Our Perfect Pizza

Unfortunately, dinners that please everyone in our household are becoming a rarity. I am happy with a basic salad or brown rice and veggies most of the time, but I have my two gorgeous little fussy kids to cater for, as well as Peter's mysterious and changeable "allergies" (read: preferences, ha!).

But thankfully, this is one of those rare dinners! 

I have blogged about pizza a few times, fancy pizza and topped with vegan cheese, but this pizza is the reliably delicious and easy one I keep coming back to. 

This is a simple dinner as long as you remember to leave time for the dough to rise - only about an hour or even less. 

This recipe makes two pizzas, plus about four mini chocolate pizzas. Sylvia loves these! They are simply vegan chocolate chips on pizza dough baked in the oven for about 10 minutes. 

Our Perfect Pizza (makes 2 pizzas plus 4 mini chocolate pizzas)

Dough (slightly adapted from the Traditional Pizza Dough in Vegan Planet)
3 tsp instant yeast
1.5 cups warm water
few pinches of sugar
2.5 cups plain flour
1 cup wholemeal flour
1 cup spelt flour
2 tsp salt
2 tbsp olive oil

Topping
Pasta sauce (about half a jar - I use tomato, basil and garlic sauce)
Sliced mushrooms (about 3 cups)
Olives (about half a cup)
Diced capsicum (I used half a red one)
Drizzle of olive oil and salt to taste

Make the dough: Stir the yeast and sugar into half a cup of warm water. Set aside for 5-10 minutes until a bit frothy/bubbly. 

In the meantime, in a large bowl combine the flours and salt. 

Add the oil and the remaining cup of warm water to the yeast mixture and pour all of it into the flour mixture. Stir the liquid in and then knead the dough for a few minutes until smooth and elastic. 

Form the dough into a ball and rub a bit of extra olive oil around it. Put it in a large bowl with a tea towel over it to rise (around 45 minutes to an hour). 

While your dough is rising, prepare the toppings and preheat oven to 210C.

When your dough has risen, punch it down and remove a bit of dough for the mini chocolate pizzas if making. Divide the rest of the dough in two and roll out two pizza bases and place on pizza trays. Spread on the pasta sauce, then the mushrooms, capsicum and olives. The secret is to cover all the dough without overloading it! Drizzle with some olive oil and add a bit of salt to taste.

Cook in the oven for about 15-20 minutes, depending on how well done and crunchy you like your crust.