Recipe - Homemade Vegan Pizza

Today is Saturday, and we had a garage sale to get rid of some of our junk collecting dust in our basement and garage. Which means I didn't get to venture to my Farmer's Market, oh well. I do still have some awesome produce in my fridge from last week. I guess this is why buying local is so beneficial. All the produce is picked that morning of or the night before the market, when fruits and veggies are at their best and they last longer. Instead of a week before, so produce continues to ripen on the truck or boat its shipped in. Not to mention the smaller carbon footprint, and of course, supporting our local farmers.

As I mention in my previous post, I picked up some incredible vegan "cheese". So I decided to make homemade pizza for dinner. Yes, even the crust is made from scratch! :) (Recipe is below.) I topped the pizza with lots of vegetables, fresh basil from my herb garden, tomato sauce and TONS of "cheese"!

Pizza Toppings: Tomato Sauce, Red Peppers, Portabella and Button Mushrooms, Spinach,
Ishtar Zucchini, Basil Leaves and Mozzarella and Cheddar "Cheese" 

I cooked the pizza on a regular metal cookie sheet, since I have yet to find the "perfect" pizza stone for my kitchen collection. I also cooked the pizza on the rack one higher then the middle because I don't like the crust to crispy, but that's personal preference. :)

The finished product. :) So yummy!

Trust me, this pizza was so easy to make. The only wait time is for the dough to rise, then it's super fast to get dinner on the table.

Happy Cooking!
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Pizza Crust

• Ingredients: 
• 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1 1/2 cups warm water 
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tsp Italian seasoning
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/4 cup oat bran
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• some cornmeal to season your pan

Directions: 

1. In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast and sugar in the water, and let sit for 10 minutes.
2. Stir the salt, Italian seasoning, garlic powder and oil into the yeast solution. Mix in oat bran and 2 1/2 cups of the flour.
3. Turn dough out onto a clean, well floured surface, and knead in more flour until the dough is no longer sticky. Place the dough into a well oiled bowl, and cover with a cloth. Let the dough rise for about an hour, dough should be twice its size. Punch down the dough, and form a tight ball. Allow the dough to relax for a minute before rolling out.
4. Preheat oven to 425 F. If you are baking the dough on a pizza stone, put your toppings on the dough, and bake immediately. If you are baking your pizza on a pizza pan, lightly oil the pan and dust with a little cornmeal, then bake the crust with no toppings in preheated oven for about 10 mins. Remove the crust and put the toppings on your pizza, then your pizza will not be soggy in the middle. 
5. Put dressed pizza in oven again, until the cheese and crust are golden brown, about 10 to 15 minutes.