Gluten free Cauliflower pizza base

                       

I've been reading articles in the food media that suggest that cauliflower is going to be big this year as a vegetable and a health food. I'm not so much a no carb/low carb kind of person but i like trying recipes that are different to my usual repertoire. 

Before commencing I researching a few different recipes on various paleo and vegan sites. 

The initial stages of pizza base making are all the same really:

1.  Process the cauliflower into tiny pieces using a food processor
2.  Cook cauliflower either through boiling, baking, steaming or microwaving
3. Place the cauliflower in a cloth over a bowl and squeeze out as much liquid as humanly possible.
4. Mix the cauliflower with other ingredients then bake the base in a hot oven until cooked.
5. Top with pizza toppings and cook again.

The biggest challenge is making the pizza crust crisp rather than soggy and thus able to be held in one hand. To achieve this, various recipes have different suggestions from adding cheese to the base to nuts and flour. I looked at what ingredients I had at home and I tried a couple of different things, one pizza using egg replacer and corn flour and one using almond flour and corn flour. The latter worked the best.

Ingredients:

• 1 large cauliflower
• 1 tsp dried rosemary
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tbsp ground flaxseed/nut flour
• ¼ cup corn flour
• water or dairy free milk if needed
• Pizza toppings (e.g. tomato paste, mushrooms, onions, olives, capsicum, basil, dairy free cheese). 

Instructions:

1. Line a baking tray with baking paper.
2. Preheat oven to 225 degrees celcius (437 degrees fahrenheit).
3. Place tray in oven to heat. You want it nice and hot before you put the pizza base on it to help it cook through. 
4. Cut cauliflower into small pieces and blitz in a food processor until it resembles a rice like consistency
5. Boil for 10 minutes until tender. 
6. Transfer to a bowl lined with a clean cloth (such as a new dish cloth). 
7. Bring the sides of the cloth together into a ball and squeeze the cloth to remove as much liquid as possible. 
8. Add herbs, salt and pepper, almond flour (or ground flaxseed) and cornflour to the bowl. 
9. Mix together (it should be fairly dry but if it is too crumbly add some water or dairy free milk to shape it to a dough like consistency
10. Shape the dough into one large or four small pizza bases. 
11. Transfer the dough onto the same baking tray and flatten with the back of a spoon until a thin pizza crust forms.
12. Bake for 20-30 minutes so until crispy and browned around the edges.
13. Top with toppings of choice and bake for another ten minutes or so until cheese is melted and topping is browned. 

My verdict:  It reminded me that I don't really like cauliflower all that much. I love broccoli, but cauliflower has a stronger taste that just doesn't interest me. Despite what some people would like to believe, cauliflower cream pasta sauce tastes like cauliflower pasta sauce, not cream. And thus, cauliflower pizza base taste like, you guessed it-cauliflower! I've tried cauliflower mash with truffle oil which wasn't all that great, although I like cauliflower rice. If you like cauliflower, you will love this pizza.