Monday, January 18, 2010

Vegan Artichoke Pizza with Cheesy Sauce


DH and I looooooooove pizza. We love it so much that we dedicate every Friday evening to homemade pizza. Since I am a foodsnob slightly picky eater, we challenged ourselves to come up with a new combination of toppings each Friday. This challenge began in September and I can happily report that we have NOT repeated a combination yet.
 There have been mighty triumphs that we cannot wait to try again and some monumental failures that we cannot wait to forget.

Our latest creation was Vegan Artichoke Pizza with Cheesy Sauce. We started with a Whole Wheat Thin Crust Pizza dough (recipe included; adapted from a recipe that an awesome friend passed along to me); used Vegan Alfredo Sauce for the base; and baby spinach, tomatoes, red onion and artichokes for the topping. The recipe that I used for the sauce was okay, but I think I will keep experimenting.

If you try it out, let me know what worked and what didn't for you!


Vegan Artichoke Pizza with Cheesy Sauce



1 jar marinated artichokes, drained and coarsely chopped
1 small red onion, chopped
1 medium tomato, chopped
1/2 cup baby spinach, washed
1/4 cup vegan cheese sauce (I used this recipe, substituting half the water for soy milk, and adding cumin)
sprinkling of oregano
sprinkling of cayenne pepper
1 Whole Wheat Thin Crust Pizza (recipe below) or pizza crust of your choice

Preheat oven to 200 C (390 F). Spread sauce evenly over prepared pizza crust. Add oregano and cayenne pepper, as desired. Place layer of baby spinach, top with artichoke, tomato and  red onion. Bake in oven for 20 minutes or until crust is a golden brown.


Whole Wheat Thin Crust Pizza (makes two crusts)

4 cups whole wheat flour
1 packet dry yeast
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp basil
1 tsp garlic powder
1-1 1/2 cups warm water
2 TBSP Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Combine all dry ingredients in bowl of electric mixer. Using dough hook attachment, set mixer on low, slowly add water until dough forms a soft ball (dough should be slightly sticky). Continue to knead for 10 minutes in mixer.  Pour 1 Tbsp of olive oil over dough and coat all surfaces. Put bowl in warm spot, covered with clean towel for one hour.

After one hour.... remove dough from bowl and place on lightly oiled pizza pan. Cut dough in half. Leave one half on the pan and spread out over pan surface using lightly oiled fingertips. Dough should be 1-1.3 cm thick. Drizzle remaining 1 tbsp Olive Oil over pizza dough surface. Place in preheated oven (200 C) for 10 minutes. DO NOT OVERBAKE! Remove and add toppings as desired.

What to do with the second half of dough:
If you don't need two pizzas then take the extra dough, wrap it tightly in a layer of plastic wrap, THEN a layer of tin foil and place it in the freezer. The dough will store in the freezer for up to 6 months. When you want to use it thaw it in the fridge the night before and then follow baking directions.
***TIP: Put your wrapped dough on the counter 1-2 hours before you intend to bake it. This will make your dough a little easier to work with.


Happy baking!...and eating.
Cheers.
-Laura

17 comments:

Melissa B. said...

Always looking for something new to do in the kitchen. This looks so delish! SITS sent me by, and I'm glad they did...

It's Complicated

Sandra said...

Wow this sounds great, I guess I know what to make for dinner today...Thank you!
and I totaly agree with your idea of blogging. This is also one of my motivations to blog,find joy in every day live.
Mmhh like in a jummy pizza ;)

Marie said...

wow, that sounds really good. I just recently tryed an articoke on pizza and I love. I will have to give this a try. also, i am now a follower. :) keep up the great job.
stopping by from sits.

Serendipity said...

Looks great! I am tempted to try the topping challenge myself - always looking for an excuse to eat more pizza.

Danae Hudson said...

Those pictures look great. Mmmm. I might need to make this...

Stopping by from SITS!

Lori said...

Sounds so yummy! We love to make our own pizzas too. (I don't eat meat....)

My fave is a crust with olive oil on it and then loaded with tomatoes, black beans, red onion and cheese.

Thanks for sharing my SITS day with me...now I want some pizza!

Kimberly said...

Yummy!

Thanks for the follow, and I am following you now.

I love pizza too!

Verena said...

Laura, I just found your blog through Crystal´s blog. :)
The Pizza you made "sounds" and "looks" very delicious! Thanks for sharing the recipe!

Verena

Laura said...

Thanks for all the comments ladies and the follows. Always nice to hear some positive reviews.

Serendipity: if you start the topping challenge be sure to share some of your creations. It can be a little difficult coming up with something some weeks. Good Luck!

Peterson Fam: your pizza toppings sound delish, may have to try that one out!

Verena: Glad you came by. Vielen dank fur die Kommentare (okay, okay...I have not written German in a while ;)

Amanda said...

That looks really yummy. I think I might try that next. I am a vegan and love seeing other vegan recipes. Thanks for sharing!

Hello from SITS!

The Blonde Duck said...

I've always wanted to have a make my-own-pizza night with my husband. But all he wants is cheese--how boring!

Crystal Escobar said...

Yummy, I will have to try that sometime. Thank you for sharing.
Also, thank you for visiting my blog. I love yours, and that is so cool that you lived in Germany for a while. I really miss it. Did you learn to speak the language then?

Crystal Escobar said...

I'm following you now :)

Laura said...

Amanda: Thanks! Always good to know some other vegan bloggers.

Crystal: I learned German while I was there. We were only there a year though, so I was just starting to get the hang of it when we left.

Blonde Duck: I used to only like cheese and pineapple on my pizza...things have definitely changed! Thanks for stopping by.

Andrea said...

That pizza looks great! I have a pizza recipe posted today. I make it for my daughter with soy cheese. I recently made a cheese sauce out of cashews! We put it on pasta and baked it to make mac and cheese.

The recipe is on www.godairyfree.com.

Thanks for stopping off at my blog!

Miss. Ardeth Blood said...

Always looking for new vegan/vegetarian ideas. Can't wait to try this.
Popped in from SITS to say hope you are having a good week.

Lindsay Rudolph said...

The food you make just looks so good, fresh and healthy. I wish I could order a pizza like that from Pizza Hut. I can't wait to try that crust recipe!