Gluten Free Pizza Recipe And A Lesson In Ricing Cauliflower

Well, I did it! I tackled something that sounded both impossible and a little bit gross initially – I made a pizza crust out of cauliflower. Those of you who are Gluten free have probably made this and improved upon this dozens of times. This was more of an adventure for me.

My girlfriend Aleia knows I spend a good amount of time fretting about the vegetable intake of our kiddos, so she sent me a couple recipes. I kind of used those and then, as I tend to do, I “Bethy-ed it up” a bit.

First, preheat your oven to 450F.

This is what you need for the crust
1 head of cauliflower
1 egg (I used ¼ cup of egg whites and it was perfect)
3/4 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese
Garlic (I just used some garlic powder. I know. I’m ghetto.)
A food processor (I used a Magic Bullet)
A baking sheet either sprayed with cooking spray or with parchment paper
A cheese grater or something for ricing the cauliflower. Don’t be scared.

First thing’s first… “Ricing” the cauliflower. I know, right? WHAT is that? It’s SO easy! You just wash up your cauliflower, pull off all the leaves and stuff and then break it off into big chunks – a little bigger than if you were setting out veggies and dip for a shindig.

Then, just use your cheese grater (or whatever you’ve got – maybe a food processor) and grate each piece. It grates really easily. I promise. And yes. I ate all the stem nubs. And they were fantastic.

Grate until you’ve got two cups worth, admire your Adventure in Ricing, ponder what other things you can make with riced cauliflower and then dump it in a pan. At low-to-medium heat, just kind of toss it around for 10 minutes or so. Don’t use oil or any water in your pan – this is to dry it out and kind of soften it. (Mine got a tad brown in places because I get distracted… but it was just fine! I liked the added “cooked” flavor).

Pull your cauliflower off of the heat and set it aside for a moment.

Stir the mozzarella with the egg white, give it a few shakes of garlic and slowly add the cauliflower. Then stick the mixture in a food processor (or Magic Bullet) and blend the heck out of it until it’s kind of a pasty dough. It doesn’t look like regular pizza dough. It’s more, um, gloopy.

I used my awesome Pampered Chef baking sheet and, because I could tell my dough was sticky, I actually sprayed it with olive oil first. I just globed the dough on and spread it out—You can see by the pictures how it looked.

I popped it in the oven for about 18 minutes. I thought it was nice and browned but let it cook longer! I was super nervous about it over-cooking so I think I pulled it out a little early. To this I say – Let it cook about 25-30 minutes. Also, when you take it out, it wouldn’t hurt to brush it with a little olive oil and garlic now, would it? That’s my plan for next time.

First, I brushed my glorious crust with a little Trader Giotto’s pizza sauce – Just a little though!

Topping the Crust

• The sky’s the limit here. It’s all in what you like. While it was cooking, we:
• Cut up some yummy (cooked!) chicken sausage
• Sautéed some nice portabellas in a little olive oil
• Pulled apart some fresh basil
• Sliced up a tomato. THIS was a MISTAKE. Do NOT put fresh tomato slices on top. I know it looks delicious and, I’ll be honest, warm tomato slices topped with mozzarella cheese is one of my favorite things to eat. But this made my crust soggy. They’re just too wet. So, resist the tomatoes.

Once I got the sauce, sausage, basil and veggies on, I really didn’t want to put a bunch of cheese on top. I just gave it a little dusting of mozzarella. I turned on the broiler and cooked it until the cheese melted. Remember, the mushrooms were already softened and the chicken sausage was cooked.

It was so good!! The crust isn’t, like, pick-it-up-and-eat-it pizza, it’s cut with a fork and knife pizza. It’s hearty, it’s … Delicious!! My hubby and I ate this first little experiment in cauliflower ricing, but I pulled off a bit of the crust and had my eight-year-old try it. He loved it! The salt of the cheese and the sweetness of the cauliflower is just an excellent combination.

So, there you have it! My Adventure in Ricing was a success! We will certainly be making it again and the kids will never know their new style of homemade pizza gets them a couple servings of veggies!

Obviously, I’m a Rookie Ricer. But I’m very interested in learning more about this. Please share any tips and tricks for both gluten-free cooking and getting some bonus veggies into the bellies of my kiddos!

PIN for Your Next In Ricing Cauliflower Adventure!

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