CAULIFLOWER CRUST PIZZA

Over the past two weeks I have experimented with making pizza crust from cauliflower. There are a number of recipes that you can find and they all use cauliflower that is processed to become riced. Some cook the riced cauliflower and squeeze the water out of it to become a pulp while others add the uncooked riced cauliflower to the rest of the ingredients to make the crust. The two recipes that I tried both used an egg and cheese in the crust batter. Both of these ingredients help hold the crust together. For pizza crust number one, I used a baking pan and for pizza crust number two, I used a pizza stone. 

Crust number one is made using cooked riced cauliflower that you drain in the colander, then squeeze the pulp in a dish towel and wring it out until all of the excess moisture is removed. It takes some work to wring and squeeze the water out.Two pounds of raw cauliflower ends up to be about 2 cups of dry pulp. This recipe includes an egg and soft goat cheese.

Crust number two uses riced cauliflower that doesn't require cooking. You still need to ensure that the riced cauliflower has excess moisture removed so I placed it between paper towels to remove any excess moisture. There wasn't really any moisture to remove. The recipe includes one pound of cauliflower, an egg, almond meal flour and Parmesan cheese. 

There is a two step process in baking the pizza. First you need to bake the crust and then you add the ingredients and bake it a second time but only for five to ten minutes. Because of the short cooking time for the second bake with the toppings, it is good to sauté whatever vegetables you are adding as toppings. For example, I sautéed the mushrooms and onions in advance. In pizza number two, I added spinach as a topping but didn't sauté it beforehand. In making both pizzas I used similar ingredients such as prosciutto, mushrooms and grated goat cheese. In the second pizza I used a caramelized onion flavour brick goat cheese and that is why the grated cheese has a light brown look. I didn't use any tomatoes or tomato sauce because the DH is staying away from nightshades. 

Both pizzas had a crust that held together and they were not soggy. I tried to make the crusts thin and crispy. Crust number one is from the detoxinsta.com site and crust number two is an epicurious recipe. Both pizza crusts work. In identifying which one I prefer I would choose crust number one. I think that crust holds together better and I found it less salty. A third of a cup soft goat cheese in crust number one has less salt than a cup of Parmesan cheese that was used in crust number two. Both pizzas had prosciutto in the toppings which is also salty. I will likely do more experimenting in the coming weeks on cauliflower pizza crust.


Cauliflower Crust #1

Crust out of the oven after baking for 35 minutes.

Out of the oven after baking the toppings.

Ready to sample.

Cauliflower Crust #2

Pizza dough spread out on parchment paper before placing it on a hot pizza stone.

Pizza crust after cooking for 25 minutes on a hot pizza stone.

Out of the oven after baking for almost 10 minutes with the toppings.

Ready to sample.