Sunday, January 18, 2015

Cauli-Flour Pizza

Here is my n+1 attempt at making cauliflower pizza crust. This one actually worked. It's a combination of several recipes I've found on the internet, but with the bugs worked out. This will give you a nice light crust, that doesn't taste too much like cauliflower, but will also be crispy on the edges with some bite to it so it's similar to real pizza dough, minus the carbs and gluten.
 Here's what you're going to need.

  • 24 oz raw cauliflower
  • 2 oz asiago cheese; shredded
  • 3  whole eggs
  • approx 2.5 oz almond flour
  • Toppings of choice
  • Sauce of choice
 First, start off with making some "cauliflour" as I like to call it. Take the raw florets and pulse a few times in a food processor to get a sandy, couscous like consistency. You might have to do this in batches depending on the processor you have. Next, take a 12x18 sheet pan lined with parchment, and spread the processed cauliflower out. Bake this on the middle rack at 350 deg F until it's reduced to about 1/4 of the weight (6oz or so). It will start to brown, so give it a turn to get it all kinda brown. Also , it will start to get puffy and light, this is what you want.
Remove from the oven, leave it to cool on the sheet.  Set the oven to 450 deg F. After the cauliflower has  cooled off (stopped steaming and you can touch it without going "ouch!") , mix in a bowl with the cheese and eggs. Mix together; it should be wet and sticky at this point. Start adding in the almond flour while mixing to thicken. It should take the entire 2.5 oz, but I like to play it safe, as it's always easier to add more. Now you should have this nice clump of "dough" that sticks to itself and isn't interested in sticking to the bowl. 
Put a fresh sheet of parchment in your sheet pan. Spread the  mixture out so it fills the width of the pan; it will be about 1/4" thick. Put in the oven  and bake until it's golden brown/slightly darker. Remember we're going to bake it again with the toppings, so we want it just firm enough to handle the toppings.
After browning, remove from the oven, and carefully slide the parchment out. (it can't handle the heat for the next step) and put your toppings on it. Before you go crazy with toppings, turn the oven to 500 deg F and move the rack to the top position( I think I set it to 550 but I'm crazy like that). Use whatever your favorite toppings are(I used spicy Italian sausage, caramelized onions, mozzarella and homemade tomato sauce)



  If you're going to use a tomato based sauce, I'd recommend reducing it slightly to thicken it(keeps the pizza from getting soggy). After putting all that goodness on it, put it back in the oven on the top rack until the cheese is melted and brown. So about 5-8 min.

Remove from the oven and slide onto a cutting board.  Slice it up and enjoy.

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