Kelly from www.herwritepeace.com introduced me to Cauliflower Crust Pizza last year. Let me start by saying I am in no way a huge cauliflower fan. I don't buy cauliflower and I even tend to avoid it on a veggie tray. That being said, this recipe is somehow incredibly delish (and doesn't taste like cauliflower) and is a great alternative to traditional pizza crust. Unlike Kelly's husband, mine won't touch this recipe with a 10 foot pole but that just means more for me!
This recipe will require about 10 mins of prep time (more if you are having drinks with your friend and distracted by the hilarious antics of her 2 year old) and 30 mins of cooking.
What you'll need:
- 1 head of cauliflower (makes two personal-sized pizzas)
- 1 egg
- 1 cup of mozzarella cheese
- 3/4 cups pizza sauce (substitutions can include anything you have in the fridge- pesto, leftover pasta sauce, BBQ sauce, etc)
- 2 cloves of garlic finely chopped
- a dash of spices like oregano, thyme, chili flakes, salt, pepper to give the "dough" a bit of extra flavour
- toppings of your choice (We used red pepper, mushroom, broccoli and garlic)
Step 1: Grab your lovely head of cauliflower and break it apart into large florets. Once you have your florets, begin by cutting them up into very small pieces. You want it to be a 'crumby' as possible. There are a variety of options to use to complete this step. You can use a sharp knife, a grater, or a food processor to save you time if you have access to one. The food processor we had gave us a bit of a hard time...in the end we discovered that we forgot a part called the "power shaft"....
Step 2: Cook that cauliflower. In order to turn cauliflower into "dough", it needs to be soft. The quickest way to do this is in the microwave. We recommend an initial cooking time of 7 minutes (usually sufficient for a 1/2 batch).
Once your time is up, give the cauliflower a stir. It should be steaming and quite soft. If not, (see second video) put it back in for another 5 minutes but be sure to keep an eye on things. While the cauliflower is cooking, preheat your oven to 450 degrees.
Step 3: Now that your cauliflower has had an additional steam treatment, wring out the "dough" ridding it of as much water is possible. You should get a couple of ounces of liquid. When you open the tea towel you will see now that the cauliflower has now taken on a more "dough-like" quality to it. YAY!
Empty the contents back in your mixing bowl. Give it a quick stir and you can now add your (1) egg and your mozzarella cheese. Throw in some parmesan cheese too. Get crazy. Mix these ingredients together well.
This is where you can have some creative freedom in the kitchen. Everyone has their own preferences of flavours, so have fun with it. We chose to use oregano, thyme, chopped garlic, and chili flakes. You can create any culinary palette you fancy! Try curry and turmeric or jerk cauliflower crust. Mmm..nom.
Line a cookie sheet, if you do not have a pizza stone, with parchment paper.
Once you have added your spices, give it one final stir and clump your "dough" into two baseball sized portions and gently press the mixture into a circle. It is advisable you spread it out to create a THIN crust.
Let the crust cook in the oven for 15 minutes at 450 degrees.
Step 4: Now that the crusts have baked themselves to perfection, take them out and let them cool for about 5 minutes. You can garnish your plates with a healthy and tasty Kale Salad, that is featured on a Her Write Peace previous post--> Check it here! K's Kale Salad!
Here comes the fun part! The toppings! Again, here you have culinary freedom to suit your needs. Load that pizza up with your go-to toppings. Then put your creations back into the oven for 7-10 minutes.
Step 5: And 3... 2... 1... Your pizza is ready! Take the pan out of the oven and transfer your parchment paper to a cutting board. Grab your pizza cutter or sharp knife and divide that sucker into four adorable slices. Get them onto a plate, pick up a slice (careful... they're hot!), cheers your pizza-eating partner, take a bite and high five. #goteam
There are endless possibilities with this recipe and you can tweak things however you like with a low likelihood of screwing it up. One of my favorite variations is a BBQ Chicken Pizza recipe from Le Creme de La Crumb. I followed the recipe exactly but just subbed the flatbread with cauliflower crust.
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