Vegan Mofo: Homemade Pizza

There is something really great about being able to control your own pizza destiny. Once you have an excellent dough recipe and an excellent sauce, its like, the world is your oyster pizza! If you have some vegan cheese lying around you can toss that on, or whip up some tofu ricotta from Vegan With a Vengeance. Or you can make it all healthy green stuff, safe in the knowledge that it still won't be *too* healthy. You could throw on tempeh bacon, caramelized onions, pineapple, corn (like they do in Europe) or any other crazy thing and its still going to be awesome!

For this edition of pizza roulette, I topped my little monster with shallots, brocoli, spinach, mushrooms and, the real kicker: soy curls drenched in BBQ sauce. It was kind of like that BBQ chicken pizza that was such a hit back in the nineties. Except way better because it was vegan homemade!

I know you guys can search through my pages yourself, but let me just hook you up with the no-fail dough and sauce recipes I use and save you the trouble in case you are in the mood for some pizza yourself.

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  Pizza Crust
-1 packet yeast
-1 and 1/3 cup warm water
-1 tsp. salt
-1 T. agave (or honey or sugar, if you swing that way)
-Approx. 3.5 cups flour (for use a mix of white and whole wheat flour)
-2 T. olive oil, plus extra for the bowl

1.) In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast into the water and let it sit for 5-10 minutes.
2.) Add in the rest of the ingredients and blend together, kneading for 10 minutes, or until relatively smooth. At this point you can add in a bit more flour if its too sticky. (Nice to have an assistant on hand for that, since your hands will be covered in dough.)
3.) Form dough into a ball and place into a bowl that has been coated in oil. Set in a warm corner, covered by a damp cloth and leave it alone for an hour or so. (Pro-tip: My friend SMP let me in on a secret to quicker rising- just put your dough bowl into an oven along with a pot of freshly boiled water. The steamy oven will guarantee good a rise.)
4.) After time has passed, punch down the dough and divide into two balls. Leave one in the bowl and take the other one out, rolling out on a floured surface to your desired thinness and leaving some width on the sides for the crust. Transfer to pizza pan/ stone/ cookie sheet or just a rack.
5.) Top with toppings and bake in a 400 degree oven for 10-15 minutes.
6.) Repeat with the other ball, or freeze/refrigerate for later use as pizza, breadsticks, or calzones.

 Easy Tomato Sauce
2 14 oz cans Diced/ Crushed Tomatoes
1 small onion, diced.
3-4 cloves garlic, peeled and diced
1 tbsp EVOO
1/2 tsp. balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp basil
1/2 tbsp brown sugar
salt and pepper to taste

1.) Cook the onion in oil over medium-low heat for 4-5 minutes. Then add in garlic and cook a few minutes longer. Add dash balsamic to deglaze. Then add in the rest of the ingredients. Raise the heat to medium, cover, and cook for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Taste and adjust spices, then, using immersion blender, blend until smooth.

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