Stuffed Crust Pizza

Our first meal together was a stuffed crust pizza, warm, creamy and simply melty goodness! Our  cerimonial "last meal" as non vegans was a stuffed crust pizza and since then it's been something we dream about...until now!

Vegan Stuffed Crust Pizza

Dough

4 cups flour

2 1/4 teaspoons rapid-rise yeast

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 3/4 cups warm water

Pulse four, yeast, and salt in food processor fitted with a dough blade. With processor running pour the oil in then the water through the feed tube until a rough ball forms. 30-40 seconds. Let dough rest for 2 min then process for 30 seconds longer.

Turn dough out into a lightly floured counter and kneed by hand to form a smooth round ball. Add flour as needed to keep dough from sticking.

Transfer to lightly oiled bowl to let rise in a warm place for about 1- 1 1/2 hours.

I usually time it so that I have a load of laundry in the dryer and place the blow on the dryer with the laundry room door closed, it's a nice warm place and the dough rises wonderfully.

Cheese for Stuffing the Crust

This is a cheese stick recipe from theveganzombie.com 

I only used half the recipe and changed the seasoning amounts a bit.

If you get a chance check out the website, it's got some really yummy recipes!

1 bag of Daiya mozzerella "cheese"

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon oregano

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper

1-2 tablespoons almond or soy milk

Melt cheese, spices and almond milk in a double boiler, or sauce pan just made sure to keep stirring so it does't burn. Once melted and combined flatten it out in a 8x8 glass pan or a bread pan. Put in fridge to harden for about 1 hour.

When hard carefully take the cheese out of the pan and cut into strips, this is the cheesed that you will use to stuff the crust.

Sauce

2 tablespoons olive oil

2-3 garlic cloves crushed

1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes

In a large skillet or sauce pan heat oil and add garlic let simmer for about 1 1/2 min. Add tomatoes and spices, simmer for 15 min. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Putting Pizza Together

Stretch out dough a little larger that your pan, add cut cheese in a circle around the edge of the dough leaving about an inch or so to fold over and pinch down so the cheese stays in the crust.

Add sauce and what ever toppings you are putting on.

In this pizza we used, vegan italian sausage cut, daiya mozzeralla cheese, olives and green bell pepper.

Heat oven to about 435

cook pizza for 10-12 min, pull off pan and put directly onto rack for another 2-4 min (be careful not to burn bottom)

Pull out, let cool and enjoy the gooey goodness!

We found a yummy vegan ranch dressing perfect for dipping the crust into!

Dip and enjoy!!