Pizza, and...More Pizza

Who says a good pizza necessarily involves cheese?

Not me. In fact, even before my vegan days, I always preferred pizzas with more sauce than cheese.

Now, don't get me wrong; I love a pizza with some good old vegan cheeze as much as anyone. But sometimes, cheeze-less is fun too. Over the weekend,  I threw together a couple of of those very specimens--it was a pizza-fest; we ate pizza twice!

The first pizza had tomato base with grilled mushrooms, fresh basil, and mustard mizuna:



This combo was based on a pizza I posted about here, and had been wanting to recreate at home ever since. The mushrooms were a little pricey, but I splurged a little and bought a Chef's Sampler from Mycopia.

The sampler contained these tasty varieties:

Buttons and crimini are great, but they don't begin to compare with any of these. Just upon opening the pack, a robust mushroom scent fills your nostrils. The velvet pioppini were very fragile to touch, but had the most full-bodied flavor. They were my favorite and well worth the splurge.

(For some extra browning action before adding them to the pizza, I grilled the mushrooms under the broiler with a little olive oil, black pepper, and a pinch of garlic powder for 1 - 2 minutes.)

Sauce

Normally, I whip up a quick pizza sauce with pureed tomatoes that doesn't involve pre-cooking. This time, I made a cooked version, which added extra flavor and fragrance. The following makes a generous cup/enough for liberally saucing one 14-inch pizza:

2 large garlic cloves, sliced thin

1 large tomato, chopped

red chili flakes to taste

oregano to taste

1.5 cups strained San Marzano tomatoes, or whatever kind you want

olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Saute the garlic and chili flakes over medium-low until garlic begins to become fragrant, toss in chopped tomato and oregano, continue to saute for another ~ 5 minutes until the tomato starts to break down. Add the strained tomatoes, salt and pepper to taste and allow to simmer for another 15 - 20 minutes. You can allow it to cool before putting it on the pizza.



Pizza II
The second pizza feast involved spinach-walnut pesto, thinly sliced red potatoes, red onions, and chili flakes topped with fresh walnuts and rosemary:



The key to success in getting the potatoes to cook through in the same time it takes a thin crust pizza to cook is to slice the the tatoes very thin (as with a mandolin) and then soak them in warm, salty water for an hour or two before putting them on the pizza. In this way, the potatoes become softer and cook up more quickly.

If the potatoes are nice and thin and the pesto is rich and tasty, this pizza is not "too starchy" in the least...though it may sound like it would be.  This is the kind of pizza you take in your hands, fold in half, and eat like a sandwich:

Spinach-Walnut Pesto
(makes about 1 cup)

Blend in food processor:

2 cups fresh spinach, rinsed
handful of fresh basil ~ 1/2 cup ( or more to taste...I would have used a little more, but that's all I had)
1/2 cup raw walnuts (or other nut of choice)
1 garlic clove
1/4 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice (optional)
1 generous tablespoon nutritional yeast
olive oil, water or veggie broth to bring up to desired consistency

The Dough
Last week, I found some Tipo "00" (zero zero) pizza flour in the store, which is what put pizza in my head in the first place. I had never used it before, so it was kind of exciting. This is a soft, finely milled flour containing very little gluten that is traditionally used in Neapolitan-style pizzas. From what I understand, a Neapolitan pizza crust should be made with "00" flour, fresh yeast (not the granules) and fired in a wood oven...Well, I got one out of three.

When elaborated according pizza-purist guidelines, a "pizza napoletana" crust is meant to have a soft edge with a very thin layer of crunch. I seriously doubt mine would be up to snuff for the pizza police, but it did come out with a nice crispy finish.

Here were the rough measurements I used for this dough:

~ 4 cups flour

1 1/3 cup water

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon sugar

2  1/2 teaspoons yeast
cornmeal or semolina for dusting pizza pan

I always use a wooden spoon for making bread--not sure whether it make a difference, it's just the way I was taught--: Dissolve the yeast in 1/3 cup of the water, warmed to just above body temperature, it should feel quite warm to the touch but not hot. Stir in the sugar and allow to sit for 10 minutes or until you can see the yeast reacting and foam develops on the top.

Toss about half the flour in a large bowl, add the salt, then pour in the yeast/water mixture and the remaining cup of water. Stir it up into a shaggy mass. Add in more flour in 1/4 - 1/2 cup increments until you can bring the dough up into a ball and it is no longer sticky.

Turn dough out onto a floured board, and knead the dough for a a few minutes, adding in more flour as you go to take up any stickiness. With plain white pizza dough, I usually don't bother kneading for more than 2 or 3 minutes, but it's up yourself.The end result should be an elastic texture that is not at all sticky.

Form a dough ball and place it in a lightly greased bowl (w/ olive oil) brush the top of the dough with a very light coating of olive oil, place bowl in a warm place and cover with a cloth or some plastic wrap. Allow dough to rise until it's doubled in size.

At this point, you can punch the dough down and let it rise again, or shape it onto your cornmeal dusted pizza pan, add your ingredients and bake. This makes roughly enough for two *thin* 14-inch pizzas.