Cauliflower Crust Pizza (GF)

I decided to try making cauliflower crust pizza a few weeks ago and loved it. This time around, I added my own spin to the recipe I had followed. To my surprise, my husband even liked it. Don't get me wrong, it definitely doesn't make an exact substitute for regular, yeasty and yummy pizza crust. But it's a great low carb and gluten free alternative if you're watching your waist line. For the pizza toppings, I made two completely different flavors. One pizza had pesto sauce, mozzarella, fresh sliced tomatoes, and basil. The other had olive oil, mozzarella, onions, spinach, and I drizzled it with truffle oil right out of the oven. I actually preferred the taste of the pesto and tomato pizza with the cauliflower crust, which is surprising because I LOVE truffle oil. Nonetheless, both pizzas were delicious and I will be making this pizza crust WAY more often.



Ingredients for crust:

1/2 a head of cauliflower, chopped
2 egg whites
1 clove of minced garlic (or 1 tsp garlic granules)
1 tablespoon finely chopped basil
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1/2 cup almond meal
Dash of salt
Dash of pepper

 In a pot steam the 1/2 head of chopped cauliflower until it's soft. Remove from heat and mash with a potato masher until it reaches "riced" consistency (the cauliflower will look like white rice). Carefully put the rices cauliflower in a thin towel or cheese cloth, and wrap up, twisting and squeezing out excess water. Squeeze hard, you want the cauliflower to be dry.

Once cooled, add in clove of chopped garlic, egg whites, parmesan, almond meal, basil, salt, and pepper. (You can add in any seasonings you like, oregano, cayenne, etc). If the 'dough' is too sticky, you can add more almond meal or parmesan, but it should be fairly wet so that you can mold it into crust. Preheat oven to 400 degrees (if you have pizza stone, place in oven as it's heating to ensure that it's nice and hot when the dough is ready to bake.

 On a piece of WELL greased (or  sprayed with cooking spray) parchment paper, mold the 'dough' into 5-6 inch rounds and place onto baking sheet or pizza stone. Bake about 20-30 minutes, or until the crust is starting to brown around the edges. It will look burned, but the outside needs to get dark for the inner part of the pizzas to be crunchy. Remove from oven and cover with pizza toppings. Return to oven until cheese is melted and enjoy.