No fresh vegetables at home? In this Cauliflower Alfredo Pizza, frozen cauliflower is the star! Enjoy the flavors of alfredo pasta in pizza form…yum!

THE INGREDIENTS:

THE DOUGH

Water: To make any sort of dough, you need both dry and wet ingredients! Water is what is traditionally used for pizza dough, and why change a tried and true? We do not recommend increasing or decreasing the amount of water in this recipe as it will affect the texture. However, if you must because the dough is too dry, carefully add 1 tablespoon of water at a time until the dough is no longer crumbly. A little bit of water goes further than you think! 

Quick Yeast: Yeast is a leavening agent that makes our bread both feel and taste the way we love. Quick yeast is a must for this recipe if you want to have a properly risen pizza dough in the time frame we have stated. Only have regular yeast on hand? Two options: increase the rising time by roughly 30 minutes OR add extra yeast (a half packet or ⅛ oz). If going the “extra yeast” route, be aware that you might have a “yeasty” flavor to your dough. However, it is still delicious! You cannot replace the yeast in this recipe with other leavening agents (baking soda, baking powder)…yeast is truly one of a kind, sorry! If you make this replacement, you’re risking a culinary flop. 

Sugar: Sugar? In my Cauliflower Alfredo Pizza? Yes! Yeast is actually a microbe and, like any living organism, needs a snack to keep itself going and growing. 2 teaspoons does not add sweetness to the dough, but is important to get the rise we want. Do not leave it out, please! In a pinch, replace it with honey so the yeast still has something to munch on. 

Salt: Nobody likes bland food (or at least not us), so salt to the rescue! Don’t worry, this meal is not too salty! Don’t let that steer you away from including the salt in the dough-it really helps bring the pizza together.  

Bread Flour: Although bread flour looks the same as all purpose flour, it has different concentrations! Bread flour is a blend with more protein in it than regular all purpose flour. Since more protein is present, that means more gluten is present, too! Bread flour is our secret to better rising and chewy pizza crust. You can replace the bread flour with all purpose flour and still get a nice pizza dough. With that being said, it would be best to use bread flour.

THE SAUCE

Yellow Onion: You may be used to pizza made with red (tomato) sauce, but white sauce is in town for this one! However, one thing both of these pizza sauces have in common is onion. An onion is a simple, classic, yet oh so tasty flavor that we do not want to omit in this recipe!

If you do not have an onion on hand, we recommend replacing it with either 2 teaspoons of onion powder or 2 tablespoons of dried minced onion. Add the onion powder with both the salt and freshly cracked black pepper. If using dried minced onion, add it with the butter and toast it for a minute or until fragrant. If you want, other substitutes include other kinds of onion and shallot. Although red onions may be a common pantry staple at your house, they are the only kind of onion we do not recommend substituting due to their different flavor. 

Butter: One thing white sauces often don’t skimp on is fat, and this white pizza sauce is no exception! Butter not only softens and gets the flavor highlighted for our onion and garlic, but it is a key component when making a roux. What is a roux? A roux is made of equal parts of flour and butter. A roux thickens a sauce. You can’t just add flour to the cream because it would create clumps. By mixing the flour into this butter, even though some is lost in cooking the onion and garlic, we get a smooth yet thick sauce-perfect for pizza! 

Garlic Cloves: What kind of white sauce is missing garlic? Not this one! We prefer using fresh garlic in recipes that have fewer ingredients because it has a stronger presence than garlic powder. When we say three garlic cloves, we mean 3 medium to large garlic cloves. Adjust this garlic to your preference. After all, some like less and some like more-you know best! If you don’t have fresh garlic on hand, don’t worry, using ¾ tsp of garlic powder still is an acceptable substitute. Add it when adding the other spices, such as the salt and black pepper. 

Freshly Cracked Black Pepper: When you think of a good alfredo sauce, which this white pizza sauce is mimicking, you probably imagine the zing of black pepper breaking up the monotony of the rich cream. At least, that is what is important to us! Black pepper may be an automatic seasoning in many recipes, but this is one place where black pepper must be the star. Once you have tried freshly cracked black pepper, you realize pre-ground black pepper does not even come close in comparison. So, although you can replace this with ½ tsp to ¾ tsp (your preference) ground black pepper, reach for the grinder if you have one. As you know your black pepper tolerance best, add until you are happy. However, if you are really unsure, most will probably find the ½ to ¾ tsp range as where they want to be. 

