chef buck here, and today we're going to cook up a cauliflower crust pizza I've cut down a lot on bread, so I've been experimenting with making cauliflower crusts for pizza I've made several different versions, and this is the recipe that works best for a cauliflower crust I didn't want to make a version where you had to boil the cauliflower and then squeeze out the water alot of recipes call for that technique, but that sounds like a lot of work to me I tried not cooking the cauliflower at all, but that didn't work too well --although the fail did make a good stromboli I found cooking the cauliflower in a skillet and steaming off the excess moisture worked best so the first thing we're going to do is grate up the cauliflower you can use a food processor, but a grater works fine just use the florets, save any stems for soups or other recipes grate florets until you have approx. two cups Your grated cauliflower will be about the size of poprocks candy, or grapenuts cereal I just used the big side of the grater I'm gonna measure out 2 cups Heat a skillet on medium heat, not too hot we're just going to cook some of the water out of the cauliflower some folks like to use a micowave, or boil and then squeeze out the water, but I like the skillet method best the skillet method is the easiest way there's a lot of water in cauliflower, so drying it out is key to a successful cauliflower crust. it's not on a super high temperature doesn't cook cauliflower smell like an old tennis shoe? stir the cauliflower occasionally and let that moisture steam off don't try to color up the cauliflower, or soften it up, or over cook it...our goal is to just dry it out a bit it'll take about 10 minutes, don't be in a hurry ...just give it an occasional stir to release the steam a good deal of the moisture will evaporate. Then set the skillet and cauliflower aside for a couple of minutes to slightly cool while the cauliflower cools for a moment, we'll prepare the other ingredients break 1 egg in a bowl. I used 2 eggs before, but I found it was too eggy, and unnecessary, 1 egg worked fine beat the egg and then a 1 cup of grated paremesan cheese you can substitute an asiago or romano cheese, just be sure you use a hard cheese don't use a soft cheese in the crust. A hard cheese will help best hold the crust together a hard cheese adds a great flavor, plus it adds salt, too...so additional salt is not needed the cauliflower will cool quickly, so add it into the bowl so now we have 1 cup of cheese, 2 cups cauliflower, and 1 beaten egg mix everything well adding extra seasonings to the crust is not needed. A great pizza sauce and toppings will provide the most flavor it's all going in your mouth at the same time, so flavoring the crust is a redundant step get a baking pan and a sheet of parchment paper the parchment paper is IMPORTANT! roll your "dough" out onto the pan and then press it out into a thin pizza crust shape make the crust about a 1/4 inch thick all the way around an evenly shaped crust will cook evenly you don't want the crust too thick, a 1/4 inch is best it will hold together well and not take too long to cook you don't want the edges of the crust to be thinner, because they will darken up and appear burnt keep the depth of the crust uniform it looks beautiful. now we'll throw it in the oven preheated at 400 degrees F the crust will melt together and brown up (insert BS talk here) it's been about 19 minutes actually the crust looks nice and firm with a golden color you can hear it bubbling a bit it's too hot to handle so I'll let it sit a moment it looks perfect you want it to have a nice color and look like 1 solid piece it doesn't look like little pieces of cauliflower stuck together because the cheese, cauliflower, and egg have all melted together into a potential pizza MMMMMmmmmmmm! smells awesome even though it's cauliflower It's cooled down enough to pick up and since it's on parchment paper, it won't stick and break apart when you try to move it still steaming, and has nice structural integrity! one I did before without parchment paper was not a success...it stuck to the pan luckily, I was able to roll up the failed crust to make a stromboli it's not overly cooked on the top or bottom because the edges weren't too thin, it's not burned if the edges are too thin, it will appear burned it's not a huge pie, about 10 inches across, but that is a good size for a cauliflower crust if you're making a cauliflower crust pizza, you probably don't need a big pizza anyway now lets dress it up spread the sauce out to the edges as far as you can top with your favorite pizza toppings! I'm using spinach, basil, tomatoes, and mozzarella cheese. and then it goes back in the oven, still at 400 degrees F we'll let it cook and keep an eye on it so it doesn't overcook it's been 10 minutes it didn't take long at all the cheese is nicely melted, and you see the edges have started to darken up quite a bit you have to make sure the crust doesn't overcook and darken the edges too much having the crust a uniform depth and the sauce spread to the edges will help the crust from darkening too much I'm gonna put the pizza on a rack to let some of the steam escape from the bottom I've got it back on the pan and I'm gonna slice it up! it doesn't firm up super well like a dough pizza it doesn't have yeast, flour, baking soda or baking powder like a bread dough, so it will not rise it's cheese and vegetables, so it's denser, that's why making it thin is best. it sticks together, looks like pizza, and even tastes like pizza the cauliflower is not an overpowering flavor, it will taste like what you have it topped with! "This is GOOD!" Make this pizza...it is delicious
