Category Archives: pizza crust

November 6, 2018 · 12:04 pm

Cauliflower Pizza Crust

For years, a recipe for making a healthier pizza crust from cauliflower has made the rounds. Although interested, I couldn’t find the enthusiasm to try making it. Like Tres Leche Cake, it was too labor-intensive to fit my criteria for a Hasty Tasty Meal. Thanks to Green Giant, that’s no longer the case.

Cauliflower pizza crust is pricey ($4.99 at my local grocery store), but is worth the investment if you’re craving pizza and can’t sacrifice nutrition. Yes, nutritional pizza is no longer an oxymoron.

I baked mine in my Power Air Fryer Oven 400°F but it works better in a conventional oven at 450°

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Here’s how I made a sausage and mushroom pizza:

RECIPE

Reasonably Healthy Cauliflower Crust Sausage and Mushroom Pizza

Makes 2 2-slice servings.

Ingredients

  • 1 frozen cauliflower pizza crust
  • 1 8 oz. can low sodium tomato sauce
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 1 patty fully cooked turkey sausage
  • 1 tsp. Italian seasonings
  • 1 can mushrooms, rinsed and drained
  • 1/4 cup onion, chopped
  • 1/4 cup bell pepper, chopped
  • 1 cup grated mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses (2/3 cup mozzarella and 1/3 cup Parmesan)
  • cooking spray
  • optional salt to taste

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 450°.
  2. Remove cauliflower crust from its packaging. Prebake crust directly on the rack for 12-15 minutes.
  3. While crust bakes, combine sauce, seasonings (including garlic), and turkey sausage patty in a blender or food processor. Don’t overprocess. Stir in mushrooms. Also, grate cheeses if needed.
  4. Carefully remove crust from the oven using a pizza peel or large spatula. 
  5. Spread the sauce over the crust and sprinkle the chopped onion and pepper.
  6. Cover with shredded cheese and return pizza to the oven, again placing it directly on the oven rack.
  7. Bake just until browned and bubbly (approximately 6 minutes). Carefully remove the pizza and allow it to cool for 3-5 minutes.
  8. Slice into 4 pieces and serve.

Each slice is only 140 calories (280 calories per 2-slice servings), or 8 WW points per serving.*

*Unofficial points calculated using the WW app recipe builder.

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October 27, 2015 · 7:11 am

Pizza can be a Hasty Tasty Meal

What prevents pizza from qualifying as a quick meal is the crust. If you have a ready-made crust, great. But don’t make a trip to the supermarket just for pizza crust or dough. In the time it takes you to shop, you can be halfway to making your own. Or, if you can plan, make pizza crust dough the night before and stick it in an oiled zippered storage bag and refrigerate for later.

Don’t be intimidated by the professional pizzeria. Throwing dough in the air to stretch it takes practice, and it’s partly for show. But you do need to stretch the dough, not roll it. This isn’t a pie crust. Gently stretch the dough (little tosses, not ceiling-high ones) until you get the thickness you prefer.

The rest is easy. Prebake the crust while you assemble the toppings of your choice. Today I used leftover pasta sauce from yesterday’s dinner, but use whatever you like. The secret to delicious pizza is good cheese. If you can, grate your own mozzarella and Parmesan. The grated cheese in bags are convenient, but they contain additives to prevent clumping (and flavor!).

RECIPE

Hasty Tasty Pizza

Makes one 12″–14″ round pizza

Dough Ingredients:

  • ¾ cup warm water
  • 1 Tbsp. + 1 tsp olive oil
  • ½ tsp. Kosher salt (or I use pink Himalayan salt)
  • 2 cups flour (your choice of bread, all purpose, or a blend of whole wheat/bread flour)
  • 1 tsp. dried yeast

Pizza toppings:

  • 16 ounces prepared sauce (Plain tomato sauce with Italian spices added works)
  • 1 cup chopped meat or vegetables of your choice
  • ½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
  • ½ cup grated (or sliced) mozzarella (or more, to taste)
  • (optional) ribbons of fresh basil

Directions:

  1. For pizza dough, combine all ingredients into a bowl, cover with a towel, and set aside.
  2. After the dough rises, punch it down and toss gently to stretch into the desired shape (round or rectangle, depending on the pan you use to prebake)
  3. Preheat oven to 425°F
  4. Bake the crust in a greased pan for 15 minutes or until done (slightly brown).
  5. Remove crust from oven but leave oven on.
  6. Gently remove crust from pan and place on a pizza peel (this step is optional but I recommend it for thin and crispy crust).
  7. Top the pizza crust with sauce, toppings, and cheese. Leave a minimum ½” around the edges plain to discourage oven spills while baking.
  8. Using the peel, carefully place the pizza on the middle rack in the oven. Or if baking in the pan, place the pan on the middle rack.
  9. Bake at 425° for 15-20 minutes, or until pizza is bubbly and cheese starts to brown.
  10. Turn oven off. Carefully slip the peel under the pizza and remove it from the oven. Allow pizza to cool for 5 minutes before slicing.
  11. Slice and serve!

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