Cauliflower Pizza Crust, Healthy and Delicious!

This recipe for cauliflower pizza crust is entirely gluten free and after you bake it, you can even pick it up like a regular pizza slice!  You can add your favourite toppings, or if you use the same toppings as I did here, it makes the most delicious greek pizza!

Cauliflower Pizza Crust

Ingredients

• 1 small head or 2/3 large head of cauliflower


• ¼ cups Parmesan Cheese


• ¼ cups Monterey Jack Cheese


• ¼ teaspoons Sea Salt


• ½ teaspoons Dried Basil


• ½ teaspoons Dried Oregano


• ½ teaspoons Garlic Powder


• 1 Egg

Instructions

1. Wash and thoroughly dry the cauliflower.


2. Cut off the florets.  You don’t need the stem.


3. Pulse in the food processor until you get cauliflower “snow”.  You should end up with 2 to 3 cups.


4. Cover the cauliflower and microwave for about 4 or 5 minutes.


5. Dump the cauliflower out onto a paper towel and clean tea towel and let it cool off.


6. Preheat the oven to 450ºF.  Place your cookie sheet in the oven to heat it up.


7. Wrap up the cauliflower in the dish cloth and paper towel and wring out as much excess water as you can.


8. Combine the Parmesan cheese, Monterey Jack cheese, sea salt, dried basil, dried oregano,  garlic powder, and cauliflower in a medium bowl.


9. Mix it together with a spoon to combine the ingredients. Then add the egg and use your hands to form it into a dough ball.


10. Pat it down gently onto a piece of parchment paper with oil spread (or sprayed) onto it.


11. Use your hands to form it into a pizza crust, about 1/4″ thick.


12. Optional: Slide the parchment paper onto the heated up cookie sheet and bake the crust without any toppings for about 8 to 11 minutes until it is golden brown.


13. Remove from the oven and add your toppings.  (I highly recommend spreading on a bit of olive oil and topping it with feta cheese, mozzarella cheese, kalamata olives, red onion, cherry tomatoes and parsley.)


14. Bake it for another 5 to 7 minutes with your toppings on it.


15. Note: If you are only going to bake it once, leave it in for about 15 to 17 minutes.

Place the cauliflower heads into a large food processor.  I tried the Blendtec, and sadly, it failed me.  Definitely do this with a food processor.  Pulse it until it has turned into tiny snow like pieces.

Place the cauliflower snow into a microwavable dish, cover and microwave for about 4 or 5 minutes.  Lay it out on a paper towel and a clean tea towel to cool off.

Make sure you wait for it to cool off.  Trust me, you do not want to be doing this next part with hot cauliflower.  Squeeze out as much excess water as you can:

Combine the other ingredients in a medium sized bowl:

Add the squeezed out cauliflower to the mixture:

Stir together the ingredients, then add the egg and form it into dough with your hands:

You’ll end up with a ball of dough big enough to make a 12″ pizza.  It’s should be about this size:

Spread some oil on a piece of parchment paper and start pressing the dough into a pizza crust.  Don’t be alarmed if the edges crack and separate like mine are doing in the photo below.  They easily press back together:

I used one hand to flatten the dough and the other hand to form an edge so I could get the curve of the circle:

And there you have it!  I skipped this next step, but you are supposed to bake the cauliflower pizza crust before you add your toppings.  I’m assuming that helps keep it together?  I totally missed that part of the recipe, but mine still turned out perfectly!

You can top it however you want, but I HIGHLY suggest making a greek pizza.  It tasted soooooo good.  The flavour combination of the oregano and garlic powder in the crust with the vegetables was seriously delicious!  I topped it with olive oil, feta cheese, mozzarella cheese, kalamata olives, red onion, cherry tomatoes and parsley:

Besides being delicious, check out how beautiful it looked:

  So this is what it looked like before I baked it:

And this is what it looked like after I baked it:

Delicious golden brown crust!  It’s a little bit heavier than regular pizza, but it’s delicious.

Unless you are gluten free, this probably isn’t going to replace regular pizza for you, but it certainly is a fun way to switch things up!  This is a recipe that is definitely worth trying!

This is way easier (and way faster for that matter) than making your own homemade pizza crust from flour.  It takes about half an hour to make the cauliflower pizza crust dough and then another 15 minutes or so to bake it.  You can top it with any of your favourite toppings, and you can even pick up the slices with your hands.  Best cauliflower pizza crust ever!

Source : onelittleproject.com
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