Pizza was my favorite food, in my pre-vegan days (god don’t I sound like a douche?). So Kel & I decided to try to make a vegan version. Our crust was already vegan, and we use our salsa for the sauce. To replace delicious cheese fat, we used avocado cut into thin slices. It’s amazing.

Part of our ‘bad food’ realization was that eating condiments with high fructose corn syrup just makes you want to eat more & more. So we started using our salsa to dip in instead of ranch. It fucking rules. For more on the bad food realization, read The End of Overeating & Skinny Bitch, & watch Sugar: The Bitter Truth, Food, Inc, King Corn, & even Super Size Me.

In conclusion, this pizza is so amazing that I’m pretty certain I can do this vegan thing indefinitely. But I sure hate using the word vegan, because it implies many things that I am not. But the SEO is great & it’s something people sort of understand. Eating this way is about not being biologically manipulated by industrialized ‘big food’. It’s about never having to bargain with myself to eat junk food engineered to make me eat more & more without ever feeling satisfied.

The recipe (written by Kel & lightly edited by me):

Dough (makes 2 medium crusts):
1C all-purpose flour
1C whole wheat flour
1pckg quick-rising yeast
1t salt
1/2t sugar
3/4C hot water
1.5T olive oil

Combine flours, yeast, salt, sugar.

Combine oil with hot water and add to dry mixture slowly ’til it forms a sticky ball. spray sides of bowl with non-stick, and let rest 20mins. split into 2 doughs and roll out with rolling pin, place on greased pizza pan.

Bake 500F or highest setting. We pre-bake our crust for 9mins to make the final product a little more crisp. We also make these in bulk and freeze the extra dough in individual balls.

Salsa (makes maybe 3 cups):
Roast a few pounds tomatoes (cut in half, skins up), jalapeños to taste (we use 4-5, de-seeded), and one peeled head of garlic in the oven at 425F ’til the tomatoes begin to blacken (30 minutes or so). We also add dried red chilis (mostly de-seeded) to this mix; you can really use whatever peppers you want depending on your spice tolerance.

Combine roasted veggies (discard the pan juice for less watery salsa) in blender with:
an onion
juice of one lime
1t salt
2t red wine vinegar
1/2t coriander

Lately we’ve also started adding 2 canned chipotle peppers. Process ’till you get your desired consistency. (You may choose to use less onion, we really like it.)

Pre-bake crust, season with oregano, basil, & crushed red pepper, top with salsa, olives, chopped onion & jalapeno, and bake another 9 minuntes or so.

Avocado tastes best uncooked, so top with sliced avocado just before cutting. Add a side of warm salsa for dipping.

Permalink

| Leave a comment  »