Cauliflower Cheesy Bread -- Delight or Disappointment?

jbirdgreen

My husband says he is craving cheesy bread, and I was going to make some from scratch (he's not counting calories, and I can make it work within mine for today).

I Pinterest, so I keep thinking about those cauliflower cheese sticks. Less carbs and more nutrition from veggies would make me feel a little less guilty about the whole undertaking. Before I buy the ingredients, has anybody tried to make these before? Do they successfully satisfy a cheese stick craving, or are they a disappointing abomination? Ya know, like vegetarian bacon?*

If you love 'em, what recipe do you use?

*Vegetarian for 17 years; if anybody can say that with honesty, it's me. The fake chicken is foolproof, but we have not mastered the art of the faux fatback.

Chef_Barbell

Nasty to me. I like cauliflower as cauliflower not disguised as a sad attempt for delicious food.

jbirdgreen

See -- this is why I asked. Cauliflower simply roasted is the best to me. Riced it is ok, but it smells like feet.

kikicooks

I have done the cauliflower pizza crust and mashed 'potatoes', which I just call mashed cauliflower. I actually really like both but don't consider them anything like potatoes or bread, just a meal option with cauliflower.

catmomfat

Have you had the sweet earth Veggie bacon!! It's sooo good.

catmomfat

cauliflower tater tots are nasty. and I love cauilflower

jennybearlv

I think making cauliflower breads for anyone not on a low-carb diet is grounds for divorce.

jbirdgreen

@catmomfat

I have actually! I think it tastes pretty good, but it's still not bacon. Bacon as I remember it had this texture that no seitan/tofu/bean substitute can replicate thus far: It's crisp and melts in your mouth at the same time. They can get the salty, smoky part down -- but not the texture.

I made this lentil/brown rice fakin that was pretty good, but it was more crunchy than crisp.

jbirdgreen

kikicooks wrote: »

I have done the cauliflower pizza crust and mashed 'potatoes', which I just call mashed cauliflower. I actually really like both but don't consider them anything like potatoes or bread, just a meal option with cauliflower.

That's what I was thinking. I probably wouldn't mind, but DH would be disappointed for sure.

amusedmonkey

Make the bread. The cauliflower ones may or may not be something you'd enjoy, but they're certainly not bread and expecting them to taste like it would be silly. It wouldn't be fair to your husband.

I made cauliflower "alfredo" sauce 2 days ago, and it tasted like a dream with roasted garlic and such! So creamy and the cauliflower smell is not noticable, but it's not alfredo and I wasn't expecting it to taste like it, I just wanted something creamy on my pasta and I can't have dairy right now.

jbirdgreen

jennybearlv wrote: »

I think making cauliflower breads for anyone not on a low-carb diet is grounds for divorce.

HA! Real cheesy bread it is.

jbirdgreen

amusedmonkey wrote: »

Make the bread. The cauliflower ones may or may not be something you'd enjoy, but they're certainly not bread and expecting them to taste like it would be silly. It wouldn't be fair to your husband.

I made cauliflower "alfredo" sauce 2 days ago, and it tasted like a dream with roasted garlic and such! So creamy and the cauliflower smell is not noticable, but it's not alfredo and I wasn't expecting it to taste like it, I just wanted something creamy on my pasta and I can't have dairy right now.

That alfredo sauce sounds good! Recipe? Have you tried making cashew cream? I've had good mac n cheese made with it, but I haven't attempted it myself. Nuts are too expensive for trial and error.

amusedmonkey

I haven't tried making cashew cream, but I'm practically living on cashew milk right now.

As for the recipe:
I can't have oil, so I had to get creative and roasted a head of garlic wrapped individually in foil.
Boiled the cauliflower in salted water with an onion cut in half and 2 bay leaves until it was fork tender, basically overcooked it a bit and the onion was soft too.
With a slotted spoon, I transferred the cauliflower and onion to the mixer, added a cup of homemade cashew milk and about half a cup of the cauliflower water, salt, pepper, lemon juice and my favorite spice mix. Kept blending until it was very creamy, adding more of the cauliflower broth until it reached my desired consistency. It takes more salt than you would expect and I don't know if it would work with store bought cashew milk. The cashews is what gives it the creaminess.

Here are the ingredients:

It's pretty flexible too. My mom had it with barley and it looked like risotto. She loved it. Today she added some water to it and had it as a soup.

jbirdgreen

Thanks @amusedmonkey

lightenup2016

I "hid" cauliflower purée in a zucchini bread. It was not good. I love cauliflower raw, roasted, sautéed, etc, but in bread...no.

TheRoadDog

I've tried several recipes for Cauliflower substitutions. Some are better than others. Found the best ones are rolled out on Parchment Paper, real thin, so they have a cracker consistency. My wife asks me to make it about every other week.

JenSD6

I recently tried a recipe for cauliflower cheesy bread, and I really enjoyed it for what it was... gooey, cheesy cauliflower dipped in pizza sauce. I'd definitely make it again.

Francl27

Probably tasty as long as you're not expecting bread, lol. I love cauliflower tots and mashed cauliflower too but it's definitely not comparable to tater tots or mashed potatoes.

extra_medium

Francl27 wrote: »

Probably tasty as long as you're not expecting bread, lol. I love cauliflower tots and mashed cauliflower too but it's definitely not comparable to tater tots or mashed potatoes.

Exactly, people get caught up with the name of the recipes and expect direct replacements rather than just alternatives.

VintageFeline

The best combination for cauliflower and cheese is cauliflower with cheese sauce over it.

But cheesy bread needs to be cheesy bread, even if I'm not sure your cheesy bread is the same as my cheesy bread, many things get lost in translation around here!

DietPrada

http://ifoodreal.com/cauliflower-breadsticks-recipe/ if this is the sort of thing you're talking about - they're actually awesome. I wouldn't say they taste like bread - but I don't eat bread (low carb) so I'm not bothered by that. They are well worth making though.