Before we talk about this delicious gluten-free cauliflower crust, I want to share a story.
Yesterday, I received a surprise in the mail. It was a letter I wrote to a friend when I was only 17-years-old. My childhood girlfriend was kind enough to send it to me. The first thing that struck me was my rapid-fire jokes. I'm not saying they were funny, but I made a joke in every other sentence I wrote. It is the opposite of what I recall about myself.
I remember my 17-year-old self as a serious girl who hated injustice. I could whip up a protest sign in a matter of minutes. I recall a day when I was the only person outside my High School protesting and yelling: “What do you want? Peace. When Do You Want It? Now!”
Who does that? Who protests alone? I still do hate injustice, but I also have a strong need to make people laugh.
Kind of yin and yang. That letter gave me some insight into myself, and it got me thinking about how I ended up here, today, writing this blog and why I try to encourage people to live a healthy vegan life.
It didn't take me more than a minute to figure out that this blog is another form of protest against injustice. So who am I revolting against now? How about food companies who put harmful ingredients in our food and spend millions of dollars to market that food as a health benefit.
Many people are needlessly suffering from food-related diseases like type-2 diabetes, and it's not their fault. Or how about the greedy cattle and dairy industry who are robbing the planet of its valuable resources. Or factory farms that use unnecessary cruelty towards animals for higher profits.
I don't write much about injustice on this blog, but in a gentle way this is what I am doing. I'm protesting.
Fortunately, I found a new format to express my objections: my recipes. Whenever someone discovers a plant-based recipe that they love, the closer they inch to a plant-based lifestyle.
I don't need a sign anymore because I know that once people discover that they can live a healthy life, help the environment and protect animals by eating delicious, plant-based food, they will be ready to go all in.
Then, like me, they will find joy in inspiring others.
Speaking of delicious, healthy plant-based food. How about sneaking a little cauliflower into your children's pizza with this gluten-free cauliflower pizza crust.
I know a four-year-old who loves it, and he hates cauliflower.
This week I topped mine with tomato sauce, mushrooms, peppers, tomatoes, and red onion. Yum! Hope you enjoy this plant-based, gluten-free cauliflower crust as much as I did. Before you go, make sure you sign up for all our free vegan recipes.
Thanks for stopping by. You can find all my organic, vegan CBD Oil from hemp products here. CBD oil has shown promise as a treatment for many ailments. If you have any questions about how CBD oil can help you, email me at questions@ordinaryvegan.net.
Gluten-Free Cauliflower Pizza Crust
- 1½ cups cauliflower florets
- 1½ - 2 cups flour (For gluten-free - rice flour or gluten-free flour. Rice flour makes it a bit denser)
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 package of active dry yeast
- 1½ cups warm water (approximately 110 degrees)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- organic corn meal for dusting
- Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees F. Place the cauliflower on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the cauliflower is a little brown and soft. Remove from oven and place into a food processor. Process until you get cauliflower crumbs. Set aside to cool.
- Whisk together the yeast and warm water. Set aside for 10 minutes. Add the olive oil to the mixture.
- Using a stand mixer: Combine the flour, cauliflower crumbs and salt in to mixing bowl using the dough hook. Add half the yeast mixture and start kneading on low. Scrape down the sides. Add more water and continue kneading on medium until the dough comes cleanly away from the sides. Add more flour or water if needed. Turn out onto a floured work surface and knead by hand for another couple of minutes. The dough should be smooth and elastic. When you press it with your finger it should slowly spring back.
- Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap, and leave it in a warm spot to rise for 30 minutes or up to an hour.
- Divide the dough into 2 to 4 equal balls, depending on how large you want your pizza to be. Shape each ball by gently pulling down the sides of the dough and tucking each pull under the bottom of the ball, working round the ball 5 times. Then, on a smooth surface, roll the ball under your palm until the ball feels smooth and firm, about 1 minute. Put the balls on a large platter, cover with plastic wrap or damp towel and let them rest for another 30 minutes. At this point the dough can be covered with plastic wrap and refrigerated for 1 to 2 days. When ready to use, remove from refrigerator and let rest for covered for 15 minutes to reach room temperature.
- Place a pizza stone into the oven and preheat the oven to 500 degrees F. Let the stone heat up for approximately 30 minutes or more.
- Place a ball of dough on a lightly floured surface. Spread it out to a circle with the palm of your hand or floured rolling pin.
