I grew up in New York and I ate A LOT of pizza in my childhood. A crisp thin crust, tomato sauce (with no chunks of tomato!) and cheese. Nothing fancy necessary to suit my fancy! There was always a fresh-from-the-oven-pie ready, and a slice cost about $1.25. Teenage heaven-on-earth.
Then I moved to Atlanta for college and I still remember eating at my first pizzeria outside of New York. I ordered “a slice” and quickly learned that I needed to clarify that what I wanted was just tomato sauce and cheese (not a piece from one of their “fancy” pies with things like pineapple- blah!). They cut my slice from a pie that clearly had been sitting around for awhile, and put it back in the oven to warm it up. I waited…and then was very disappointed. Would I survive the next four years?!
Years later I went dairy-free. Then gluten-free. Pizza went from $1.25 a slice to a $20+ meal with the up-charge for the gluten free crust and all the toppings added on to replace where the cheese used to sit! Pizza, as I remembered it, became a thing of my past.
I truly believe that if you know what “real” pizza tastes like there is simply no gluten-free and dairy-free pizza that comes close to comparing. So, what’s a former New Yorker to do? Pizza had to be reinvented into something new, fun, flavorful…and totally different from the pizza of my childhood.
For Valentine’s Day I posted the pizza recipe I’ve been making for almost a decade: my flatbread pizza with puree of artichokes. It tasted really good. I felt good and I was happy again.
Then recently my cousin sent me a recipe for a Cauliflower Crust Pizza. I loved the simplicity of a crust made from cauliflower, almond flour, and eggs. Below is our family’s version. I hope you enjoy. I’ve enjoyed it 4 x myself in the last 2 weeks. No joke!
Cauliflower & Almond Flour Pizza
by Debbie Steinbock
Ingredients:
makes 3-4 medium pizza crusts
6 cups of “cauliflower meal”, made from 1 med-large cauliflower
2 1/4 cup almond flour
6 medium eggs, beaten
2 tsp. sea salt
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. dried basil
1 tsp. dried parsley
Toppings: tomato sauce, pesto (see recipe below), sliced tomatoes, fresh herbs, sauteed or roasted vegetables, sausage, pepperoni, etc.
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
- In a food processor, pulse cauliflower florets in batches, so you do not over-grind them and make them wet or mushy. Your goal is “riced” cauliflower with a fluffy consistency.
- In a large bowl combine the “cauliflower meal”, almond flour, eggs, sea salt, garlic, basil, and parsley. This will not resemble traditional “dough” but you should be able to divide it into 3 or 4 equal batches to make your 3 or 4 pizza crusts.
- Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Roll each batch of dough into a ball in your hands (add additional almond meal if it’s too wet), drop on the cookie sheet and use your hand to press it out into a circular crust that is between 1/4 and 1/8 of an inch thick.
- Bake 15-20 minutes for a crispier crust. Remove from the oven and add your sauce (tomato sauce, pesto, etc) and toppings (for example, fresh tomato, basil and pine nuts or sauteed artichokes, sausage and greens- get creative!) and bake 5-15 minutes more until warmed and crispy.
Deb’s Dairy Free Pesto
By Debbie Steinbock
Ingredients:
½ cup pine nuts
2 cups packed fresh basil leaves
¼ cup parsley
2 cloves garlic
½ tsp. salt
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
Method:
- In a medium skillet, dry roast the pine nuts over medium heat until golden brown.
- Add all the ingredients to a food processor and pulse until well combined.
- I personally make pesto in large batches. Store extra pesto in 1/3 cup Tupperware containers and freeze for later use- it will defrost nicely if moved from the freezer to the fridge for about 1 day.
Debbie — I love this newsletter. Thanks for the suggestions. Do you have a way to make your pizza crust without eggs?
How are you? I hope you and your family are thriving in every way.
Cheers and big hug, Robbie Dunlap
Hi Robbie!! Well, I haven’t tried to do that but you could experiment with using “flax eggs”. For each egg, use 1 Tbsp ground flax seeds and 3 Tbsp water. Let them sit for 5-10 minutes and the flax will “gel” in the water to make a flax egg. Please let us know if it works!! xo
and one more thought-
I’d experiment with a half batch to see if it works!
Can I make the crust and freeze it?
I’ve never tried to freeze it- but I imagine you could bake it slightly (to keep the form) and then freeze.
Just had to tell you how yummy your recipe is!!! I didn’t have basil so switched to spinach pesto and it’s so yummy! 😊
Can you use califlower flour instead of regular califlower ? I’ve been searching for a recipe with almond n califlower flour mixed together for my mother in law.
You know, I have never used cauliflower FLOUR! If you do try the recipe using both flours, can you please let me know how it goes…
Hi Debbie just want to let you know that your cauliflower and Almond flour pizza recipe is the best I have made it so many times then I tried using different recipes but still going back to yours which is the best and making three at a time is even better thank you so much for your recipe just wanted to let you know Dolores
Dolores,
Thank you for taking the time to let me know this! It makes me SO HAPPY to know that you enjoy the recipe 🙂
Hi I absolutely love your recipe for crust. It’s the best out there hands down! Thank you so much for sharing. Really grateful I found it.
Thank you for letting us know this – so glad that you enjoy!