Homemade Vegetarian Pizza

 I wanted to start my Veggie Sundays for the Ocean with the the most versatile dish of all, pizza. I also wanted to share what I think is the easiest quickest way to make it from scratch, so you are ready if your kid come hungry from school. 

I found Jeff and Zoe's method to be very practical, so this is kind of a variation on their method. Check out their Books and website with more recipes, themes and better pictures.

The main idea is to quickly make a dough that can refrigerated for weeks, and made into a pizza in a matter of minutes. The original dough recipe calls for

• 1 Kg of all-purpose flour. We like this from Thrive, but any would do.
• 800 ml of lukewarm water (should feel warm but not hot), about 35 to 37 C
• 20 grams of salt (about one tablespoon)
• 10 grams of granulated yeast

Note that sometimes, especially if I am not making dough very frequently, I use single package yeast, and I change the proportion consequently. For example, the very common (in US) packet below is 7 grams, so I just multiply everything by 0.7

You also need a container to make a ferment the dough. I use a stainless steel pot, but anything with a non airtight cover would work. Using the proportions above you will need a 4-5 liter container.

First you need to mix water, salt, and yeast, then add the flour. 

Then, you mix everything with a wooden spoon (first picture below) until all the dough is moist. When there are no dry parts (second picture) you are done, no need to kneading. Cover and waint until the dough stops rising (about 2 hours). When it looks like in the last picture below you can put it in the fridge and use it wheneve you need within two weeks.

When you are ready to cook, preheat the oven and prepare the toppings. Precise settings really depend on the oven, but in general you need 200 C for 11 to 12 minutes. A pizza stone, preheated with the ove, will give better results. As for the toppings, in the example below we have cheese, tomato sauce, and vegetables roasted in the same oven with salt and olive oil (zucchini and onions). 

When all is ready, pick up a piece of the dough from the fridge. An orange to grapefruit size ball (about 200 to 250 g) will make a small one person pizza. Sprinkle with flour or use parchment paper to prevent sticking and work the ball to a flatbread disc for a a minute, then put in the oven.