Plant Based Pizza

Ingredients

• 1 recipe whole wheat pizza dough (recipe follows)
• 1 15 oz can crushed tomatoes
• 2 tbsp dried oregano
• 2 tbsp dried basil
• 2 tbsp cornmeal
• 1 tbsp crushed red chili flakes
• vegetable stock for sauteing
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1/2 lb crimini mushrooms, stemmed and sliced
• 2 roasted red peppers, thinly slice
• 1/2 small red onion, sliced
• 1 bunch brocoli rabe, ends trimmed, and chopped

For the Dough

• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 1/2 cup warm water
• 1 tbsp dry active yeast
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 cup whole wheat flour
• 3/4 cup cornmeal
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tbsp Italian mix dried herbs
• 1/2 tbsp crushed red pepper flakes

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 475 degrees
2. Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface, sprinkle the cornmeal and 1 tbsp each of the oregano, basil, and chili flake. Roll the crust as thin or thick as you like. I’m a thin crust fan personally, so I get it really thin, about an eighth of an inch. Transfer the crust to a piece of parchment paper.
3. Heat a little vegetable stock in a saute pan, add garlic and mushrooms. Cook until mushrooms release most of their liquid and it evaporates, then add the broccoli rabe and cook until wilted, about 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and remove mixture from heat.
4. Stir remaining tablespoon of oregano, basil, and red pepper flake into the crushed tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper.
5. Spread tomato sauce onto pizza dough. (The size of your crust is will determine how much sauce you need, but for a thin crust I usually use about half of a cup of sauce.)
6. Top the pizza with the mushroom-broccoli rabe mixture, sliced red peppers and red onions, and spray lightly with cooking spray.
7. It can be a little tricky transfering the topped pizza to the oven. I usually slide the pizza–still on the parchment paper–onto a large cutting board, and then slide it from the cutting board into the oven.
8. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes. Again this will depend on how thick your crust is, the thicker the crust the longer the bake time.
9. When finished cooking, slide pizza back onto cutting board. Slice and serve.

Whole Wheat Pizza Dough

1. Dissolve sugar in warm water, sprinkle yeast over top, and let stand about 10 minutes, until foamy.
2. Stir in salt and flours, mix until dough just starts to come together.
3. Turn dough out on to surface sprinkled with the cornmeal and knead until all the cornmeal has been absorbed and dough is smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes.
4. Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl and allow to rise one hour
5. When dough is doubled in size, tip it out onto a floured surface and divide into two pieces. Form into tight balls, cover lightly with plastic wrap, and let rise about 45 minutes.
6. Roll out dough, top and bake at 475 degrees for about 12 to 15 minutes.