I’m
a firm believer that if you can’t find what you want, try making your own. I’m
also lover of all things pizza.
Each
pie is incredibly customizable to your own taste preferences and they come in a
wide range of sizes and shapes, whether it is a small circle or a large
rectangle. The crust can be thing and crispy, New York style or even made from
raw ingredients and eaten totally fresh.
Tonight,
deep dish pizza pie is stealing the spotlight for this blog post. This pie comes complete with a
hearty, almost buttery crust, layers of sauce, creamy and garlicky tofu basil
ricotta and enough toppings to perhaps make even the Greeks a little jealous
that they didn’t create this doughy wonder kid of Italian origins.
These
pies were also cooked in a large cast iron skillet, making for the “icing on
the cake” so to say. (More like the “toppings on the pie.”) This dough is thick
and rises nicely in the skillet, forming the hearty crust that I am talking
about. I also use Fleischmann's RapidRise
Yeast, which significantly reduces the amount of time that the dough needs to
rise before it’s ready to be rolled out.
I
made enough dough and prepped my toppings for two pies, but we only needed one
at last Thursday’s single gals get-together. Instead of freezing the extra
dough, I cooked up another pizza last night and have enough leftovers to cover
dinner for the next few days.
I
started out my first Greek-themed pizza pie with the dough rolled out and
fitted in the cast iron skillet, then spread out enough marinara sauce to cover
it, added tomato slices and slivers of sun dried tomatoes. Next came the Greek
Kalamata olives, mushroom slices and a layer of tofu basil ricotta. I topped the whole thing off
with chopped organic baby spinach and a sprinkle of Italian herbs and garlic
& herb seasoning.
While
reading through many, many websites with directions on how to bake in a cast
iron skillet, I found that several of the sites suggest that you heat up the
whole pizza in the skillet over a burner for a few minutes before sticking it
in the oven to bake. This usually works on my gas range, but the bottom of the
pizza got slightly burned when I used a different stovetop on Thursday night.
Trial and error is all part of cooking though. The pizza was plenty to feed
four hungry women and there was still a small piece left in the skillet. My
friends were nice and didn’t make me feel too bad that I had slightly burned
our dinner. They were also all very excited and enthusiastic to try a vegan
version of pizza!
Last
night I pretty much made the same version of pizza with the toppings having a
delicious Greek theme, except I added fresh pieces of broccoli and gardein
chick’n to the mix. Gardein chick’n products taste so similar to the actual
thing that it always catches me off guard a little bit. The broccoli added a fresh
flavor alongside the baby spinach an Gardein chick’n on top of the pizza. The
nutritional yeast that is called for in The Post Punk Kitchen’s tofu basil
ricotta recipe also helps to capture that cheezy flavor that you want when you
bite into a slice of pizza. The extra firm tofu holds up well in the oven, the
chopped fresh basil is simply magnificent for the taste buds and the fresh
garlic ties everything together when greeted with Italian herbs and the sun
dried tomatoes and olives. Like I said, the Greeks may even be a little
jealous, maybe of your dinner too. The tofu basil ricotta recipe that I used is
also available in “Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook,” by Isa
Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero. If you don’t already own a copy of
this cookbook, run out and buy one immediately. It is packed with tons of
delicious and creative recipes that will knock your socks off.
I
came up with the dough recipe for this deep dish pie after a few trials and
errors in the kitchen over the past six months and this one works the best. The
cook time is usually about 17 minutes in a hot oven preheated to 450°F degrees, but last night
the crust took a few more minutes than usual to get that nice brown and
slightly crispy look to it that I like. If your pie is taking longer, simply
take it out of the oven using oven mitts (remember than the skillet handle will
be HOT!) and gently lift up an edge of the crust with a spatula to check how
much the bottom of the pizza has browned. Another three to five minutes back in
the oven usually does the trick.
Pizza dough recipe:
(This
recipe makes enough for two 12” pizzas. You can cut the recipe in half if you
only want to make enough dough for one pizza.)
