Description
I know this recipe has a loaded title. It is the best darn pizza I have had in years and I have had a real yearning for a real LOADED totally paleo pizza. I mean, with the works. I love protein so this was going to be extremely creative. I wanted one that was gluten free with no dairy at all, and I was getting tired of nut flours in so many recipes I was working on lately. Oh, and a major must was I wanted intense and varied flavors in each and every bite. This was my challenge.
Ingredients
- CRUST
- 1 head of cauliflower
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ – 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 Grade A large egg (room temperature)
- Healthy fat (butter, lard, coconut oil, etc)
- PIZZA TOPPING
- My sauce was hot and ready on the stove.
- I either make my own from fresh tomatoes, some tomato paste, a tad bit of honey and spices or I buy a jar that is paleo friendly and loaded with healthy ingredients
- I precut and premade:
- Hormone-free pepperoni
- Hormone-free Canadian bacon (sautéed)
- Homemade chicken sausage
- Prosciutto (fried lightly in a pan)
- Cut black olives
- Dried oregano
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F.
- Grease a large cookie sheet or large pyrex dish with butter.
- Place parchment paper on top of greased up pan.
- Now grease the top of your paper – it will be a greasy top.
- Clean your cauliflower.
- Drain and make sure it is not wet.
- Shred by hand with your grater or pulse it in your food processor – I did it both ways to test both ways out.
- If you pulse in your food processor you want very small pieces throughout and consistent, the size of rice.
- You want 4 full cups of cauliflower for this recipe.
- OPTIONAL:
- Boil some water with a steamer basket and steam your cauliflower “rice” high above the water for about 4-5 minutes until done – not mushy though.
- Strain and let cool and press out any additional liquid.
- OR – place in a pyrex dish (no water added!) and microwave for 30 seconds – 1 minute. Depending on your microwave.
- Let cool, strain out any extra liquid if any. There is much less with the microwave technique.
- Mix your cauliflower with the egg, and spices and salt.
- Place 1-2 heaping balls of your mixture on your parchment paper – depending on if you want 1 or 2 pizzas.
- Press out by hand and mold your pizza to about ¼ “ thick.
- Make a slight “lip” around the edge to hold your filling in if you’d like.
- Bake for approximately 35-45 minutes.
- When done flip over and bake for another 3-5 minutes to form the crust even more since there is no “dairy” holding this firmly together.
- I found the discrepancy on baking time really depends on your oven and how wet your cauliflower is when you mix it.
- Remove from oven.
- Place on a rack to allow ventilation and some air on all sides.
- Add your sauce and toppings.
- Place the sauce on the pizza and spread it out fairly thin. This would be up to you but I do not like tons of sauce.
- Add as much protein and toppings as you like.
- Place back in oven for about 4-6 minutes.
- Take out of oven and serve as is or serve individual slices.
- Enjoy!
