Whole Wheat Pizza Crust

When I was still a vegetarian, before my vegan venturing began, pizza was one of my all time favorite foods.  Seriously, my number one choice.  What is more delicious than the combination of crispy crust, tart tomato, and gooey cheese when hunger strikes?  As I've said before, pizza was the hardest food for me to give up when I went vegan.  Cheese cravings are intense and I now know this is because we are chemically addicted to cheese.  As addicted as morphine addicts are to morphine and for good reason, our brain uses the same receptor sites to respond to cheese as it does to opiates.  This dairy crack is probably why in my first few months of being vegan, I'd dream about breaking into pizza shops and eating all the pizza! 

 

Pizza is definitely high on my list of must have foods and thanks to the vegan food gods, we vegans have been blessed with delicious and healthy pizza.  We Seattleites have had the good fortune of having a local, vegan pizza parlor called Pizza Pi which is where I tasted these perfect pies:

 

Hard to believe they are vegan, right?  We loved their pizza so much that we ordered four pizzas!  And of course, we snapped a shot while we waited for our pizza.

 

If you ever happen to visit Seattle, the Pizza Pi is a great place to eat.  We had so much fun checking out the University District which also has a huge farmers market.  Eventually, the day got away from us and we had to head back to the ferry and back to our little island.  But just before we boarded to the ferry back to Bainbridge, we saw this beautiful sunset.

 

 

Well, one taste is never enough and my venture into Pizza Pi inspired me to make some of my own pizza.  This post will be the first of many more pizza posts to come.  I hope this becomes a staple for you as it has for me.  Making your own pizza is easier than you think!  Just give it a try and enjoy the fun of making pizza any which way you want.  For a delicious pesto pizza, check out my recipe for  Perfect Pesto!

 

Whole Wheat Pizza Crust

 

Ingredients:

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 package active dry yeast or instant yeast

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup hot water

1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 Tablespoon sugar (I used raw coconut nectar)

 

Prep:

Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees F

 

Directions:

1.  In a small bowl, add the water to the yeast.  Gently stir with a wooden spoon.  Add the sugar and gently stir.  Allow the yeast to dissolve.  This will take about 5 minutes.  You know the yeast is active when bubbles rise to the surface.

2. In a large mixing bowl, add the flour, salt, and olive oil.  Then slowly add in the activated yeast.  Stir until well mixed.

3.  Cover and let raise for 1 hour or until mixture has doubled in size.

4.  Remove dough from bowl and transfer to a greased 12 to 14 inch pizza pan.  Press the dough to cover the pan.

5.  Add toppings and bake for 15 to 20 minutes.

 

Pictured is the pizza I  made.  My toppings are, tomato sauce, olive, artichoke, mushroom, spinach, onion, sun dried tomato, and Daiya mozzarella.  It turned out beautifully. 

 

 

I hope this pizza crust recipe works as well for you as it did for me.  Once you try it, you'll be amazed how easy and simple it is to make pizza at home.  If you happen to have a helper like I did:

 

then it makes the process even more fun!  What kitchen fun is complete without a selfie pic while the pizza bakes?  That's me cooking up a storm on Friday night in :)

 

I hope you enjoyed this recipe and post.  If you did, please feel free to share this recipe with your friends and family or anyone else who you think might enjoy some plant based grubbin'.  If you want to follow me, then you can check me out on facebook.  Thank you for reading this post!  Happy Pizza Making!