Vegan "Green" Pizzas

Adapted from the Engine2 Diet Cookbook

Makes 2 pizzas

INGREDIENTS:

1 recipe Kelley's Best Bread Machine Pizza Crust (found on this blog)
1 jar pasta sauce
8 ounces frozen spinach, thawed, rinsed and excess water squeezed out
½ cup fresh whole basil leaves
2 green bell peppers, diced
2 cups broccoli florets (the smaller the better)
½ cup sliced mushrooms
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup finely ground raw cashews


INSTRUCTIONS:

Prepare the pizza crusts according to the other recipe mentioned above; this should take 1 hour in a bread machine.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Generously spread sauce on the crusts, and layer each pizza with 1/2 remaining ingredients, starting with the basil and spinach on the bottom.

Top with cashews.

Bake (parchment and all) 15 minutes on a baking steel (from bakingsteel.com) or on on a pizza stone, rotating 1/2 way through.

Kelley's Best Bread Machine Pizza Crust

Makes 2 medium pizza crusts...enough to serve four adults.

1 cup lukewarm water.
1 package rapid rise yeast (2 1/4 tsp bread machine yeast will also work)
2-3 Tbs white sugar or honey
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
1-2 tbs olive oil, plus more to grease parchment paper

Place water, yeast and sugar/honey in bread machine and stir lightly; allow to sit for 3 minutes, so the yeast can get started. Add flour, salt, and olive oil. Set-up the machine for "dough" and press "start." The cycle time should take about 1 hour.

When the cycle is finished, lay out two generous pieces of parchment paper (18" wide).  Drizzle about 1 Tbs olive oil on each piece, and use your hands to spread out into a large disk, about 16" wide.

With your hands still lightly oiled, remove the finished dough from the bread maker and place on one piece of the parchment paper.  Using scissors, cut the dough into two even pieces (do not cut through the parchment).  Lightly shape each piece into a round disk, and place one half each piece of parchment.

Let the dough rest for 2-3 minutes, so it can relax...then begin shaping with lightly oiled fingers.  Bounce your fingers on the dough, pressing it outwards in an even circle.  When the dough starts to pull back and won't easily stretch further, stop and allow it to rest for another 2-4 minute (this lets the gluen relax), then begin to press it again.  I usually have to stop and let it relax twice before I can get it stretched out into a thin, approximately 14" round circle.  If you notice any holes or areas that become too thin, simply pinch the dough back together.

Immediately add desired toppings and then use a pizza peel or rimless baking sheet to transfer pizza (parchment and all) to your heated baking steel (or stone; I personally prefer to use a baking steel - bakingsteel.com - as I feel it delivers superior results).

Notes about baking times/temps:

If I have a lot of "raw" veggies that need to cook (like broccoli) on top of the pizza, I generally prefer a lower oven temperature (425 degrees) and will bake the pizza 13-15 minutes, rotating the pizza half way through.

If the pizza toppings are not thick or are somewhat pre-cooked, I typically prefer to bake my pizza at 475 for 9-11 minutes; the higher temperature produces a darker, crispier crust!

Your ideal oven temperature may vary from mine, the best way to determine the best temperature will be to experiment...you may be able to take your oven to 500 without any problem, or 500 may be too hot.  I would suggest starting at 450 and adjusting as needed from there.