Salt: Salt is so basic, but we would probably find our taste buds falling flat without it. Feel free to adjust the salt to your preference, but we believe most will be happy with the amount that we have stated. 

All-Purpose Flour: Here it is! The other half of our roux. Flour is what helps our sauce thicken. How does that work, you ask? Well, flour is one reason why our sauce thickens, but the other needed component is heat and time. If you believe your sauce will be on the heat for a while, then you might want to reduce the flour to 1 tablespoon, for example.  If you do not have flour on hand, we recommend a slurry for such emergencies. What is a slurry? Simply add 1 tablespoon of cornstarch with roughly 2 tablespoons of water to form a paste. Add it with the cream and cook on medium heat until the sauce is at the thickness that you desire. 

Cream: Cream has lots of fat and is naturally thicker than the milk you might have in the refrigerator. What fat brings to our sauce is richness, giving us that decadent feeling we love while eating this Cauliflower Alfredo Pizza. Don’t have cream on hand? That’s ok. Good substitutes for white/alfredo sauce include half and half, whole milk, or even low-fat milk if that is all you have. To accommodate for not having cream, however, be prepared to have your sauce on the heat longer. It will need a little bit more time to thicken up.

THE TOPPINGS

Frozen Rainbow Cauliflower: Many people think of frozen vegetables as second class compared to its fresh counterpart, but with Cauliflower Alfredo Pizza, frozen cauliflower is the star of the show! It makes this meal a lot easier and is a great option when you have run out of fresh vegetables at home. Frozen cauliflower usually cooks up softer than fresh cauliflower. However, since it is a topping on our pizza, we still have a firm crust to bite into that more than makes up for it.

We only use rainbow instead of white because it is prettier, to be honest! There is no flavor difference that our taste buds can find between white and rainbow cauliflower. Good substitutes include: frozen white cauliflower, frozen broccoli, fresh cauliflower (white or rainbow), or fresh broccoli. Although spinach is a tasty vegetable to go with white sauce, we have found adding spinach into the sauce and then baking the pizza leads to burnt looking leaves, although the taste is still ok. If you want to use it, we recommend cooking it while the pizza is baking and adding dollops on top of the slices to serve. On the other hand, if fresh arugula can be added right on top of a baked pizza, then we argue so can spinach! 

Italian Blend Cheese: The more cheese the better, right? We like to use Italian Blend for its combination of mozzarella and parmesan cheese. Feel free, however, to replace this with only mozzarella cheese. Or, use the mozzarella and parmesan you have on hand to make a blend yourself. 

Variations: Looking for some meat? Pre-cooked chicken is a great choice for this pizza recipe. Not a veggie person? Get rid of the cauliflower and turn this into a cheese pizza. 

KEY INFORMATION: 

How Do You Make a Good Rising Environment for Your Dough? If it is too cold inside your house, you may find that your dough does not rise as much as you want. To make up for this, we recommend turning your oven to the temperature you will need later for the recipe (425 F / 220 C). Once your dough is ready to rise, set it on top of the (turned-off) stovetop above your oven. The heat will rise and make a nice environment for your dough! 

Why Pre-Bake Pizza Crust? Flip flop. A common term for a shoe that you do not want to be a common term for your pizza. If a pizza crust isn’t strong enough, it falls over when you pick it up and your toppings slide onto your plate. By pre-baking your crust, you are giving it a little strength before you add the wet sauce and heavy toppings on top. Otherwise, you have all of that weight and wetness going onto a still-wet and flimsy piece of dough. 

How to Best Top a Pizza (So the Toppings are Visible): When we first started making pizza, we thought it was simple: sauce, toppings, cheese. Imagine our dismay when our pizzas all looked like cheese pizzas! To have a pretty pizza worthy of a dinner party, we recommend: sauce, 75% of your cheese, the toppings, 25% of your cheese. You’re welcome! 

What Goes with Cauliflower Alfredo Pizza? We’re glad you asked! Besides even more slices of cauliflower alfredo pizza, we recommend the following vegetables: a fresh salad with Italian dressing, roasted asparagus, or sauteed spinach. Looking for protein? In that case, we recommend foil-baked chicken breast or grilled chicken breast. Want something a little fancy? Consider making crostini topped with a little goat cheese and pesto. We even have this Mega-Easy Macadamia Nut Pesto you could use!