I used to be all about the frozen pizzas. Delissio here, Dr. Oetker there. And then I switched to a vegan diet and BAM. Those pizzas were a no-no for me. Which is a good thing anyway, considering how high they are in salt, sugar and other crap your body doesn’t need.
So, I started making my own pizzas at home. Okay, so, my husband is usually the one that makes them, but I always assist with toppings, so that counts.
I love that I can experiment with different flours, different sauces and different toppings, and still come out with a tasty, healthy pizza (usually). This is one of them!
Even though everyone on the planet seems to be able to, I can’t make a circular pizza to save my life, so I made them rectangular. The pizza still tastes the same, so who cares, right?
- For the crust
- 3/4 cup warm water (not hot, not cold)
- 1 3/4 cup flour (I used 1 cup whole wheat, 3/4 cup kamut)
- 2 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
- 1/2 tbsp brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- For the sauce
- 2 large garlic cloves
- 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1/3 cup pine nuts (I’ve also used cashews or almonds)
- 4 cups fresh basil leaves
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- For the toppings
- Whatever your heart desires! (I used zucchini, yellow pepper, kalamata olives and tomatoes)
- Dissolve yeast and sugar in water and allow to rest for 10 minutes.
- Pre-heat oven to 500F.
- Add flour and salt to the yeast and sugar. Mix until combined.
- Turn dough onto a floured surface and knead for 3-4 minutes.
- Press dough into a large circle and place it on a lightly greased pizza pan (or sprinkle some cornmeal on a [url href=”http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B002RC4X0C/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=15121&creative=390961&creativeASIN=B002RC4X0C&linkCode=as2&tag=mrsjan0b-20″ target=”_blank”]wooden pizza wheel[/url] (to later slide onto a pizza stone in the oven).
- Add all sauce ingredients to a food processor or high-powered blender and process/blend until smooth.
- Spread the sauce on the pizza crust, add your toppings, and bake in the pre-heated oven for about 10 minutes, or until the edges have lightly browned and the middle of the pizza is cooked all the way through.
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