Sunday evening I decided to try making a pizza crust without using any wheat. Not only did it not have wheat in it, but it had a secret ingredient that might surprise and/or shock you. Beginning last week I began eliminating wheat from my diet (mine only, not for hubby or the family). I am doing a little experiment to see if it might help me with some autoimmune issues I have been experiencing. This will make preparing my meals a little more creative, but I don't think it will be hard since I cook almost every day anyway. We do not eat out a lot, so other than reading labels more carefully (wheat is in almost everything, just like sugar is), I am going to give it a whirl. For instance, Saturday night, hubby had a side dish of ravioli in alfredo sauce with his chicken and salad...I just had the chicken and salad, no ravioli. Enough of that now...I snapped a few pics of our pizza below. I read numerous "wheat free pizza crust" recipes and then tweaked this one a bit. This recipe made a huge pizza that fit in a 12x17 jelly roll pan / cookie sheet. I will unveil the mystery pizza crust ingredient at the end....first I want you to see the photos of the pizza as well as the recipe below. Enjoy!
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| Pizza crust before baking |
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| Pizza with toppings before being popped in the oven |
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| Pizza fresh out of the oven...looks good, doesn't it? |
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| Here's another shot (hubby's on the left, mine on the right) |
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| Hubby has pepperoni, artichokes & Kalamata olives, I have red peppers, Vidalia onions and mushrooms |
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| BOOM! |
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| Side view |
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| Last picture...it looks good, doesn't it? Have you guessed the secret crust ingredient yet??? |
Okay...brace yourself for the unveiling of the secret ingredient...you aren't going to believe it...it's actually hard for me to believe!!!
Here goes....<hear the drumroll?>
TA-DA!!!
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| Cauliflower!!! |
Cauliflower Pizza Crust
Ingredients:
1
large head of cauliflower, cut into florets (yields about 3 cups cooked and
mashed)
1/4
cup olive oil
1/2 cup Egg Beaters or 2 large eggs
1
cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
1/2
cup parmesan cheese
1/4
cup almond flour/meal
1/2
teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/2
teaspoon garlic powder
1/2
– 3/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
(optional)
2 cups shredded mozzarella or Italian cheese blend (8 oz)
12 oz jar of pizza sauce (about 1-1/2 cups)
Toppings of your choice
Directions:
Cook cauliflower florets in about 1
inch of water until almost tender (about 10 minutes). Drain water and continue
cooking cauliflower in dry pan over heat while mashing with a potato masher. Let mashed cauliflower cook about 5 minutes
in open pot to allow more liquid to evaporate.
Lay out a tea towel or dish towel and line with several layers of paper
towels and spoon the mashed cauliflower on top and allow to cool slightly. Add
several more layers of paper towels on top so cauliflower is completed
encased. Roll towel up, and squeeze
excess water out of the cauliflower; squeeze it as dry as you can. Transfer to large bowl. Add 1/4 cup of oil,
eggs, and 1 cup of mozzarella, ½ cup of parmesan cheese, 1/4 cup of almond flour and all of the spices. Mix
well.
Preheat oven to 375. Line pizza pan with parchment paper and coat
with about 1 tablespoon olive oil. Pour the cauliflower mixture into the pan
and press it out flat and thin (less than 1/2 inch thick, the thinner the
better). Bake for about 25 minutes. If it has not browned yet, remove from oven
and increase oven temperature to 425 degrees and lightly brush top of crust
with about a tablespoon of olive oil and return to the 425 degree oven for
about 5 minutes or until lightly golden brown.
Remove pizza crust from oven and
spread with pizza sauce, remaining 2 cups of shredded cheese, your choice of
toppings, etc. Lightly sprinkle with additional
parmesan, if desired. Return to 425
degree oven and bake about 10-15 minutes until toppings are heated through and
cheese is melted. To brown the top,
place under broiler for a few minutes (3-5 minutes) until bubbly and
browned. Let cool a few minutes. Cut and serve.
Note: This pizza crust is not “crispy” like regular
pizza crust…it is solid, but soft (fork & knife). Next
time I make it, I may make it into 2 small pizzas instead of 1 large. Some people suggest flipping the crust over
to allow it to bake and dry out more (my pizza was entirely too large to flip). This pizza tasted like "regular pizza". You could not taste the cauliflower in the crust...the only difference was the crust was soft or limp compared to regular crust. Hubby rated it an "8 out of 10" (with 10 being the best) and said if the crust could be "crisper" it would be a 10. I will continue working on modifications to see if that can be done. It is tasty and it does satisfy your urge for pizza.
***Personal Note: This pizza was very tasty but I do not believe the crust was typical "pizza crust like" in texture, so if that is what you are expecting, you might be disappointed. However, in terms of flavor, it was delicious -- it doesn't taste like cauliflower in case you were wondering. Hubby and I had the leftovers reheated for dinner this evening (Monday night) and I must honestly say...it tasted REAL good -- as in noticeably better than yesterday for some reason. I wasn't able to reheat it in the oven (hubby overstuffed the storage drawer underneath my oven when he put the baking pan away last night and I can't get to any of my baking pans, cookie sheets, etc.)...so I decided to reheat it in on the stove in a large non-stick skillet brushed lightly with some olive oil to help the bottom of the crust brown when it reheated...and guess what??? It not only browned nicely, but it gave it a wonderful flavor. This makes me think that next time I make this I need to find a way to brown the pizza crust nicely before topping it as well as make several smaller pizzas instead of one humongous one. Yesterday I would have rated it a 7.5 (hubby rated it 8 yesterday)...today it was pretty darn close to a 10...a solid 9.5. I will keep experimenting and tinkering around with it...but for the first time making this, not knowing what to expect...it was surprisingly good.
