Pizza Crust – Laura Lucas

Pizza Crust Recipes

Homemade Pizza Dough

Ingredients:

2 teaspoons active dry yeast
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons lukewarm water
2 cups unbleached bread flour
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt

In a bowl, combine the yeast, 1/4 cup water and 1/4 cup flour. Let it stand for 30 minutes.

Add the remaining 1 3/4 cup flour, 1/2 plus 2 tablespoons warm water, olive oil and salt.

Mix the dough thoroughly and turn onto floured surface. Knead until smooth, elastic and a bit tacky to the touch, 7 – 8 minutes.

Place in oiled bowl and turn the dough to cover with oil.

Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place (75° F/24°C) until the dough doubles in volume, 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Or, let the dough rise in the refrigerator overnight. If you use this method, let the dough come to room temperature before using.

cauliflower crust

Ingredients:

4 cups fresh cauliflower florets
3/4 cup egg whites
2 cups mozzarella cheese
sea salt, seasonings

Cut cauliflower into florets and rice it in a blender or food processor. It only needs to be pulsed a few times to get the rice-sized pieces. Do a half cup to a cup at a time.

Lightly steam the cauliflower and dump into a colander. Press out as much water as possible. Do this with a plate or your hands.

Add the egg whites, cheese, salt and your choice of seasonings in a bowl (Italian, onion or garlic powder) and mix well. Combine the cauliflower with the egg & cheese mixture.

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Spread the mixture, keeping the thickness even all the way to the edge. Thin edges will get too dark when they cook.

Bake at 450 for 20 minutes. Cool for several minutes before topping. Broil pizza until toppings are done.

*This makes one extra large pizza. If you don’t have a blender or food processor, grate the cauliflower or chop with a knife.

easy cauliflower crust

I found this easy cauliflower crust recipe from Chef Buck. Instead of cooking the cauliflower in a steamer, he heats it in a skillet, not using any oil or water, so the squeezing step after steaming has been eliminated altogether. Chef Buck urges that the cauliflower be cooked in the skillet long enough to get rid of the moisture (steam will come off) but don’t let it brown. His full recipe and instructions are here on his website MyFoodChannel. There’s a lot of great tips there for pizza-making.