Pizza with Red Pepper, Broccoli, Zucchini, And Portabella Mushrooms on a Whole Wheat Herb Crust
Vegetable Pizza
It is possible to make a totally low fat pizza. If the crust is good, you hardly need a cheeze substitute. However, i offer one if you want it. You might want to mix in some crumbled tofu to make it even cheezier.
Almost any veggie combination is good for pizza. For this one, i choose something green (broccoli), plus red peppers, zucchini (which after all is an Italian vegetable, at least in name), and onions (in this case portabella), and mushrooms. In my vegetarian days, we usually ordered a mushroom and black olive pizza.
I sliced my veggies to make them look pretty, but they are easier to eat if they are chopped. I sautéed the mushrooms and onions for about 4 minutes in ¼ c. water, then added the rest all at the same time and cooked another about 4 minutes. You definitely don’t want your veggies soggy, and they will cook more in the oven. In fact, you don’t need to put them in the oven, but i like the browned taste, especially without sauce on top.
A few olives make this pizza festive. They dry in the oven, so put them on just 5 minutes before you take the pizza out of the oven, just to warm them.
The tomato sauce is here, but cooked a little longer to make it thicker. And yes, i put mushrooms both in the sauce and on top of the pizza. But you don’t need to. I usually make more tomato sauce for a recipe than i need and freeze some. It takes no noticeably longer amount of time to do this, and then you have homemade (cheap) tomato sauce ready to go. If you have tomato sauce made for pasta, you can cook it about 45 minutes longer when you take it out of the freezer, or a little longer if it is still frozen when you start. Stir it frequently at the end, when the sauce starts getting as thick as you want.
I tried a slice of pizza without the tomato sauce, which you may know by now is not my most favorite food. I liked it quite a bit.
Yeast-free Pizza Crust
Makes 4 large servings
Preparation about 15 minutes
Can be made ahead
Freezes well
3 c. whole wheat pastry flour
1 t. baking powder
6 t. mixed dried or ¼ c. fresh Italian herbs (sage, oregano, marjoram, basil, and/or thyme)
½ t. salt (optional)
1 T. Ener-G egg replacer or other egg replacer such as ground flax seed to equal 2 eggs
1 c. vegan milk
2 – 8 T. water
Preheat the oven to 425°. It is important to have it hot when you put the pizza dough in. Line a large baking sheet (or two for a thinner crust) with parchment paper.
Mix the dry ingredients together. I just mix the egg replacer in with the flour, but you get a slightly different consistency if you mix the egg replacer with 2 T. of the water until frothy, and add with the wet ingredients.
Add the milk, and stir. Add a little more water at a time until the dough can be gathered into a ball and is not too sticky.
Roll out on a lightly floured board. I have just patted the dough onto the pan, but i like the smoother surface of the rolled dough.
Bake 10 minutes until lightly browned around the edges. You can poke the center with a toothpick to be sure it is not doughy.
At this point, you can add the topping(s) and eat, or bake now or later for about 20 minutes, also at 425°.
Pizza is to my mind also good cold or room temperature.
I also use this dough to make a vegetable pie with a creamy sauce for Frodo and Bilbo’s Birthday September 22nd.
A salad with an Italian vinegary dressing goes well with pizza.
Adapted from La Dolce Vegan by the cook whose recipes most closely resemble my own combinations of flavors, Sarah Kramer.