I want pizza with my face on it.
Jennifer Lawrence
I’ve been eating a lot of heavy foods around the holidays and find that in the winter I want a heartier dish that still has lots of veggies (and not too many calories). This veggie supreme pizza hits the mark. The spelt crust is healthier than white flour and has a mildly sweet flavor that compliments the veggies.
One of the toppings I really wanted to try this year is eggplant. I’ve only cooked an eggplant once and it did not come out well. I read many conflicting blogs about how to best cook eggplants and in the end, the one I bought did not work out. Darn! It’s late in the year and eggplants are a summer crop, so I will try again next year.
You can use any veggies you have on hand. We love the combination of cherry tomatoes, white button mushrooms, and green peppers. Onions and garlic are a must for us. You can make this pizza with or without a red sauce base and with or without vegan mozzarella or another favorite cheese. We went “with/with” and included both a jarred red sauce and Violife vegan mozzarella. It made a super delicious and hearty lunch for 2.
Ingredients
- handful button mushrooms, thinly sliced
- handful cherry tomatoes, cut in half and lightly salted
- 1/2 green pepper, diced
- small amount of diced onion (see photo above- the onion I used is diced to the left)
- 2-3 garlic cloves, smashed
- glug olive oil
- salt and pepper
- nutritional yeast (optional to sprinkle on at the end)
- handful vegan mozzarella shredded
- few spoonfuls red marinara sauce (you can easily make your own from a can of diced tomatoes, salt, and dried oregano)
- dough of choice–my spelt crust recipe is below
Instructions
- Heat oven to 425°. If using a pizza stone or steel, put it in the oven now.
- Heat frying pan over medium-high heat. Add glug of olive oil.
- Add onions, stir to coat. Fry for 2 minutes, stirring frequently so the onions don’t burn.
- Add garlic and mushrooms. Cook for about 6 minutes, until mushrooms brown.
- Remove from heat.
- Roll out your dough.
- I used 3 large spoonfuls of marinara sauce. The amount you use it up to you, but keep in mind, less sauce is less chance of a soggy crust.
- Sprinkle on handful of vegan mozzarella.
- Layer with mushroom and onion mix.
- Add tomatoes and green peppers around the pizza so each bite has a mix of veggies.
- Sprinkle with dusting of nutritional yeast.
- Bake 12-15 minutes. Slice, serve, and enjoy!
Spelt Crust Ingredients
This makes 1 large pizza that is a filling meal for 2 people.
- 1 cup warm tap water
- 1 packet active dry yeast
- 1 teaspoon coconut sugar or agave or honey
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 2 cups spelt flour
- 1/2 cup semolina flour
Spelt Crust Instructions
- Pour yeast packet into a large bowl. If using granulated sugar, add it now.
- Run the tap water for a minute until it gets warm. Measure 1 cup of water. If using honey or agave, dissolve it in the water.
- Pour water over yeast and stir gently. Wait 3-5 minutes until the yeast blooms.
- Add salt and olive oil.
- Add semolina flour and 1.5 cups of the spelt flour. Stir to incorporate.
- Mix in the rest of the spelt flour as needed for the dough to come together.
- Knead for about 3 minutes. (yep, just 3 minutes!)
- Bring dough together into a ball and place in a lightly oiled bowl. Cover with a damp tea towel and let rest for at least 30 minutes in a warm place. (In the summer, I put mine near a sunny window. In the winter, I put it in the microwave to keep it at a consistent temperature.)
- When ready to use, dump dough out of bowl onto a piece of parchment. For extra crunch, dust the parchment with gomasio and a sprinkling of semolina flour.
- Shape into a pizza round by hand or be a barbarian like me and roll it out with a rolling pin between two sheets of parchment paper. This works, so don’t knock it until you master hand tossing your pizzas in the air.
We hope you enjoy this week’s pizza. If you have a fav pizza recipe, let us know @52veganpizzas
52 Vegan Pizzas 