Pasta Sauce, fresh mozzarella, asparagus, and red onions.
The pizza my husband made was topped first with Tomato Basil sauce, shredded mozzarella from a bag, red onion and ground ostrich meat.
Both were delicious, although the level of authenticity to real pizza is relatively low. What's interesting is the only ingredient is whole brown rice which gives it a non-bread like texture. It did however have a super crispy crust. The brown rice gave it a slightly sticky aftertaste which bore a resemblance to sushi rice.
Ease of Preparation: Compared to other gluten-free pizzas preparation is easy because the crust is already made. You do have to defrost completely and pre-cook though. Most others require you to actually mix up dough and roll it out- which is always time consuming and a bit messy.
Level of Realism: Compared to other gluten-free pizzas the level of realism with regard to regular pizza is rather low.
Taste: The crust was super crispy but very low in taste which allowed the toppings to really make or break the pizza.
More to come: As we review the other pizzas we'll put up a comprehensive comparison of all the products we can get a hold of.
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
Pizza - Nature's Hilights Brown Rice Pizza
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7 comments:
Hi I would be interested in porting this recipe in frogpress.org, please let me know if your interested
I've tried Nature's Hilights pizza crust. It's really just brown rice mochi in the shape of a pizza crust. It is nothing like pizza in any sense of the word. I put it on a baking pan (before I realized what it was) and it stuck to the pan like glue. I prefer a more authentic crust although this might be good for vegans or those on a macrobiotic diet.
The ingredients now include potato, which probably changes the consistency slightly. I tried this recently and absolutely love it. Yes, it's not exactly like regular pizza crust, but frankly neither is any other gluten free crust I've had. This comes out nice and crispy and is great with tomato sauce and veggies.
If you go for a more traditional crust, then I'd also recommend the Barkat brown rice pizza crust. This has yeast in it and is more like a regular pizza crust. It tastes good, but I really prefer the crispier Nature's Hilights crust to anything else.
By the way, I've only been gluten free for about 2 years, so I do remember regular pizza very distinctly. I just find that none of the gluten free crusts have the right flavor and consistency. While this isn't authentic, it's the most satisfying one I've had.
Hi Ted,
Happy New Year
The best crust I've had so far is Whole Foods. There's a review on my site for it. It's not exactly like normal NY style, but it tastes great. The Nameste isn't too bad either.
Rob
this Natures Hilights is the best crust I've ever had...okay, maybe after several years of GF living, I've gone nuts - but pizza is one of those things I've missed - and this product is much better than you make-out; other products I've tried don't come close!...
directions say to let thaw first; I defrosted in microwave for 2 mins...
Hi Mike,
Thanks for the comment. Pizza is the one thing Rob craves too; and perhaps I was overly harsh with Nature's Hilights. We'll give it another go. I believe we were comparing it with Namaste and the mixes- which definitely require more effort, but are a bit closer to gluten crusts.
We honestly hate this pizza crust. I tried it a few times and kept thinking I was doing something wrong. It's hard, sticky and not satisfying at all when you want pizza. I'll look for the Barkat crust mentioned above.
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