We’ve been playing around with different methods of creating a cauliflower pizza crust. This includes when to steam, if to steam, when to food process and how far to process…the list goes on. So far, this recipe has led to the best results. Making the cauliflower into a “meal” with a food processor prior to baking it means that it will dry itself out – the opposite of which happens with steaming – something that is critical to the crust holding together into holdable slices. We also decided to place this onto a baking tray rather than a pizza tray as that allows a little more control and lets the edges stay a little thicker so it reduces the chance of burning around the rim.
For this you’ll need: x1 head of cauliflower (cut off the leaves, break into florets but don’t throw out the core), 1/2 cup parmesan cheese (finely grated), x2 eggs (beaten), 1 Tbsp dry oregano, 1 Tbsp dry basil, 1-2 Tbsp garlic powder.
Preheat the oven to 400 – if you have “convection” mode, use that.
Once you have broken the cauliflower into florets, cut the core into 1-2″ pieces. Ensure the florets are only 1-2″ as well. Place them, in batches, into a food processor and pulse several times to create a granular “meal.” Scrape out processor with a rubber spatula and place the meal into a separate bowl. Pull out the larger pieces that did not granulate and place them back into the food processor along with the next batch of florets/core. Continue until all of the cauliflower has been made into a medium grain meal.
Place a sheet of parchment paper over a large baking tray and spread the cauliflower meal evenly throughout – you can use a rubber spatulas for this. It should be about 1/4″ thick and fit into all of the edges and corners of the tray. Place this into the oven and cook until it is only just beginning to brown – about 20 mins – turning a few times curing the cooking process with the rubber spatula.
Turn off the oven, but leave the baked cauliflower meal in there to further bake and dry out. You can keep it in there for anywhere from 30 mins to 2 hours. It should be as dry as possible.
Remove the baked meal from the oven and place it into a large bowl. Allow it to come to room temperature if it has not come to that temperature level already. If it is still too warm it will melt the cheese and cook the eggs too quickly. Add in the parmesan cheese, beaten eggs, oregano, basil, garlic powder and a good grinding of salt and pepper. Mix well so that the whole mixture is moist with the beaten egg.
Preheat the oven to 400.
Using the same tray lined with parchment paper (you can use the same paper you baked the cauliflower meal with if it is in ok shape, if not, replace it), spread the meal/egg/parm mixture evenly from one corner for the paper lined tray to the other. Again, you can use a rubber spatula for this.
Place the tray with the meal mixture back into the oven on its own and bake until the edges are just beginning to brown – about 20-25 mins.
Remove the tray from the oven, increase the temp to 450. Let the crust cool a bit, and then add your toppings. For the pizza pictured above we used mozzarella cheese, pepperoni and roasted red peppers. Place the tray back into the oven and cook until golden – about 15-20 mins.
Cut into square slices and serve warm.
Dinner at Our Place 