Pizza with Cauliflower Crust

When I learned I had to go gluten free, one of the hardest things to give up was pizza. After all, we live in the land of pizza and pasta, right? Well, it wasn't long before I started hunting for viable gluten-free pizza options.

The first gluten-free pizzas I tried were just shy of pathetic. The crusts were either soggy beyond belief or reminiscent of what I would feed my pet gopher...if I had one. Fortunately, gluten-free offerings have improved immensely over the past 6 years. Recently I learned about making pizza crust out of cauliflower. Sure, it sounds strange, but I had a nice head of cauliflower from Bountiful Baskets and decided to give it a shot. The results? Not bad at all :)

OK, so I usually like my cheese a little more brown, but the crust had been cooking a while and I was concerned about over-criping it. So, here's how it came together...

Clean your cauliflower and cut into florets - I used about half a large head. Then use your food processor to cut it into "cauliflower rice." 

"It looks green!" you say? Of course it does! It's green cauliflower! Transfer it into a microwave-safe bowl and nuke it for about 8 minutes, then let it cool - about 10 minutes. Next spoon it into a clean, dry kitchen towel and use the towel to squeeze the dickens out of it! And the water, too. I skipped this step, so it took longer to cook out the moisture and crisp up the crust. I won't forget again!

 

Mix together the eggs, herbs, garlic & Parmesan in a small bowl. Then mix this with the cauliflower.

 

All mixed together! Now pat it out onto the parchment-lined pan. I used my rectangular pizza stone from Pampered Chef and am spatially challenged, so it's a bit free-form.

 

Toss it into the 450 degree oven and bake it about 15-20 minutes. Don't be fooled by a lightly browned crust like this:

 

Put it back in until it looks like this:

 

Then add your sauce and toppings and put it back in long enough to melt your cheese. Make sure your toppings are all pre-cooked, because they won't be in there long enough to cook.

 

Pizza with Cauliflower Crust

1/2  large head cauliflower (about 3 cups shredded)

2 large eggs 

1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

            1 teaspoon dried oregano
            1 teaspoon dried basil

            2 teaspoons garlic powder

Wash & cut about half a large cauliflower into florets. Use your food processor to finely chop the cauliflower. It should resemble rice. Place 3 cups of the cauliflower rice into a microwave-safe bowl and cook for 8 minutes. When the cauliflower is done cooking let it cool for about 10 minutes, fluff with a fork now and again to release steam. Place into a clean, dry kitchen towel and squeeze as much liquid out as you can. 

Somewhere in here you will want to start preheating your oven to 450 degrees.

While the cauliflower cooks mix the beaten eggs, garlic, and dried herbs in a bowl. Add the shredded Parmesan and mix well.
Add the cheese mixture to the cooled, dried out cauliflower (in a bowl, not the kitchen towel…that wouldn’t work at all!). Mix to combine all the ingredients. Scoop the mixture onto a cookie sheet or pizza stone lined w/parchment paper. Form it into a circle, square, octagon – whatever works for you. You will want to pat it out so it is nice and thin, though.

Place the cauliflower crust in the oven and bake for at least 15 minutes. It should be nicely browned. Turn oven off and leave the crust in for another 5 minutes, then top it with your favorite toppings. I used our homemade Fresh Pasta Sauce and some shredded mozzarella, and that worked just fine!

Tonight we will try it again with the other half of the cauliflower...and with squeezing it dry. We will also cook up some jalapeno bacon for a topping.

Enjoy!