[Friday May 25th 2012 blog]
Vegan day 146: Vegan homemade pizza
Vegan pizza from scratch... well practically! We did start this with a packaged gluten-free pizza crust mix, however now I think I can handle it with just some special flours and flax meal. I like trying gluten-free products whenever I can! I’m happy to help move the gluten-free movement on even though, luckily, I do not have any allergies. With genetically engineered foods soon to be taking over the world’s food production, I’m sure more and more people will find they are susceptible to allergies they never had or never even knew existed. I don’t eat white flour.. it’s one of my cardinal rules.. so I love to try different flours and gluten-free fits right in! I found this in the gluten-free isle at the White Plains ShopRite: “NAMASTE” Pizza Crust Mix
If I ever made homemade pizza before, and we are not counting college level dormitory pizza bagels, then I must have been a little kid and I certainly don’t remember how! I did need help to accomplish this task especially since I had a house full of teenagers for memorial weekend- the pressure was on to make vegan food fun and delicious! I copied the ingredients here from the Namaste site which are used in their packaged gluten-free pizza crust mix.. Next time I will attempt my own crust using many of those items and some flax meal.
“Ingredients: Brown rice flour, tapioca flour, arrowroot flour, xanthan gum, granulated garlic, cream of tartar, salt, baking soda, Italian seasoning and ascorbic acid. “
“This product contains no wheat, gluten, soy, corn, potato, dairy, casein, peanuts or tree nuts. Non-GMO, all natural, no preservatives”
Just for the record, this ShopRite also has a candy free isle for check out- how cool is that… unless you are a kid or a candy feen like myself!
So we made the crust from the mix in the box- I think all we had to do was add oil and water and knead the dough. My nephew did that part! When that was ready, we set it into a long rectangular baking dish and a coated cookie sheet pan. We baked the crust for about 15 minutes before the toppings and about 15 with the toppings. (Check the label to be sure!)
The sauce! I sautéed some olive oil, garlic and a little bit of onion in a sauce pan. I added in fresh tomatoes that I pulsed in a food processor first. We added in fresh basil and oregano! I added half a can of tomato paste- the small one just to thicken up the sauce. This was complete and ready after about 30 minutes.
While the sauce was cooking, we set up two pans of vegetables. Of course kids all want something different so I couldn’t combine it all. One likes mushrooms and not zucchini and another likes zucchini but not mushrooms.. and most didn’t want tofu even though they didn’t know what it would look like or taste like on a pizza. My tray had everything and for the record.. mine looked and tasted the BEST!
Toppings:
The mushrooms were set aside in a pot with some olive oil, tamari and garlic. We used portabella and sliced them thin enough to use as a topping. The zucchini was also cut into slices in a small pan with olive oil and some tomato sauce. The tofu I used was firm- I dried it and crumbled it into a pan with a little tomato sauce. I simmered it a bit to dried up any excess water.
Assembly time:
The sauce went right on top of the partially baked crust- actually it was almost all baked and ready. Then we added the toppings- everything on one pizza and the other had sections for the picky kids! 15 minutes later is was ready to eat. What took hours to make was gone in seconds.. of course!
Ingredients:
Pizza crust mix
Olive oil
Water
Tomatoes
Tomato paste- small can
Basil
Oregano
Portabella mushrooms
Zucchini
Tofu firm or extra firm
Disclaimer: The information given here is for educational purposes only. You should not use this to diagnose or treat a health problem or disease without consulting with a qualified health care provider.
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