Veggie Pizza with Tofu Ricotta

 You already know I'm a fan of pizza. All kinds of pizza. I've constantly been on the hunt for a better crust recipe and I think I've finally been able to settle on one. The best part? It only requires 30 minutes to rise rather than the HOURS that many other homemade crust recipes called for. I'm all about that now.

You'll see that this pizza was actually a combination of three recipes: pizza crust, veggie pizza and tofu ricotta. The best part? Three different sources. Let's get to the pizza!

First the dough. I scoured Allrecipes and finally decided on Pizza Dough III.

Pizza Dough III
from All Recipes

Ingredients:
1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
1 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
2 cups bread flour (I used all purpose)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons white sugar

Preparation:
In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
In a large bowl, combine 2 cups bread flour, olive oil, salt, white sugar and the yeast mixture; stir well to combine. Beat well until a stiff dough has formed. Cover and rise until doubled in volume, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Turn dough out onto a well floured surface. Form dough into a round and roll out into a pizza crust shape. Cover with your favorite sauce and toppings and bake in preheated oven until golden brown, about 20 minutes.

Tine's Notes: What I love about making your own crust is that you can flavor it yourself. I added 1 tsp of basil leaves and 1 1/2 tsp of oregano. Those are the flecks in my dough

So I wanted pizza and had no tomatoes or sauce in sight. And I wasn't going to the grocery store. I googled alternatives to pizza sauce and found this Tofu Basil Ricotta recipe. I adapted it for what I had on hand and I have to say, I am totally doing this from now on.

Tofu Ricotta

adapted from Food.com

Ingredients:

1/2 package firm tofu, drained and pressed

1 tbsp lemon juice (about 1/2 lemon)

2 tsp olive oil

1 tsp garlic salt

black pepper, to taste

Preparation:

Crumble tofu in a small bowl until consistency is of ricotta cheese. Add lemon juice, oil and salt. Add black pepper to taste. Mix well. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

Tine's Notes: The original recipe called for basil leaves, garlic and nutritional yeast. I already had seasoned my dough so I decided not to add anything else. I didn't have nutritional yeast available either. I used the entire serving to top my pizza dough. Turns out, I should have pressed my tofu a little more as it was just a tad runny.

I have made vegetable pizza before, but with some different vegetables. And finally the actually toppings for my veggie pizza: celery, bell pepper, red bell pepper, onion, broccoli, mushrooms and spinach. I also did a sprinkling of Italian cheese blend. I added the spinach about 8 minutes before I took the pizza out of the oven. You want them to be just wilted.

What I love the most is that homemade pizzas are never drowning in oil thus my stomach does not get upset at me. And I definitely don't feel guilty for indulging in this veggie goodness.