Ah…good people…this one comes to you with lots of pictures!
My friend, Susan, mentioned, that cauliflower crust is labor-intensive. Well, I recently discovered that making pizza from store-bought dough is quite time-consuming. With store bought, ready-made dough, you still have to knead it, rest and proof it so you can work it into shape without it springing back on you. Not exactly a time-saver!
NOTE: Cauliflower crust is super easy to form and, to make it easier on you, many grocery stores offer bagged, “ready-riced” cauliflower in both the fresh and the freezer sections. Obviously, this saves a lot of and mess! Also, I found that if prepare a bunch of cauliflower in advance, I can freeze some and have my own ready-made cauliflower. It really makes the process quite fast! I do recommend the fast route!
For those of you who own a fancy food processor, it won’t take long to grind down your cauliflower into rice-sized bits. You do have to chop the head into pieces! Believe it or not, the only food processor I own is a $12 mini chopper so I riced my cauliflower in batches. Also, you can use an old fashioned cheese grater.
Obviously, from these photos, I did not make anything close to a vegetarian pizza.
But that would be so easy. It is only a matter of selecting veggie toppings.
My crust came out great! It was so good, I made another the next day, using pesto in place of tomato sauce.
So if you want a veggie-intensive, keto-friendly, gluten-free pizza crust, follow these steps below.
MAKING CAULIFLOWER PIZZA CRUST
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
- Place 2 cups riced cauliflower (purchased, grated, or processed) a frying pan.
- Keep on low heat, stirring so it does not turn brown. This removes liquid. You will see the steam rising. I stirred mine for 5 to 6 minutes.
- Place your dried and heated cauliflower in a shallow dish and stick it in the freezer while you prepare the rest of your pizza.
- Into a new bowl, add 1-1/4 cups grated parmesan cheese (not the powdered stuff from the cardboard carton, use the grated cheese from the cheese section).
- Add to this 1 beaten egg and incorporate
- When your cauliflower is cooled, add it to your cheese/egg mix and incorporate well.
- Onto any sheet you like for baking pizza, place parchment paper. Place your crust mix into the center and press to form a nice round shape, about 1/8 inch thick.
- Place your crust into your 400 degree oven for 20-25 minutes. You will see the crust edges beginning to turn brown.
- Remove it from the oven and let it sit a minute or two.
- Have your toppings and sauce at the ready.
TIP: If you don’t want to use a tomato sauce, try using Pesto Sauce instead!
- Now, ladle on about half a cup of your favorite tomato sauce (or use Pesto!), covering your crust but not so much as to make it soggy. (I used one from a jar. You can purchase pizza sauce as well, make your own, or simply spread on 1/2 a cup of Hunts plain old tomato sauce from a can. It’s your call! )
- Next, sprinkle a generous amount of Mozzarella cheese.
- Next come your toppings. Meat, no meat, as you wish. Pizza your way!
I had Mozzarella cheese; sautéed mushrooms; fresh oregano; sausage and pepperoni. - Last, a bit more cheese, for show.
- Pop it in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes and… voila! You have flourless pizza!
