Week 52: The Best Pizza

It’s the job that’s never started as takes longest to finish.

J.R.R. Tolkien

The best pizza is the one you make and enjoy today. After a year of reading pizza blogs and books and looking for unique recipes, I can definitively say that the best pizza is the one you make and enjoy eating today. We agonized over choosing the right pizza to end this blog. We thought of making a classic Neapolitan marinara pizza, using only the finest, traditional ingredients.

While we do plan to make that pizza and share it with you soon, the pizza pictured above was the one I created when I walked into my kitchen and surveyed the available ingredients. The best pizza is the one you feel called to make when you get into the kitchen in a creative mood. Today I was craving a vegan mozzarella pizza with mushrooms and carmelized onions so that’s what I made.

During this year of making pizza, I will say that my crust has really improved. The recipe I use has stayed the same, but the crust is now perfectly pillowy and browned. The two tips I can offer are to use warm, but not hot water and not to add too much flour. There can be a tendency to want to add more flour when the dough is sticky, but you want it a bit sticky, so you must resist.

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Carmelized onions are a delicacy I had rarely tried before this year. They are simple to make, but they take patience. They are good to make when you plan to be in the kitchen for an hour and have an extra onion and a free burner on your stove. They are not absolutely necessary, but the caramelized flavor adds an extra something to pizza. You can make them a day or two ahead and store them covered in the fridge.

Caramelized Onions

1. Cut the ends off one onion, throw away the peel, and slice your onion lengthwise.
2. Heat a generous glug of olive oil in a frying pan on the stove. Add onion slices and stir to coat.
3. Stir occasionally, adding a dash of salt after about 3 minute of frying.
4. Continue to stir occasionally until the onions brown, about 45 minutes.

Yes, it really takes that long for the onions to fully caramelize (sometimes longer!). Do stir them occasionally, but do not over stir or they will not brown properly. You can see my batch of caramelized onions in the photo below. They are well browned.

Ingredients

• dough of choice
• handful caramelized onions
• handful vegan mozzarella, shredded
• 1 roma tomato, sliced and lightly salted
• 3 cloves of garlic, smashed
• small amount of onion diced, say 1/10 of a medium size onion
• 6 mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
• 3 stalks of kale, washed, torn or cut, and massaged
• 1/3 green pepper, diced
• salt and pepper
• ground cumin, red pepper flakes
• olive or avocado oil

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Instructions

1. Heat oven to 425° for at least 30 minutes before you bake your pizza.
2. Heat frying pan over medium high heat. Add a glug of oil.
3. Add the small amount of diced onions, stir to coat in oil. Add garlic.
4. Add the mushrooms and cook for 4 minutes, stirring occasionally.
5. Season with salt, pepper, and cumin or any spice mix you prefer.
6. Add the green pepper and kale. Continue cooking another 4 minutes.
7. Remove pan from heat. Roll out your pizza dough.
8. Place tomatoes around your dough.
9. Top with vegan mozzarella and caramelized onions.
10. Top with your veggie mix.
11. Sprinkle with red pepper flakes.
12. Bake for 12-14 minutes.
13. Slice, serve, and enjoy!

We enjoyed making and eating this week’s pizza and sharing all of our vegan pizza love with you during this past crazy year. Though we have officially finished our 52 vegan pizza challenge, we will continue to post occasional bonus pizza recipes when we have something unique to share.

We have a new vegan challenge this year. We are making 52 Vegan Burgers, Burritos, & Bowls. You can follow our new vegan meal challenge for free here. We wish you a year of amazing vegan meals. ❤ ❤