Meatless Monday – Vegan Pizza

Happy Thanksgiving week!

The week of good food (and probable over-eating) is here!

Enjoy & Celebrate!

Before we get there though, and before your hours of following recipes, creating divine dishes and “wow”ing your company begin, you may want to have a “low-key” Meatless Monday.

So, I declare this Meatless Monday – Vegan Pizza Night!

Super simple and super tasty.

Are you ready?

Let’s start with an easy to make pizza crust.

Ingredients:

• Olive oil
• 1 cup warm water
• 1 (1/4 ounce) packet active dry yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
• pinch of sugar
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (plus more as needed)
  (you can also use 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, and 1 cup whole wheat flour)
• 1/4 cup ground flax seed (optional)

1. Lightly oil a medium bowl and set aside.
2. In a separate medium bowl, combine the warm water and yeast and stir until the yeast is dissolved.
3. Add the salt, sugar, flour and flax (if you’re using flax) and mix just long enough to form a soft dough. Add small amounts of flour if dough is too sticky but be careful to not overmix.
4. Transfer the dough into the oiled bowl, turning the dough in the bowl until it is coated with oil. Cover the bowl with plastic or a clean kitchen towel.
5. Let the dough rise in a warm spot until double in size – about 1 hour.

After this hour, you’re almost ready to decorate your pie, but first, flatten the risen dough slightly and set it aside to relax for another 10 minutes while you prepare your toppings.

Prepare your toppings:
The options are truly endless from simple tomato sauce topped with shredded vegan cheese to using tofu and nutritional yeast (1 cup firm tofu drained, 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast, salt and pepper to taste combined in a food processor then sprinkled on crust) in place of vegan cheese or topping with a vegan pesto or maybe even some roasted veggies.

(p.s. pizza doesn’t always need to have “cheese” on it to be yummy!)

For mine, I topped the crust with a little tomato sauce, then I cooked some chopped onion in a little oil until translucent, added slices of Tofurky Italian sausage and a bit of crushed garlic to the pan heating through. I then placed all of this on top of the sauce, finally adding some slices of fresh garden tomatoes and soy cheese shreds to complete my pie.

Ready to “decorate” your pizza?

First, turn the relaxed dough onto a lightly floured surface and flatten with your hands turning and flouring if necessary until it’s approximately 12 inches round. Transfer the dough to a pizza pan, stone or baking sheet.

Add your toppings, sprinkling and piling them on high, making a beautiful pie.

Bake until the crust is golden brown, approximately 12 minutes. My crust ended up a bit thicker so it took more like 20 minutes of baking time. I would suggest, keeping your eye on your pie while it’s cooking, leaving it in the oven until the crust is just the way you like it.

Enjoy!