Cauliflower Pizza by Stace

It has been a long while since I have posted any recipes.  Fall seems like the perfect time to start again.  My family has been following the GAPS diet for a little over a year now.  It has taken us that long to get used to things and develop new traditions and memories around new foods.  Sadly, I had to say goodbye to many of my favorite family foods in order to begin this healing diet, but thankfully we have found yummy, nourishing replacements.

We have all had significant healing while on the diet, and my husband and I lost around 90 lbs between the two of us.  We've had more energy, more stable moods.  We started other healthy routines as the energy returned to us -- like running and regular exercise. I could go on and on, but this post is about pizza. 

So Friday night pizza is a tradition for our family -- something we look forward to, and we all enjoy helping prepare the food.  So we desperately needed a GAPS legal pizza recipe.  We tried many crusts -- coconut flour, almond flour, hazlenut crust (so very bad), but the cauliflower crust has the absolute BEST flavor of any we've tried.  Roasted cauliflower crust even rivals a traditional pizza (in my opinion).

So here is the recipe.

You need:
2 cauliflower (organic or homegrown or whatever your budget dictates)
3 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon oregano (or other seasoning)
1/2 teaspoon rosemary (or other seasoning)
1/2 teaspoon garlic (minced or salt form or whatever you have). 
1 Tablespoon of almond or coconut flour (optional -- just thickens it a little)
nut milk bag or cheesecloth or paper towel
food processor or high powered blender (or some way to rice cauliflower )
pot for steaming cauliflower (i use the steamer basket on my stock pot)
baking pans and parchment paper
oven at 400 degrees


Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Start by chopping cauliflower into florets.  Wash florets then add them to your processor/bllender.  I usually do about 1/2 cauliflower at a time in the Vitamix.  Continue processing the cauliflower until it looks like rice.  Pour the riced cauliflower into steamer and steam for about 10 min -- until soft.

Let cauliflower cool a bit (I usually try too soon and burn my hand).  Then put into nut milk bag (cheesecloth or paper towel) to squeeze out excess liquid.  You want it pretty dry.  It will start to look like play dough as you remove the liquid.

I transfer all strained cauliflower to my kitchenaid mixer but you can use whatever you have.  I add 3 eggs (for 2 cauliflower) enough to have a wet dough.  I also add the salt, oregano, rosemary and garlic (to taste).  You can add whatever seasoning you like.

I line my baking sheet with parchment paper and pour out the crust (it will be liquidish -- just shape into into a circle or square or whatever you like).  Recently I like making it into mini pizzas (which can also be used as tortillas!).

Place baking pan in 400 degree oven.  Bake for about 45 minutes (or until nice and browned).

Remove them from the oven when browned:

These (above) are a nice stack I took out to use for tortillas.  I served them with carnitas meat, guacamole, lettuce and tomato (yum!).

You can leave yours in the pan for pizzas.  We like to make our own sauce.

For sauce we use:
either one jar of organic tomato puree (glass jar no bpa) or we boil tomatoes, peel skins and puree ourselves.
if I have a jar of organic tomato paste i add that too (to thicken).  If I don't I add grass-fed gelatin (bernard jensens).
we add a teaspoon or two of apple cider vinegar for pizza sauce flavor
also seasonings like salt, garlic, oregano, basil (whatever we have to taste).

Add your sauce, cheese (if you like it) and toppings.  We use raw cheese when we have some or dubliner cheddar.  I often have mine with no cheese (as I still have trouble with dairy).  We like to crumble up cooked grassfed beef and add spinach, mushrooms, onions, jalepenos (whatever we have in the fridge). 

Put pizza(s) back in oven for 5-10 minutes (until cheese is melted or ingredients look like they are coming together).

(above) is a picture of my most recent cheese-less creation.

Above all have fun and enjoy your food!

Posted by Stace

Pizza Dough by Stace

Friday night is the perfect night for pizza and movies.

Nothing beats a handmade pizza for bringing the family together around a project. One person rolls out dough while the others chop and grate. Then everyone gets to sit down together to watch a movie.

I started pizza / movie night originally as a way to limit tv time during the week. Whenever Boddhi asked me if he could watch a movie, I would just say "on movie night you can." Then watching movies became something special (and rare) and not just a way to get him out of my hair.

I have tried a few different dough recipes, but my favorite for flavor and texture comes from The Art of Simple Food by Alice Waters. I usually double this recipe for my family -- then we make half the pizzas and freeze the rest of the dough for the next week (then I don't have to make dough every week).

Pizza Dough

Stir together

• 2 tsp dry yeast

• 1/2 cup lukewarm water

Add and mix well

• 1/4 cup unbleached white flour
• 1/4 cup rye flour

Allow this to sit until bubbly (about 30 min)
Mix together in another bowl:

• 3 1/4 cup unbleached white flour
• 1 teaspoon salt

Stir this into the yeast and flour mixture with

• 3/4 cup cold water
• 1/4 cup olive oil

Mix by hand or in electric mixer with dough hook. Dough should be soft and elastic -- soft and slightly sticky. Put the dough in a large bowl, cover and let rise in a warm place until it doubles in size (about 2 hours).

Divide dough into 2 (or 3 if you like think like me) and form into nice smooth balls. Allow the dough balls to rest wrapped loosely in plastic for an hour or so. Flatten each ball into a disk about 5 or 6 inches, flour lightly, cover and let rest for another 15 min. Place a baking stone on the lowest rack i the oven(remove other racks for easy access) Preheat oven to 500 degrees.

Gently stretch one of the disks into a round about 10 inches across. Put on a floured peel or an inverted baking sheet. Brush dough with olive oil and, leaving a 1/2 inch border uncovered, top with your choice of ingredients.

We like hamburger pizza (grass fed ground meat cooked with habanero peppers from the garden) and also veggie pizza with spinach, purple onion, tomato, olives and feta cheese. Boddhi prefers plain cheese, and the girls eat just pepperoni.

Enjoy your pizza :)

Posted by Stace