Enjoy these sumptuous delicacies on the spot and / or purchase ready-to-bake versions to take home and savor, warm from your own oven.  Dale’s pie shells and groundbreaking, ready-to-roll puff pastry dough let you become the gluten-free chef you’ve always wanted to be. Ask about their dairy-free options.

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Puff Pastry Tips from Dale! 

• If you have time, it’s best to thaw puff pastry overnight in the fridge.
• If you don’t have time, thaw it on the counter until it’s pliable enough to unfold without cracking, but still cool to the touch. Keep a close eye on it — if the dough feels very limp, refrigerate it for 30 minutes to help it firm up again.
• One of the biggest mistakes you can make is leaving it on the counter for too long. A room-temperature atmosphere will cause the puff pastry to wilt and become floppy. That, in turn, will make the layers stick, and render it almost impossible to work with. If your puff pastry gets too soft, return it to the fridge for 20 to 30 minutes before moving forward.
• Lightly roll out the puff pastry: Dust the top of the puff with just a little GF flour, then use a rolling pin to lightly roll. Puff pastry should be rolled out to approx. 4-5 mm depth.
• Follow any puff pastry recipe, remembering that ALL pastry (gluten-­free or not) ­ bakes off flakiest when chilled for a short time before baking in a hot oven ie 10-15 min in freezer first after making your ‘creation.’
• If you’re making a filled pastry, like a pot pie, for example, cut a few vents in the dough so hot air can escape and circulate as it bakes. If you skip this step, and you’ll have a soggy interior.
• We generally egg wash pastry before baking to give it that yummy golden colour
• A very general rule for baking the puff pastry is the following – bear in mind that oven temperatures vary.
• Set the oven to 200° C (400° F – gas 6) and bake in the middle of the oven for 20 minutes to 25 minutes. Check after 20 minutes as it’s easy to burn the edges from cooking for too long.
• Scraps can be gathered up and be re­used. Make sure that scraps are layered on top of each other – not scrunched up into a ball, before re-rolling.

Ready to Eat!

Ready to Bake!

‘Dining-in’ is back at 900 Degrees Wood-Fired Pizzeria Langford 4:30 to 8pm

Introducing 900° 2 Go! Contactless Take-Out & Curb-Side Pick Up.

900 Degrees offers delivery up to 7km distance. Enter your address at https://900degrees.moduurn.com for eligibility and to calculate your delivery charge (between $3.50 and $5.50.)

Build Your Own

Organic tomato sauce, house-made lemon olive, aged balsamic reduction, brie cream sauce, chilli oil, house-made pesto, fresh mozzarella cheese, basil, & pizza dough, to go!

Phone orders 250-590-4493. Special COVID-19 hours, open daily from 4:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Order online here

• 900 Degrees Wood-Fired Pizza 101B 2401 Millstream Avenue, Victoria (250) 590-4493
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• Contact Executive Chef & Owner Adrian Ortiz-Mena

My curiosity about 900˚ Wood-Fired Pizzeria was piqued when I read in the September Edition of Eat Magazine (page 27)  that the owner’s son was a celiac. Executive Chef and Owner, Adrian Ortiz-Mena was quoted as saying,

• “I think the most innovative thing we have done is bringing really good gluten-free pizza to our customers. My son was diagnosed celiac when he was 5 years old … and he loved pizza. It broke my heart thinking that he could no longer have pizza, so I developed a gluten-free pizza dough just for him. It was a real challenge, a labour of love.”

The Celiac Scene needed to learn more!

I popped into this warm and inviting restaurant on a cold and rainy September night, hoping for the opportunity to speak to a chef or server about their gluten-free options.

I was pleasantly surprised when Adrian himself bounded from the back of the restaurant only too eager to share his son’s health journey and how he had worked at home to create a gluten-free crust that met his discerning chef standards. Using one of the best all-purpose gluten-free flour mixes on the market and few extra-special ingredients, he was able to create a crust that pleased his son – and one that Adrian believed would please his customers.

The details.

As our community well knows, it takes more that a crust to create a gluten-free pizza. Adrian set about to contact the manufacturers of every ingredient used in his entire operation to ensure that the components used in all of his pizzas were celiac-safe. Apart from the wheat flour used for his regular crusts and the garlic bread, every ingredient that 900˚ Wood-Fired Pizzeria in house is gluten-free.

What about the process?

Adrian brimmed with enthusiasm as he explained that gluten-free pizzas are entirely prepared in a dedicated gluten-free area, in a room away from the regular production area. Sauces and toppings are stored in dedicated containers and applied with dedicated utensils that are never used to dress regular pizzas.

When a gluten-free order is processed, the chef washes his hands – up to his elbows – before starting work on an the order. When complete, the  pizza is placed on a dedicated gluten-free pizza peel (handle) and transported to the 900˚ pizza oven where it is cooked to perfection.

Here’s where it gets complicated.

At 900˚ Wood-Fired Pizzeria,  pizzas are cooked directly on the hearth of their single pizza oven, where other gluten pizzas have also been cooked.  The concern on my face prompted Adrian to escort me directly to the oven itself where he proceeded to sweep to the side the burnt, charcoal dust of the pizza crusts that had been cooked.

While Adrian whole heartedly agreed with me that deep frying food at a standard 325-375˚F does not destroy gluten, he maintains that incinerating to 900˚residual gluten crumbs and flour from previously cooked pizzas and then sweeping them aside, most assuredly does.

That said,  900˚ Wood-Fired Pizzeria  is pleased to cook gluten-free pizzas on sanitized pizza pans for any gluten-free diner’s peace of mind. As a wood-fired pizza purist however,  Adrian cautions that cooking pizza on a pan may generate different results.

Final consideration.

900˚ Wood-Fired Pizzeria  is most assuredly a pizza lover’s pizzeria. Gluten pizza dough is thrown into the air with gusto, wheat flour coats the kitchen floor like dance dust and a fine coat of flour is evident on surfaces throughout the main preparation area.

That said after two  years’ serving gluten-free pizza, Adrian shared that there have been no reports from gluten-free diners that they have experienced gluten contamination.

As Adrian is quoted as saying in the EAT Magazine article, “I don’t think we really did anything new – we just did it better!”

I would have to agree: for celiac diners who are comfortable with these practices or those who avoid gluten as a lifestyle choice, 900˚ Wood-Fired Pizzeria sets the gluten-free bar as high as I have seen it on Vancouver Island.

Love Pasta?

900˚ Wood-Fired Pizzeria stages occasional pasta specials and always offer the option of Italy’s Schar Gluten-Free Pasta to gluten-free diners!

Gluten-Free Beer?

900˚ Wood Fired Pizza is pleased to serve 100% gluten-free Forager Beer, made in Whistler from sorghum and rice. 

“Where to Eat in Canada” adds @900.degrees to it’s list of worthy restaurants, calling their pizza “as close to perfection as it’s possible to get,” and one of only a handful of restaurants here in Victoria named “Good Buys”. Check out the full review on page 306 of the 2017-18 guide published by Oberon Press. Pick up your copy today!