Pizza Pizza!

I'm well aware that I've been slack with the posting (I can rarely begin something without finishing it all in one go so I accidentally read all 10 Southern Vampire Mystery novels in less than two weeks despite the fact that Charlaine Harris writes like an 11-year-old (one with a vivid sexual imagination) and then discovered Generation Kill which I almost watched in one sitting). With only two more days of Vegan MoFo to go I need to get motivated.

Vegan MoFo has been great. We have tried out a lot of new recipes despite the fact that I'm glued to my work most of the day. Geoff has been great: he picks out the recipes, does all the shopping, cleans the kitchen and puts out all of the ingredients and utensils (last night he even marinated eggplant for tonight; I don't even know what we are cooking tonight). He even stirs. All I do is chop and be bossy. So a lot of credit needs to go to Geoff. Without him I wouldn't have done Vegan Mofo.

There are a couple of recipes that he picked out recently that were fantastic but I'll save them so the next few days as Vegan MoFo wraps up.

One of the recipes we do use a lot is pizza dough. I couldn't find vegan pizza bases here in Cambridge that didn't have palm oil in them (and palm oil is very bad!) so I like to make my own.

I've posted about the recipe here before but the recipe was a bit dodgy. So this is my better version.

Pizza Dough

7g sachet dry yeast
1 tsp caster sugar

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup warm water
2 cups plain flour
2 tbsp olive oil

Combine water, yeast, sugar and salt in jug. Whisk to dissolve. Cover with cling wrap and set aside in a warm place for 5 mins or until you see bubbles on the surface. Add oil to the mixture.

Sift flour into a bowl. Add yeast mixture to it. Mix to form a soft dough. At first the dough should look a little too dry but it will eventually start sticking as you mix more. I normally do it with my hands. If you are really sure it is not wet enough just add some water but do it slowly and carefully. Sticking dough is very hard to work with especially after it had risen.

Turn onto lightly floured surface. Knead for 10 minutes until elastic. Place in lightly greased bowl & cover with plastic wrap. Stand in warm place for 25-30 minutes or until dough has doubled size.

Use fist to punch dough down. Knead on lightly floured surface until smooth. Top with whatever you like and bake for 10-15 minutes.

 

The topping on the pizza; ready to go.

Pre-oven. I like to add leeks because they make it taste hearty.
This one has vegan cheese on it but I rarely use it since I don't like the taste.