I keep hearing from all of my American friends about Trader Joe’s premade cauliflower crust and how easy and great it is to make your own low carb pizza!
Unfortunately, I haven’t found a pre-made cauliflower crust that I like in England, so naturally, I have been determined to make my own!
Cauliflower alternatives to any dough are a bit labour intensive with cooking the cauliflower, grating it and squeezing out all the liquids. To try to save a step (and the mess of cutting up a cauliflower) I always use thawed frozen cauliflower and make my boyfriend do all the squeezing! Once the crust is in the oven, it is smooth sailing from there. I have also used this recipe to make a slightly thinner rectangular pizza as well a slightly thicker circle one too depending on your mood.
cauliflower crust pizza
Equipment
- food processor
Ingredients
pizza crust
- 1 kg cauliflower, frozen thawed
- 45 grams flax seed
- 48 grams flour chickpea, almond or coconut
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp dried oregano
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 tbsp corn meal
toppings
½ aubergine, basil & mozzarella
½ carmelised fennel, onion & olives
- 40 grams fennel thinly sliced
- 60 grams red onions thinly sliced
- 45 grams kalamata olives chopped
- ¼ tsp dried oregano
- ¼ tsp dried thyme
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
pizza
- Preheat the oven to 200 °C (400°F) and lay a baking tray or eight or nine inch pizza pan with baking paper and spread dry cornmeal across the tray.
- Transfer thawed cauliflower to a food processor until the consistency of rice.
- Pour into a dish towel and use your hands to squeeze the cauliflower, removing all of the excess moisture from the cauliflower.
- Place the drained cauliflower in a large bowl and add the dry ingredients and use your hands to mix. Let rest for 10 minutes.
- Dump the dough onto a parchment-lined baking sheet and use your hands to shape the crust into the desired size ( I normally try to make mine the shape and size of a pan). Do your best to get the crust as thin and flat as possible, which will yield a crispier crust.
- If using a round pizza pan, do the same as you would on a baking tray but try to get a slightly thicker edges that will emulate a crust on normal pizza.
- Bake for 45 minutes, turning the pan halfway through.
- If using a round tray, remove the pizza after 45 minutes and using a plate and more parchment paper, flip the crust and continue to bake for an additional 10 minutes to allow for even cooking and crispness on both sides.
toppings
- Toss all veggies in the seasoning with a drizzle of olive oil.
- Sautee fennel and red onion for five minutes until slightly softened on the stove.
- Place sliced aubergine on a separate sheet and bake along with the pizza crust for 30-40 minutes.
- After the crust is done baking on it's own and is nicely golden and dry to the touch, spread pizza sauce over pizza, add vegan mozzarella cheese and veggies and return to oven briefly for another 10 minutes until cheese is all melty.
