Pizza time!

Pizza. What can you say about pizza? It's delicious, comfort food that is really acceptable to eat anytime of the day! You can make it savory, as is traditionally more well known, or sweet, as in a dessert pizza! It can be topped with the rather classic red sauce, cheese and a few vegetables - or spiced up with pesto instead of red sauce, or peanut sauce for a "Thai style" or BBQ sauce... You can throw pretty much whatever vegetable, meat, dairy or sauce you really want to throw on it and it will probably taste good! (within reason hehe)

The point is that pizza is one of my favorite meals to eat and since I have dietary restrictions I like to make it myself, at home, so I know what went into it! I have my own "quick crust" recipe that I love because it doesn't require any prep for it, lots of traditional pizza crusts require a long proofing period before you make your pizza; this one requires non and you can go from ingredients to pizza on your plate in under an hour! The crust is soft and delicious, my hubby and I love the way it comes out.

Some form of pizza has existed for a very long time, even since Neolithic times (approx. 10500BC-4500BC) evidence of flat breads with toppings have been found in early societies like the ancient Greeks, Sardinians and Persians among others. It wasn't until the 16th century in Naples that a flatbread food was referred to as a "pizza."  Interesting, eh? I thought so!

So back to my recipe...

I will note that the best way, that I have found, to bake this is on a pizza stone. If you do not have one you can certainly use a cookie sheet as well. I like to put a bit of parchment paper down and sprinkle a little cornmeal on the paper to prevent the dough sticking during the baking process.

In the recipe I call for all-purpose flour, but I have also used half white and half wheat and even 100% wheat flour and it still turns out delicious. The 100% wheat often turns out a bit denser, so if you want wheat maybe do 50/50.

Quick Pizza Dough Recipe

1 packet of instant yeast (approx. 2-1/4 tsp)

1 cup of warm water

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp sugar

1/4 tsp salt

2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Sprinkle of cornmeal

Set your oven to 425F. Pour a packet of yeast into a large mixing bowl, or kitchenaide mixer, add the water, sugar and oil and allow to rest a few minutes. Add the flour and salt and mix until it is all combined. Now knead the dough, if the dough feels too sticky add a little extra flour. I knead it about 30 times. After it feels nice and soft and not sticky allow it to rest for 5 minutes. 

Prep your baking sheet or pizza stone. On a baking sheet I would use parchment paper sprinkled with cornmeal. On the pizza stone just sprinkle with cornmeal.  

Now roll your dough out to the size of the pan you are using. This recipe will make about one large pizza pie. The more you roll it out the thinner the crust will be. 

Add your toppings. I like to put red sauce and then tons of veggies. If I can get my hands on good soy-free cheese or a good goats cheddar (as goat cheese has much less lactose in it, and cheddar is an aged cheese so it has almost no lactose in it, it is a good choice for those who are sensitive to lactose.)

Bake your pizza for 17-20 minutes. Slice and enjoy!

The picture above is the most recent pie I have made, I decided to go cheese-free as my digestion has been a bit off lately, but I put some yummy red sauce, red and green pepper slices, mushrooms, onions, green olives and then I sauteed up diced eggplant which made for a delicious and completely vegan pizza!