Ingredients
- 2 packets of Fleischmann's RapidRise Yeast
- 1 tablespoon agave nectar, or sugar if you don’t
have agave nectar on hand
- 1 3/4 to 2 cups very warm water (120 to 130°F)
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
- 5 1/2 to 6 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (I use the Wheat
Montana brand and it always works very well, just an FYI for all you folks out
west.)
- a few sprinkles of sea salt
- 4 tablespoons Earth Balance Organic Coconut Spread, or other
vegan butter substitute, slightly softened, plus more to oil the cast iron
skillet
**optional**
-a sprinkle of garlic powder
-a sprinkle of Italian herbs or oregano
Directions
• Preheat oven to 450°F.
• Combine all the dry ingredients including flour, cornmeal,
undissolved yeast and salt in a large bowl. This is where you want to add in a
sprinkle of garlic powder and Italian herbs too if you want to. It adds more
flavor to the crust.
• Add the very warm water and agave nectar and mix
slightly. Next add in the oil and mix until blended. Finally add in the
softened Earth Balance Organic Coconut Spread and mix the dough very well,
breaking up any chunks of the coconut spread or butter substitute that are in
the mixture.
• Add more flour gradually if the dough seems too
sticky. The dough should form a ball and will be slightly sticky and elastic.
• Cover the dough with a paper towel dampened with very
warm water or a clean kitchen cloth and let it sit for a minimum of 10 minutes.
• Remove the dough from the mixing bowl and knead on
a floured surface, adding additional flour if necessary, until the dough is
smooth and elastic.
• Roll the dough out enough to fit the shape of the
cast iron skillet and then transfer the dough from the floured surface to a
well-oiled skillet, making sure that it goes around and slightly up the edges
of the skillet. Poke the sides and bottom of the dough with a fork in a few
places before adding the marinara sauce and toppings.
** I also spray the skillet with nonstick cooking
spray to make sure that nothing sticks to the bottom while the pizza is baking.
Toppings:
-
sun dried tomatoes (Try to find the kind that are
in a sealed bag, not the kind that are packed in oil.)
- 1 small can of sliced mushrooms
- 1 small can of sliced mushrooms
-
Kalamata olives, sliced into small chunks
- 1 ripe tomato, cut into thin pieces and then cut
the pieces in half again
- about 2 cups of baby spinach, chopped
- 1 recipe tofu basil ricotta (Again, I used the
recipe from The PPK.)
- about 1 cup of marinara or pizza sauce of your
choice
- more Italian herbs and/or garlic and herb
seasoning to sprinkle over your toppings
On the second pizza I used:
- Gardein brand chick’n pieces
- about 3/4 cup fresh broccoli, with the stems
trimmed and the broccoli cut up into small pieces
One pie will serve six to eight people.
Preparation:
- Spread the marinara sauce to cover the base of
the pizza dough in the cast iron skillet.
- Next, add the slices of fresh tomato and the sun
dried tomato chunks and kalamata olives. Top those toppings with an even layer
of tofu basil ricotta and then top that with the baby spinach. Add the broccoli
and Gardein chick’n pieces if you want to and sprinkle some Italian herbs and
garlic & herb seasoning on top of everything if you want to before baking.
Layering on the toppings helps lend to that
traditional Chicago-style of deep dish pizza and helps everything cook evenly.
- Place the cast iron skillet over a large burner
and heat on medium-high for about three to four minutes.
- Using oven mitts, transfer the cast iron skillet
to the preheated oven and bake for approximately 17 minutes. Check on the pizza
after about 13 minutes to make sure nothing is browning too quickly or burning.
If the pizza doesn’t look done after that time, add on about three to four
minutes to the cook time and you will know the pizza is done once everything is
nicely browned.
- Again using oven mitts, remove the skillet from
the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes. Cut the pizza into slices and
enjoy!
Deep dish delicious!
If that’s not amore, then I don’t know what is.
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