Cauliflower Crust Pizza

Cauliflower rice, Cauliflower wings, Cauliflower Pizza- is there anything that Cauliflower can't do?

I made this recipe for the first time about a week ago, took photos and was allll ready to share, only to find out that Calum, in an effort to make space for a video- had deleted every single one. At first I was like ughhhhh I have to do it ALL again. But then I realized- oooohhhh, I get to do it ( and more importantly, eat it) all again!!!

I did a couple things differently the second time around , mostly with toppings - the biggest change being almost tripling the portion size. Ain't nobody got time to spend an hour between prep and cooking only to end up with 2 tiny (but delicious) slices. I need more!! 

I will admit, there is a bit of effort required for the prep portion of this pizza but it is well worth the effort.  This pizza is a great lower carb meal for the whole family. Carter LOVED his and it was a great way of sneaking in some extra servings of veggies. Feel free to play around with toppings according to your preferences as long as your preferences are not pineapple- pineapple should never go on pizza. 

Ingredients

Crust

2 heads of cauliflower cut into florets

1 cup almond meal 

4 tbsp ground flax

2 tbsp ground flax (separate from above) 

1.5 tsp Himalayan pink salt

1.5tsp Italian seasoning 

1.5tsp garlic powder

Toppings

Vegan pepperoni

Daiya dairy free mozzarella 

Tomato slices

Tomato sauce

Chopped Fresh basil 

Purple onion

Red chili flakes

Let's talk daiya for a second!  I was definitely team no daiya shreds for a long time. They just tasted weird and the texture was very plasticy but- I had heard they reformulated and decided to give it another go. I'm so happy I did!!! The taste and texture was so much better and it melted perfectly :) 

1) Preheat oven to 430 degrees F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Place cauliflower florets into food processor, and process in batches until rice like.

2) Put cauli rice into a large pot, and cover with water. Bring to a boil, turn down to simmer and cook for 5 mins. Drain as much water as possible out of the pot. Put the pot, uncovered into the freezer to
cool off for 10 minutes, giving it a stir halfway. 

3) As the cauliflower is cooling, mix 4 tbsp of ground flax with 6 tbsp of water to make an extra thick flax egg. Put it to the side. 

4) Take the cauliflower out of the fridge and dump it into the middle of a clean dish towel. Gather the ends of the towel and bring them together. Hold it tightly over the sink and squeeze as much water as
possible out of the cauliflower.

5) In a large mixing bowl, combine the cauliflower , almond meal, salt, seasoning, garlic powder and the extra 2 tbsp of flax seed . Add water by the tbsp as necessary to combine , keeping in mind that a dryer ( but well combined) dough will give you a crispier crust.

6) Form the dough into a ball, and then flatten it onto the baking sheet into your desired shape. ( I find a square version of this pizza tends to hold together better when cut into slices myself , but if you're planning on being fancy and forkin it you should be fine with a traditional circle shape. ) make sure that your crust is a 1/4 in thick and even- with no holes or weak spots that it could easily break.

7) Bake in the oven for 30 mins, until the edges and bottom are dry and golden. Take the crust out of the oven, and place another sheet of parchment paper on top. Very carefully and gently ( using another pan on top if possible) flip the crust over. Place it back into the oven and continue baking for 15 min. *do not skip this step*

8) Once the crust is browned and dry to the touch, take it out of the oven and assemble your sauce and toppings as you see fit. Place back into the oven on broil for 5-10 minutes, or until toppings are warm and cheese is melted. 

9) Let the pizza sit for 5 mins, then cut and serve topped with red chili flakes while hot. 

Enjoy!