It’s PIZZA time!! When craving for pizza hits me, I no longer make a call for a takeout or go to my favorite pizza joint…instead head straight to my kitchen to craft a delicious pizza, high on flavor and strong in nutrition
Weekends my body naturally craves for something comforty and relaxing foods. I think it’s a nice balance to strike by eating healthy wholesome dishes 5 days a week and relax and indulge on the weekends…don’t you think?
It’s easier to get a ready made pizza dough to get started, but once you start making your own dough you will never look back on the store bought. Best part about this is, you know exactly what goes in your dough – just good quality 100% grain flour (no binders, fillers, nitrates, dough conditioners and what not…) you also control the amount of yeast …simple, clean, and nutritious!! Pizza dough is very simple to make no hardcore cooking skills required, what it needs is little bit of planning, that’s all
This dough freezes well for couple of months and when pizza craving hits, just take out the dough and thaw it for 15-20 mins. I love using spelt grain for my pizza dough, this grain has much more deeper flavor and texture compared to our modern wheat. Because of the molecular structure of protein in spelt is more soluble than wheat, it is assimilated more easily in our bodies. According to this
website, spelt does not seem to cause sensitivities in many people who are intolerant of wheat (spelt does contain gluten). You can read more about spelt grain
here.
Add the yeast and sugar in a cup of warm water and let it rise for about 5 mins. In a bowl mix all the dry ingredients together, incorporate olive oil into this dry mixture along with flavorings if used. And then pour the yeast mixture into it and knead the dough. Let the dough rest for about 40 mins tightly covered in a warm place. At this point I like to lightly knead the dough again and rest if for 20 mins more for a nice fluffy crust.
Pre-bake Pizza Dough
Prebake the dough before you put on all of the toppings. I love garlic based pizza crust, spread freshly minced 2-3 cloves of garlic with 3 tsp of olive oil on the rolled out dough. Prick the base all over with a fork for it to bake evenly for about 5 – 8 mins.
Marinara Sauce wt Vegan Cheese (this makes the pizza super yummy!)
I generally make good quantities of marinara sauce and keep it in the fridge, but this time I used Sprouts Marinara Sauce (made with Italian Plum tomatoes!!) which turned out very nice. Spread good amount of sauce thinly and evenly all over the pizza base.
Vegan Cheese (this is my favorite and versatile cheese to use on pizzas and pastas)
- 1 handlful Pumpkin Seeds
- 1/2 handful Sunflower Seeds (you could use walnuts too)
- 1 clove minced Garlic (you could use garlic powder)
- couple of sprigs of Parsley
- 2 tsp Sundried Tomato paste (optional)
- 1 tsp Black Pepper pwd (optional)
- salt to taste
- Water (to thin out the consistency)
You can make this cheese in less than 5 mins! Blend everything together to form a nice paste like consistency that can be easily spread on a pizza base. This cheese is simple and full of flavor with tons of good fatty acids to keep our skin glowing and healthy. You can store this cheese in an airtight glass container stays fresh in fridge for upto 10 days.
Veggie Toppings(use your favorite veggies!)
Add generous portions of your favorite veggie toppings. Keep it simple with 2-3 varieties of veggies but add generous quantities. This time I used baby spinach, green pepper, and red onions. You can never go wrong using spinach in pizzas and for onions – red onions tops my list! That’s it…bake it at 415 degrees for 20 mins.
You can make this extra-gourmet by roasting the veggie toppings in little bit of olive oil infused with oregano and red chilli flakes, before you toss them on the pizza base. Choices, choices…makes life interesting!!
This pizza has become a regular in our house; practically once a week, actually this last week – twice! Give this a try…you’ll begin to appreciate and enjoy healthy nutritious pizza made with two main ingredients LOVE and APPRECIATION for wholesome eating!!Ciao!