- Dust a pizza paddle with organic corn meal and place the pizza circle on top. Spread the dough with your favorite toppings. I like to add a pinch of olive oil on top and slide the pizza onto the baking stone or into a pizza pan. Bake until the rim of the crust is deep golden brown, about 10 minutes.
What happens if you leave out the oil? Is there a substitute?
You can leave out the oil altogether – no replacement necessary. Thanks for being part of our community Deb!
Question – Why do you say to use white rice flour if going gluten free? My Bob’s Red Mill brown rice flour says it is gf. Wondering if I am missing something, since we use this flour all the time. Thanks.
Hi M – white rice flour is naturally gluten-free but you can use any gluten-free flour that you like. Thanks for being part of our community.
I did not think yeast and rising would work with rice flour. This is something new to me. Will have to give it a try. Thank you.
Yes rice flour is harder to rise and perhaps you should use gluten-free flour which should be less dense than rice flour. I found this tidbit on the Internet from the Joy of Cooking cookbook.
When baking yeast breads with rice flour, you may want to consider adding a bit of gluten-free vinegar or ascorbic acid to your recipe to help your breads rise better. The book, “Joy of Cooking,” recommends 1 teaspoon of vinegar per 4 cups of gluten-free flour or ¼ teaspoon ascorbic acid.
Also thanks Cheri for mentioning that – I made that note in the recipe online. Have a wonderful day and thank you for stopping by! Nancy
Can this dough be frozen
Hi Vito – I have never frozen this crust but I see no reason why not. Hope that helps and thanks for being part of our healthy community!
tried making this dough followed instruction, but it didn’t seem to rise much, I used gluteen free all purpose flour could that be the reason??
Gluten helps the dough rise and gives it a chewy texture so you will not have a traditional pizza dough crust when using gluten-free flour. I will add that to the instructions so people know what to expect. I found this site helpful in working with gluten-free flour. Hope that helps and have a great day Vito!
https://gfjules.com/tips-for-baking-better-gluten-free-bread/
You should adjust the time at the top to reflect the total time needed to make the dough… 20-25 mins for the cauliflower to bake, 30-60 mins to rise, 30 mins to rest, 30 mins for the stone to heat, 10 mins to bake, etc. I didn’t read through the instructions fully and didn’t realize until we started to make the pizza how long this would actually take. It’s very misleading and had it been specified in the prep time at the top I would have prepared it a day before. Otherwise sounds very delicious and thanks for sharing.
Thanks for your feedback and I agree – total minutes from prep to eating is very important. Nancy
Like your site and your recipe. Ads are straight up, pertinent, and unobtrusive. Will try recipe and leave a comment on the same.
Thanks for the kind words and for stopping by Hank.
Super delish recipe. 1 & 1/2 c. cauliflower is ~ = to 1 bag of frozen cauliflower. I found that starting out with 1 c. of water was good for my particular unbleached wheat flour. I also like to add a pinch of sugar to feed the yeast a bit more in Step 2. My recipe made enough for 4 regular cookie sheet sized pizzas, I froze 1/2. I was specifically looking for a recipe that wasn’t 100% cauliflower & more of a 1:1 cauliflower/flour ratio while also calling for yeast. This recipe fit the bill perfectly!! Light & yummy = flavorful + healthful with less calorie guilt. Thank you!
Hi Lin – thank you so much for stopping by and taking the time to give us feedback. So happy you enjoyed it!
Made this crust last night, and on first review I realized that it was a standard flower crust in which just the gluten free flour had been substituted. (The ingredient line for flour gave that away.) I was surprised with how much liquid was called for, since cauliflower weeps, and since with 1 cup of water in a standard wheat flour you need about 3 cups of flour to make a dough. So, some adjustments needed to be made.
First, if using any gluten-free flour, add psyllium husk or zanthan gum to hold things together for yeast rising. In a pizza, because it’s hearty I used psyllium husk, about 1/2 tablespoon. Also add about a teaspoon of sugar to the yeast water to get it rising better, and about 1 teaspoon of baking powder to get a rise in the oven. (The yeast rises it well the first time, and okay the second, but once rolled out, without the baking soda, it’s pretty flat.)
It actually took nearly 2-1/2 cups of gluten free flour to make the dough workable. It rose well, but that’s a lot of flour! We ran the oven at 400º and pre-baked the crust for 7 minutes before topping just to start drying it out, which is also standard for a gluten free crust with or without cauliflour.
But, with those amendments, we got a really tasty pizza crust with nice chew, and an okay crust on the bottom. Next time, I’ll crank the oven to 500º for the final bake.
Thanks for your feedback and for being part of our healthy community Lou.