Cheesy Cauliflower Crust Pizza with Prosciutto and Roasted Garlic {gluten free}

It takes a good, solid year to get moved and settled into a new house. This, is a fact.... otherwise known as my opinion. We have been living in our current house AKA the crappy rental for almost a year and I finally found a good place to store the ginormous magnifying glass from Pottery Barn and hung the last 3 pictures in our bedroom. Mind you I have absolutely no idea where half of my belongings are. You see, part of the curse of being a procrastinator is that you wait until the day of moving to pack things that you never knew you even had in the first place. Things you never even used one single time like your kitchen scale which you have now decided that you can't live without. 

Not worth killing yourself over a kitchen scale by climbing mountains of haphazardly stacked boxes topped with over sized Christmas wreaths and luggage. The arrangement my husband assured me was only temporary 10 months ago.

What is driving me batty is not remembering exactly what camping gear we do or do not have because when we lived in our old house we had 4 children, 3 of them under the age of 7 and 1 in diapers until after we moved. Not exactly the scenario I would paint for a fun camping trip. Wait. Did I just say camping could be fun? Well, we're going this weekend and have no idea where half our gear is. 

Camping with 4 kids = Not always so much fun.

Simple home made pizza with negative zero guilt = My idea of fun!

Amen!

 

Believe me when I tell you that this pizza crust is delicious, thin and remarkable crispy yet slightly soft and chewy with notes of Italian herbs, spices and freshly grated Parmesan and mozzarella in every bite.

Your "dough" will be slightly crumbly but will hold together nicely
by the egg and cheeses. 

Mix the 'dough' together with your hands until combined then shape into a ball and place on a square of parchment paper. Using your hands, flatten out into a circle about 1/4" thick. The thicker you make it the longer it will take to cook. Look how nicely it forms.

While you are preparing the cauliflower 'dough' place a pizza stone (or baking sheet)  in an oven pre-heated to 450F. on the lower rack.

Carefully slide the dough and parchment onto the pre-heated stone.

Bake 20-25 minutes until the crust is golden brown and crispy around the edges.

Remove stone from oven, place on a cooling rack and top with your choice of toppings! The possibilities are endless of course. I used one of my all time favorite combos, roasted garlic and prosciutto with fresh pizza sauce and lots of fresh Italian cheeses. I made the boys a cheeseburger pizza. 

You Will Need:

1 medium sized cauliflower
 1/4 cup mozzarella or Italian cheese blend plus more for topping if desired
1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese, freshly grated is best
1 jar prepared pizza sauce or home made (recipe below)
1 medium egg (Organic & free range of course :)
1/2 tablespoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
cracked black pepper or red pepper flakes to taste (I use 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes)

Toppings of your desire.


Wash cauliflower well and dry. Cut off leaves and stems. Break into florets. 

Place into a large food processor (I don't have one, I used my Vitamix. If you do this I suggest putting in half at a time.)  PULSE several times until you have a 'powdery' texture. Don't over blend, you'll have mush.

Scrape into a microwave safe bowl. Microwave for 2 minutes on regular power. (I've skipped this
step before and it turned out fine, slightly soggier but fine)
Carefully remove from microwave and let sit for a couple of minutes. 
Dump cauliflower onto the middle of a kitchen towel and fold lengthwise into thirds. 
Now, wring the heck out of it getting out as much liquid as you possibly can. I typically get just less than a cup! The more liquid you get out, the crispier your crust will be i.e. more toppings!

Place cauliflower back into bowl. add herbs, spices, salt and cheeses. Mix well with your hands.
Now add egg. Mix to combine. Make into a ball and place onto a square of parchment paper. 
Using your hands, shape into a circle 1/4" thick. 

Carefully slide the parchment paper and cauliflower crust onto your pre-heated stone.
Bake at 450F for 20-25 minutes (checking after 15 minutes as oven times vary).
When crust is golden brown and crispy around the edges remove from oven.

Top with your favorite pizza toppings and pop back into the oven for 5-10 minutes until warmed through.


Enjoy!!!