Cauliflower Pizza Crust

Did you read that right? a pizza crust made from cauliflower?  yes! you did.   I am a lover of Chicago style deep dish pizza all day.  However there are probably close to 400 calories in one slice (and I can't just eat one slice, I would have to have two); which would  cause me to have to walk on the treadmill over two and a half hours to burn that many calories.  Wow.

I did some experimenting with the cauliflower buns that I make.  For those of you who are visiting for the first time, I adapted a recipe from Lexis Clean Kitchen, her Everything Bagel Cauliflower Rolls.  I use these in the place of bread for most of my sandwiches. I decided to try and make a pizza crust instead of the buns today.  I have some minor modifications to make to the recipe the next time I use it for a pizza crust; like maybe roll it out more to make it thinner.  

This can't match my love for the deep dish (yet) but it does take away the craving, and the calories as well.  Okay, here goes the recipe.  And remember, you can modify this to your likeness.  

Crust

2 cups grated uncooked cauliflower

1/2 cup Bob's Red Mill almond meal/flour, gluten free

1/2 cup King Arthur gluten free, multi-purpose flour

1/2 cup Hodgson Mill milled flax seed

Bob's Red Mill, all natural egg replacer ( equivalent to 2 eggs)

1/2 cup Daiya Cheese Shreds

1 tablespoon garlic powder

Italian seasonings, salt and pepper to taste

Mix ingredients together well.  I use my hands instead of a mixer or spoon.  Make sure that all the flour and cauliflower are mixed together well.  Sometimes I have to put maybe 1/4 cup of water to help the flour and cauliflower mesh together, however be careful adding water because if you add to much, the mixture will be too mushy and you'll end up having to add more flour.  It's very hard to get the consistency right once this happens.

Once you mix well, roll out, and place onto a greased (extremely well greased) pizza pan.  I usually use olive oil to grease my pan.  They will stick during cooking, so please remember to do this step.

Bake at 375 for 25 - 30 minutes.  I bake until I see edges crisp up.  Take out of oven, and immediately take off pan to cool.  Another important step I learned is that if you do not immediately remove them from the hot pan, it makes them mushy on the bottom and your crusts will break apart.

After it cools off, I put pizza sauce and toppings on, place in the oven for about 10 minutes (long enough to let the cheese melt) and that's it.

Tonight I used Tofurky pepperoni slices, kalamata olives, onions, and mushrooms.