Cauliflower Pizza Dough

Behold. The gluten-free answer to pizza. Amazingness in your mouth. 
I have been searching for the perfect cauliflower pizza recipe for some time now-making dinner that both the hubs and the baby will like that are time-efficient (oh so important), healthy, AND tasty are pretty hard to find.  Sidenote- I don’t like labels when it comes to describing how we eat, because we don’t fall under any one particular category, you on this site you will find paleo, gluten-free, and vegetarian recipes alongside some for heavenly goodies like banofee pie (more on that to come) 

I digress. So. I searched and searched, and came across this recipe on How Sweet It Is and instantly fell in love. I made a few (seriously minimal changes) and I can tell you right now that this recipe is easy, mom-approved, and daddy/baby adored. 

Ingredients:

  • 1 small-medium size head of cauliflower 
  • 1/4 cup Parmesan 
  • 1/4 cup Mozzarella (shredded) 
  •  1/2 teaspoon kosher salt 
  •  1/2 teaspoon dried basil 
  •  1/2 teaspoon dried oregano 
  •  almond meal (optional) 
  • 1 egg

How to do it:

  1. Place a pizza stone or baking sheet in the oven and preheat to 450ºF. On a cutting board, place a large piece of parchment paper and spray it with nonstick cooking oil. (if you don’t have parchment paper, then spray your baking sheet. I use coconut oil cooking spray.) 
  2. Wash and throughly dry head of cauliflower. Cut off the florets—you don’t need much stem, just stick with the florets. Pulse the food processor for about 30 seconds, until you get powdery snow like cauliflower. You should end up with 2 to 3 cups cauliflower “snow”- make sure that you don’t over process it, you don’t want it pureed. 
  3. Place the cauliflower in a microwave safe bowl and cover. Cook for 4 minutes. 
  4. Dump cooked cauliflower onto a clean dish towel and allow to cool for a bit before attempting the next step-you want it to be a lot cooler otherwise you are going to burn your hands. 
  5.  Once cauliflower is cool enough to handle, wrap it up in the dish towel and wring the heck out of it. You want to squeeze out as much water as possible. This will ensure you get a chewy pizza like crust instead of a crumbly mess. 
  6. Dump squeezed cauliflower into a bowl. Add the parmesan, mozzarella, kosher salt, dried basil (crush up the leaves even more between your fingers before adding), dried oregano (crush up the leaves even more between your fingers before adding), garlic powder (not garlic salt), and a dash of red pepper if you want. (note-I used fresh mozzarella, which I wouldn’t suggest because of the amount of liquid in the cheese. Save the fresh mozzarella for topping the pizza instead.) I also added about a cup of almond meal because my cauliflower yielded closer to 1 1/2 cups of cauli snow; this is optional and I would not add the almond meal if you have closer to 3 cups of cauli snow. 
  7. Add the egg and mix away. Hands tend to work best. Add more almond meal if “dough” doesn’t seem to be forming well-there may be too much liquid. Once mixed together, use your hands to form the dough into a crust on your oiled parchment paper, or remove hot baking sheet from over, spray with cooking spray, and place on baking sheet. Pat it down throughly, you want it nice and tightly formed together. Don’t make it too thick or thin.
  8. Using a cutting board, slide the parchment paper onto your hot pizza stone or baking sheet in the oven. Bake for 8-11 minutes, until it starts to turn golden brown. Remove from oven. Mine needed more like 15 mins. 
  9. Add however much sauce, cheese, and toppings you want.  I did a marinara sauce with fresh mozzarella, parmesan, and this unreal chicken sausage with garlic, fontina cheese, and spinach that we buy from Trader Joe’s (it’s all-natural, minimally processed, with no artificial ingredients, or preservatives). 
  10. Slide parchment with topped pizza back in the hot oven and cook for another 5 to 7 minutes until the cheese is melted, bubbly, and slightly golden. 
  11. EAT IT!!!!