Cauliflower Crust Pizza

I found this recipe from someone I follow on Facebook. An incredible wedding photographer named Emily Porter. She said it was life changing, so naturally I had to try it. I guess it helps that I love cauliflower; by itself, with cheese, mashed, whatever. I will eat it.

I recently decided to go mostly gluten free; my goal is to eventually go all the way, but I have a HUGE weakness for Oreos. Specifically Triple Double Oreos thanks to that yummy chocolate creme and the new birthday cake Oreo....

Also some of my favorite snack bars, Halo from ProBar, are made with oats and a little bit of wheat. How sad.

Anyway, I made traditional pizza dough for the husband since I didn't think he'd be on board with a cauliflower crust. That pizza dough is amazing, I've had it before, but it does take a bit of work. I'll post that another time.

Moving on, I made myself the cauliflower crust pizza, and it was super easy to make. The recipe said that one head of cauliflower could make two pizza's, but I managed to get enough shredded cauliflower for three pizzas. I didn't use a hand shredder though, I used my amazing Kitchen Aid food processor that has a shred disc. This may have made the difference for so much of the cauliflower crumbles.

Shredded Cauliflower

After shredding the cauliflower, I poured 2 cups in a microwave safe bowl and microwaved it for 8 minutes (NO WATER.) I divided the rest of the cauliflower into freezer bags with a little more then 2 cups each.

Next the recipe calls for 1 egg, 1 cup of cheese (I used pre-shredded pizza cheese, but you can use any,) 1tsp dried oregano, 1/2 tsp of dried minced garlic (I used about a tsp of garlic powder, eyeballed,) and instead of onion salt because I have to be careful of my salt intake I used 1/2 tsp of onion powder, 1/2 tsp of sea salt, and added to the recipe 1/2 tsp of parsley.

I didn't take a picture. 

Add all the ingredients to cooled cauliflower and mix well. Then spread on a pan. I don't have pizza pans so I used a cake pan. Instead of using PAM or any other oil spray, you can pour a little olive oil onto the pan and spread with your fingers or a paper towel.

Pour the mixture onto the pan and spread.

Bake for 15 minutes at 450, until crust is golden brown.

I could seriously just eat it like that. But I LOVE cauliflower.

Set oven to broil, or just turn it up to 475 if you don't want to mess with the broiler.

Add sauce and toppings. I used pizza sauce, more pizza cheese, and some honeyed ham. I love ham pizza. But you can add whatever. Recipe Girl made a Hawaiian pizza for her recipe.

Broil/ bake until cheese is perfect, 4 to 6 minutes.

It was amazing, and I could probably have eaten the whole 10in pizza in one sitting. I have some left over, so I'll see how it tastes as left overs tomorrow....

Recipe adapted from Recipe Girl:


CRUST:
1/2 LARGE head cauliflower (or 2+ cups shredded cauliflower)
1 large egg
1 cup finely shredded pizza cheese or any other kind
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon (or more) garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon parsley

TOPPINGS:
1/2 cup or so of pizza sauce or marinara (I don't like a lot of sauce, but some love sauce)
1/2 cup finely shredded pizza cheese or mozzarella
3 slices of honeyed ham cut into strips (or pepperoni)


Directions:
1. Shred the cauliflower into small crumbles. A food processor with a shred disc work great if you have it. Be careful you don't make puree if you use just a food processor. You'll need a total of about 2 cups or so of cauliflower crumbles (I managed to get 6 heaping cups of cauliflower crumbles with one head.) Place the cauliflower crumbles in a medium bowl and microwave them (no water) for 8 minutes. Let cool

2. Make crust: Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Use a non-stick pan or pour a little olive oil on the pan and spread with fingers. In a medium bowl, mix the cauliflower crumbles with the egg, cheese, salt, garlic, onion powder, parsley and oregano. Pat the "crust" into a 9 to 12-inch round on the prepared pan. Recipe Girl says to spray the crust with more PAM type stuff, but I don't see a purpose to this. Bake for 15 minutes (or until golden). Remove the crust from the oven and turn the heat up to broil or 475 degrees F.

3. Top pizza: Spread the sauce on top of the baked crust, leaving a 1/2-inch border around the edge. Sprinkle cheese on top, add toppings, spreading it out around the pizza, sprinkle the remaining cheese on top. Broil/bake the pizza 3 to 4 minutes, or until the toppings are hot and the cheese is melted and bubbly. Cut into 6 slices and serve immediately.

Tips:
From Eat, Drink, Smile (tip from Beth): For those who don’ t have a microwave: You can steam the florets just until they are tender (not mushy) on the stove and then let them cool before grating them. The texture/consistency won’t be the same (It will be more like a puree) but it still works fine once you mix all the ingredients together.

*Other topping ideas from Recipe Girl:
Marinara or pizza sauce with your favorite toppings
Pesto with thin sliced tomato and fresh mozzarella
Alfredo with sausage, mushrooms, Provolone & Asiago cheese
Barbecue sauce with shredded chicken, green onions and smoked gouda
*This pizza is best served on a plate with a fork.

NOTICE: I adapted this recipe a slight bit from Recipe Girl, who adapted the recipe from Eat, Drink Smile.