POSITIP

Easy vegan pizza that's even easier to customize with your favorite toppings.

(Serves four, one pizza each)

I saw a recipe (which wasn’t vegan or vegetarian) and decided to make some changes of my own and just go along with my intuition.  I’ve never posted a recipe before, or shared one for that matter, because I tend to just cook on what I feel might work.  If I want to get ideas I look at random recipes and make them my own.

This Vegan Pizza can be customized (in regards to the topping) to your own taste/preference.  I honestly didn’t think I could enjoy a pizza without cheese, but this pizza proved me wrong.  My stomach didn’t feel heavy after eating it and I felt really satisfied without feeling too full.  I think what make it really good (for me) was that last touch of squeezing fresh lemon juice on top, with some flax seed oil (rich in Omega-3 fatty acids… the good fat!) and some paprika and it makes it very juicy.

Vegan Pizza (full list of ingredients at the bottom):

First start on the dough because it takes a while for it to raise, but not to actually make.  I made mine and then went of for a jog to get thinner while it was happily getting bigger.

Dough

1) Put one teaspoon (or one of those individual packs) of active yeast with 1/2 a teaspoon of sugar in a small bowl with just over 1/4 of a cup of lukewarm water.  Let it sit for approximately 15 minutes until it becomes frothy.

2) Sift 3 cups of whole wheat flour in a large bowl and make a hole in the middle… like a volcano! Add the frothy yeast mixture and another 1/2 cup of lukewarm water. (I also added a tablespoon of oregano and a tablespoon of basil to the flour, but I wish I had added more… I’m going to see how that works next time.)  Use your hands to draw in the flour  and work the mixture into a dough.  You can add more water if necessary.  You’ll probably find you’ll have to, but just little by little and make sure the dough isn’t too wet and sticky.

3) Once you’ve made the mixture in the bowl into one big ball of dough, transfer it to a lightly floured flat surface (your kitchen counter, for example).  It’s good to have some space.  Knead the dough until it is soft, smooth and elastic.  Add a few drops of olive oil into the bowl where you made the dough, place the dough back and roll it in the oil.  Get a damp towel, cover the bowl and leave it in a warm place for approximately 1 hour.  The dough will double its size during that time.

You can start making the sauce for the topping meanwhile and just before finishing the work on the dough, heat your oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit (220 Celsius).  Place two baking sheets in the oven while it’s heating.

4) Once the dough has risen, knead it on a lightly floured surface.  Cut/separate it into four equal pieces.  I just rolled it into a long cylindrical shape and cut it in the middle and then cut the two piece in the middle, to get four pieces.  Roll each piece into a ball then flatten it with the weight of your body.  Roll the piece until it is flat.  I rolled each one until it was as thin as it could possibly get without breaking it.  If you like a thicker crust, then you don’t have to roll it out so thin.  I was able to roll it out until it was the size of dinner plate.

5) Light oil the baking sheet (once it’s hot) and place the finished/flat dough on the sheet.  Spread the tomato sauce mix on the dough and add the toppings as indicated below.  Bake for 10-15 minutes.   The ones I made were done in 13 minutes, without getting too dry or burnt.  They bake fast!

Topping

The topping is easy and should only take 5-10 minutes to make.

1) Chop up one onion into fine pieces.  If you want chunky onion pieces in the topping sauce, then cut them into large pieces.  It’s up to you.  Cut up three large cloves of garlic into fine pieces and put them both (the onion and garlic) in a large, heavy skillet on high heat with a couple of tablespoons of olive oil.  Add 1 tablespoon of oregano, 1 tablespoon of basil, 1/2 a teaspoon of pepper, 2 tablespoons of soy sauce (or just some salt if you don’t have soy sauce), and one tablespoon of balsamic vinegar. Frequently mix the ingredients together until the onions look transparent and golden.

2) Turn down the skillet to medium and add 1/2 can (approx. 7oz) of tomato sauce and 1/2 a can of tomato paste.  Mix for less than a minute and turn the skillet to low.  You can leave it cooking so all the ingredients can blend slowly together.  If it gets too dry, add a little more tomato sauce.

So, that above is the sauce you’ll be putting on the dough… now you have to think of what you want to use as a topping.  I used (in the order I put them on):

- Canned sweet corn (a whole can for the four pizzas that come out of this recipe)

- Broccoli (fresh/raw) cut into bite-size pieces

- Spinach (fresh/raw) sliced finely and sprinkled over the broccoli

- 2 Tomatoes, slice and placed on top.

I then sprinkled some basil, pepper, oregano and some garlic (can be fresh or powdered).  Put in oven to bake.

Once the pizzas are baked, do the following:

- Sprinkle some flax seed oil over the pizza, approximately 1 tablespoon.

- Squeeze the juice out of a slice of lemon (1/4 of a lemon… 1 lemon for the 4 pizzas) over the pizza.

- Sprinkle some paprika over the pizza.

- You can add some salt and pepper to taste, and sprinkle some parsley if you want.

Ideas for other toppings:

Want more protein and some extra carbs for energy?  You can get a can of black beans, wash them, put them in a bowl and sprinkle them with a little red wine vinegar, some flaxseed oil and salt and pepper to taste (or whatever other spices you might want to add… cayenne works!)  The flaxseed oil helps keep the beans moist during baking.  You can sprinkle the beans on the pizza.  I actually use this mix on salads.  One of my favorite easy/instant meals.

Sun-dried tomatoes would make it really tasty too, although it’d probably double the cost of the pizza.

Artichokes!

I can’t think of anything else now… but if you have any ideas for toppings or variations of this recipe, I’d love to hear them.

If you do try this recipe, let me know how it went!

—Ingredients—

Dough:

3 cups of whole wheat flour

1 tablespoon of active dried yeast

1/2 tablespoon of sugar

A few drops of olive oil

Topping sauce:

7 oz of tomato sauce

7 oz of tomato paste

1 onion

3 cloves of garlic

1 tablespoon of dried basil flakes

1 tablespoon of dried oregano flakes

1 tablespoon of soy sauce

1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar

1 teaspoon of pepper

Toppings:

One head of brocolli

A handful of spinach

1 can of sweet corn

2 tomatoes

Salt and pepper to taste

A sprinkle of paprika on each pizza

1 Lemon cut in four slices, one slice to be squeezed on each pizza

A few tablespoons of flaxseed oil

A sprinkle of parsley

Lots of love!