cauliflower.crust.pizza

I’ve wanted to invite a special guest to write a post on my blog for some time now. Today, I’m very happy to introduce Rhonda, (Rho for short), who’s not just my very first willing guest, but was also ready with material in no time at all! She is a great friend of mine & Aji’s, and she is going to “wow” us with a gluten-free, cauliflower crust pizza recipe she’s tried out.

Please welcome Rhonda!

Thanks to Joy for allowing me to guest post on her site!

Over the past few years Iʼve gained an interest in whole food nutrition, which has recently led me to learn more about the Paleo/Primal way of eating. My body generally does not do well with starchy carbs. Iʼve known for a long time that me and processed foods, food with lots of additives, especially white processed flour and processed milks (yes, skim milk is processed) do not like each other AT ALL. So, long overdue, I recently decided to experiment more seriously and significantly reduce/attempt to completely cut out sugars and ALL grains, whole and refined, as a start.

In only a week or two, I am completely and pleasantly surprised by a huge improvement in my energy level and general mental clarity, mood, and well-being. I have yet to cut out dairy. Iʼm just not ready for black coffee.

Cauliflower has proven to be a very versatile vegetable ~ Cauli-mashed “potatoes,” Cauli-fried “rice”. So when I saw that a friend had made Cauliflower Pizza Crust, I just had to try it. Whatʼs life without pizza?*

Pizza with Cauliflower Crust

The recipe is from this blog, that does a great run-through of the procedure. Here is my experience with it:

I used my food processor to chop the cauliflower. Be careful as it can turn to purée easily. Keep it in crumbles or small chunks.

I patted the mixture (sorry, forgot to take a picture of mixing the ingredients) into a pizza crust shape, maybe 1/2 inch thick, and used parchment in fear of massive sticking. The recipe called for spraying both the pan and the top of the crust with non-stick cooking spray. I donʼt believe in the stuff (chemicals, aerosol, etc) so I used the parchment and left the top of the crust un-sprayed. I could have brushed it with oil instead, come to think of it now. I also used my fancy baking sheet meant for cookies and pastries as it tends to prevent burning. However, next time I would use my regular sheet, as a little more browning and drying out would be a good thing.

Once baked for the recommended 15 minutes, I realized it was still very moist and soft, so I flipped the crust over and removed the parchment (as I said, I was afraid it would stick but it didnʼt at all), turned the oven to broil (my oven takes a long time to get to full broil so I knew it would be okay) and put it back in the oven for another 15 minutes. It was still soft, but obviously more browned and crunchy.

The toppings I chose were just what I had in the fridge already: tomato, green onion, peppers, olives, bacon!!! (nitrate and preservative free) cooked and crumbled, some leftover cooked ground beef, and mozzarella cheese. I used tomato paste with herbs for sauce.

I popped it back into the oven under broil, maybe for 5 min. Iʼm learning that my sense of smell can tell when somethingʼs done better than a timer sometimes.

I was happy with the outcome! It cut well, held together, and was edible with my hands! I thought I would have to eat it with a knife and fork but did not have to. Definitely not regular pizza dough in texture, but close enough and very enjoyable!

I think leaving the crust in the oven for the extra time was a good thing. However your oven and baking sheet might do something totally different. I even ate some of the leftovers this morning for breakfast and it was even better. Give it a try!

*The only thing that would make this more “paleo” is for it to be dairy free. Any ideas how to eliminate the cheese? Iʼve made pizzas before with tofu instead of cheese, but tofu is not paleo either, and is another “processed” food all the same. Perhaps some almond flour to bind the mix?

Enjoy!

Rhonda.

Hope you’ve all enjoyed reading Rho’s recipe! Let me know how it turns out for you when you try it! I’ll make sure to tell Rho! I for one, will definitely make this, and Aji will love me even more!

Thanks Rho!

Have an awesome sunny Sunday!