Cauliflower Pizza Crust

A couple of years ago my Facebook news feed was inundated with posts from friends discussing their new life in the world of Paleo.  I was never interested in giving it a real try, I did however, like some of the recipes they brought to my attention.  One in particular was the cauliflower pizza crust.  Finally I decided to give it a try so I went to the wonderful world of the internet to find a recipe to use as my foundation for developing my own.  What I discovered is that every recipe is different but with some basic foundational pieces.  There is the cauliflower, cheese and egg to act as a binding agent, and then some herbs for flavor.  Another thing I discovered is that there was no tried and true way of preparing the cauliflower.  Some recipes boiled and then pressed the cauliflower.  Some steamed and pressed the cauliflower.  Once recipe even microwaves it.  I decided that I would try two preparation methods and compare the two, hopefully coming to a decision about what I believe to be the best method.

Crust:

2 c. cauliflower - riced
4 oz. farmers cheese
1 egg
1/4 c. fresh dill
1/4 c. parsley

Pizza 1 toppings:

Goat cheese
Salmon
Capers
Melted butter w/ minced garlic

Pizza 2 toppings:

Pesto
Tomatoes
Fresh mozzarella

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 425F.

Using a food processor, rice cauliflower.

A large head of cauliflower will produce approximately 4 cups.  Measure out 2 cups, either steam for approximately 5 minutes or microwave for 8 minutes.  If you choose to steam it, place cooked cauliflower in a clean cheese cloth and squeeze out excess water.

Place cauliflower in bowl and combine with cheese, egg, and herbs.  Do not be afraid of it, get your hands in there and mix well.  I would suggest letting it cool for a bit so you do not cook the egg during the mixing process.

Dump mixture onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and shape into crust.  This amount of mixture will create a crust that is about personal pizza sized. 


Steamed version

Microwave version


Bake crust for 15 to 20 minutes.

Remove, add topping, and put back in the over for another 10 minutes (just enough to melt cheese and heat through the toppings).

Both versions held up very well - literally.  I was able to cut them with a pizza cutter and pick it up with my hands.  The slices did not fall apart.  If you eat a section without topping you know you are eating cauliflower but, a section with topping passes for a regular slice of pizza (which is precisely what we want!)  You won't even miss the regular dough.

My only issue was with the microwave version.  To me, it seemed that microwaving the cauliflower reduced the overall amount more than steaming it.  However, both versions came out quite well and provided two servings each.