I love pizza. I can eat it any time, any day. Unfortunately, traditional pizza is loaded with calories and carbs–things I tend to get too much of during a regular day.

You can imagine my joy, then, when I discovered this recipe for cauliflower pizza crust. Doubled, it makes the same size of crust I usually make for about half of the calories (if you use low fat mozzarella). I couldn’t wait to try it! Within a week, I finally got my chance.

I’ll readily admit I was expecting to be disappointed. I expected it to taste like–well, cauliflower. I followed all the directions, except I doubled the ingredients to make a normal sized crust. Once I had it made and baked, it resembled a large pancake. I threw my toppings on and put it under the broiler. When the cheese I put on top was bubbling and starting to brown, I pulled it out the oven and let it cool for about five seconds before I HAD to take a snitch bite.

Holy cow this stuff is good.

The crust tasted like the best pizza crust ever. It really didn’t taste like cauliflower at all. Sadly, my toppings were a little bit wet and made the dough a bit too soggy to eat without a plate and fork. Aside from that, it was perfect. On the plus side, I didn’t have to put much cheese on top since there was so much cheesy flavor in the crust already.

What did I learn? Well, I made my crust about 1/4″ thick. Next time, I’m going to make about 1/8″ thick so I get a crispier crust and more room for toppings. Also, I am going to bake my pizza a second time with the toppings instead of putting it under the broiler. I think both of these changes will give me the crust I like. I’m using a baking stone, so if you’re planning on using a metal pan, you may want to try the original recipe first. Also, to cut down on the cholesterol, I’m thinking about substituting the eggs in the crust with a flax seed/water paste.

Cauliflower Pizza Crust
Lightly modified from Eat. Drink. Smile.
Original recipe from The Lighter Side

Ingredients

• 2 cups cooked, riced cauliflower
• 2 cups shredded low fat mozzarella cheese
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 tsp dried oregano
• 2 tsp garlic powder

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Oil a 14-16″ baking stone.
2. In a medium bowl, stir together the cauliflower, egg and mozzarella. Add oregano, crushed garlic and garlic salt, stir. Transfer to the baking stone and pat out into a 14-16″ round.
3. Bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes or until the crust is just starting to brown around the edges. I put mine on the lowest rack to make sure my crust would be as crispy as possible.
4. Remove from oven. To the crust, add sauce, toppings and cheese. Put the topped pizza back in the oven and bake an additional 10-15 minutes until cheese is melted and starting to brown.

Nutritional Info
Via caloriecount.about.com

• Calories 694
• Calories from Fat 361

• Total Fat 40.1g
• Saturated Fat 20.9g
• Cholesterol 462mg
• Sodium 1237mg
• Total Carbohydrates 22.9g
• Dietary Fiber 7.5g
• Sugars 7.3g
• Protein 64.7g

This is just how I made it. If you want to know more about ricing cauliflower, omitting eggs, avoiding the microwave, other variations, or see a picture, I highly recommend looking at the original recipe or modified recipe and reading through the comments. Happy cooking!