Crispy Cauliflower Pizza Base

You’re not normal if you don’t love pizza. So it’s no surprise when there is sometimes nothing I want more than a large Dominos drenched in cheese and topped with an abundance of pepperoni. Unfortunately, as much as I love the pizza, the aftertaste of guilt is not something I am so keen to enjoy… Alas, I have a delicious compromise to satisfy all pizza cravings that fills you up without leaving you with the horrible bloated stodginess that comes with the regular bread base.

I’ve tried many a time to make a successful base that isn’t made from a grain-based flour and doesn’t fall apart as soon as you cut into it. Finally (with inspiration from Deliciously Ella) I have a recipe that you can actually cut into slices and pick up to eat, like a real pizza!! And, of course, it’s gluten free, grain free, and dairy free!

Top Tips

• Make sure the oven is really hot before you put in your bases in to bake, otherwise they won’t crisp up.
• Bake the bases on a thin baking tray lined with baking paper which is also slightly oiled, so to make the flipping process halfway through easier.
• Don’t overload on the toppings, keep it simple, or you won’t be able to pick it up like a normal pizza.

Ingredients (yields 2 bases)

1 large cauliflower

2 tbsp chia seeds mixed with 5 tbsp of water

1 cup buckwheat flour

1/2 cup of apple puree

2 tbsp tamari

1/2 juice of lemon

Mixed italian herbs

Pinch of salt

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200c and prep a thin baking tray with baking paper and a dash of olive oil.
2. Allow the chia seeds to absorb the water and form a gel-like paste. Meanwhile, place the cauliflower in a food processor and blend until a flour substance is formed.
3. Squeeze out the excess water from the cauliflower, you can use a nut milk bag or, if you don’t have one of those, a thin tea towel works just as well.
4. Add the apple puree, tamari, salt, and italian herbs to the paste and combine before adding the cauliflower and buckwheat to the mix – in this order the flavours are distributed more evenly throughout the dough.
5. Finally, add the lemon juice (you can use the other half of the lemon if the dough is too dry) and combine until a sticky dough is formed.
6. Mould the dough into the desired shape on the prepped baking tray, making sure it is the same thickness (around 2mm) all the way through.
7. Bake in the oven for 14 minutes before taking out and flipping over to bake in the oven for a further 14 minutes.
8. Top your pizza with whatever you fancy, my personal favourite is tomato base sprinkled with mozzarella, goats cheese, homemade pesto, caramelised onions, and fresh baby basil.

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14 Sep This entry was published on September 14, 2014 at 5:14 pm. It’s filed under Dinner, RECIPES and tagged baking, cheese, dinner, gluten free, grain free, pizza, wheat free. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.