heartyspoonful: dinner

Poor Woman's Easy Vegan Pizza

"I think of dieting, then I eat pizza."

- Lara Stone

Do you want to know a secret? I actually adore pizza. I used to endure tummy pain just to enjoy slice after slice of cheesy pizza. Funnily enough, all I wanted as toppings were pizza sauce, cheese and green pepper. I would remove everything else. My brother has always been a die-hard fan of Hawaiian pizza with lots of pineapple chunks. Since my parents never liked his temper tantrums, we were stuck eating that pizza, which I didn't particularly enjoy. But, hey, pizza is pizza. Right? Or not.

Maybe you're the type who like all the toppings imaginable. Maybe, you prefer simplicity, like pizza margherita. Perhaps you prefer it New York style. Or Chicago with a deeper crust. You might even be the type, who likes the crust with hot dogs folded in. Shame on you. You might even say cauliflower pizza is pizza so I'll just go to the left. (Sorry, guys, but as much as I like cauliflower, that's just not a dough.) But however you like your pizza, I think it's a good idea to know how to make it homemade. You know, for days when you feel like you need an arm workout. Or when you're too anxious to make that call for delivery. Or if you're feeling healthy and want to know all ingredients that go into your meal. Or if you're vegan and a vegan pizza delivery simply doesn't exist in your city. Whatever your reason, it's time to learn to make easy pizza dough.

I may be a feisty little lady, but I ran away, scared to the bone, when a recipe calls for dough. You don't see me baking pie, do you? Bread? I only bake bread when I have expert hands helping me out. I made pizza from scratch with my dad whenever he visited, but to be honest, he did all the work. I also don't like working with yeast. I don't mind the kneading, but what I do mind is the smell of yeast. Just what even! I'm also a very impatient in the kitchen so if I have to leave anything to rise, I don't even both starting the recipe.

This is where this easy-peasy pizza dough recipe comes in. Not because I didn't have much in my pantry. (I didn't. I barely had enough flour to be honest.) It's for anyone who still isn't very comfortable with handling dough or who's rather impatient to wait for dough to rise. This recipe is perfect to practice on, in my opinion. It makes 1 dough = 1 pie so if you do screw up (I promise you won't), you won't feel too bad wasting half the flour you have available to you. No funky smell in here. I might add, I mention below that it should make 6-8 slices, but it's really up to you. It could be 8 slices or 6 slices or 4 slices or 2 slices. Heck, you can eat the whole pizza. No big deal.

Also, I'm calling this recipe "poor woman's" pizza because at the time of baking, my fridge was almost empty. I had a small container of mushroom, one green bell pepper, leftover tomato sauce, some frozen corn, a few carrots, strawberries and tapioca pudding. Maybe if you're a kitchen genius, you could make do of all of those items, but I'm a simple vegan girl so I kept this recipe as bare as possible. But you have all the right in the world to go crazy.

Ready?

All is well with the world.

Poor Woman's Easy Vegan Pizza

Makes 6-8 slices

Ingredients (Dough):

1 1/3 cups wholewheat flour
1 tsp white sugar
1 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
2 tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup lukewarm water

Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly oil a pizza pan with olive oil and set aside.

In a mixing bowl, mix together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.

Add olive oil and water. Mix until a round dough is formed. If the mixture doesn't combine as well as you would like, add more water. Start with a teaspoon at a time and take it from there. Don't be afraid to use your hands.

When ready, on a flat surface like a wooden cutting board, knead your dough until the texture is non-tacky and smooth. It usually takes 10 minutes to fully knead your dough to form into a big ball.

Once you're able to form a round dough, cover the bowl with a cloth and leave to sit for at least 10 minutes. When ready, punch out any air and begin shaping with your hands. Spread dough with your fingers until you're satisfied with the shape.

Using a fork, poke the dough and bake for 5 minutes. Remove from oven and be creative with your toppings.

Place in oven and bake for an additional 15-20 minutes. The time will depend on how thickly or thinly you rolled the dough. Also if your oven is crazy hot.

Topping Choices: