It's #foodfightfriday again but I'm a foodie not a fighter. I'll gently share my post with my dukes down if you don't mind.
Even though I'm vegan doesn't mean I don't want fun food that makes me feel like a sinner against my own standards of eating. Actually I don't feel that bad because I enjoyed every minute of this vegan pizza.
There were many challenges involved with the building of this pizza so it took a bit of time
First challenge which always exists, is that this is not my kitchen and although ma in law says I can use it, she always finds a way to make it uncomfortable. I know she's not driven with extreme intent. All the same it happens.
Yesterday they went to Costco. I have never set foot in a Costco but the sound of the word means I get to run around the kitchen freely for approximately one and a half hours.
The second challenge to making this pizza is that the bottom element of the oven has been on the fritz for three years. Only the upper element works.
Why would I even make my own pizza dough then? How would I bake the pizza?
Well where there's a will there's a way. Also where there's a barbecue there's a way.
The first mission was the dough. I rarely bake anything but I like the satisfaction of seeing dough rise. I never use measurements when I cook but the measurements I give are based on what I see going in and intuition I suppose. After being a slave cook for years on and off, I can pretty much guess a measurement with ninety five percent accuracy.
Keep that in mind if you follow the measurements that I give.
Pizza dough
Approximately
5 cups flour, 2 1/2 cups water, 1 teaspoon instant yeast, 1 tablespoon sugar, 1 teaspoon salt and 2 tablespoons olive oil.
I made the dough and let it sit while I prepared a few things to go on top.
The pizza sauce was not the regular kind you get from the shop. This one was a little different.
Pizza sauce
1/4 cup tomato paste, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon sugar, 1 teaspoon smoked chili powder, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, 3 tablespoons Herb pesto
Tempeh Chorizo
Marinate a brick of cubed tempeh in 1/4 cup water, 1/2 teaspoon thyme, 1/2 teaspoon cumin.1/2 teaspoon black pepper, 1/2 teaspoon oregano, 1/4 teaspoon clove powder, 1/4 teaspoon fennil, 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon. 1 tablespoon brown sugar, 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 tablespoon lime juice 1 tablespoon smoked chili or paprika ( I used a chili called paquin that I found and ground up)
While the tempeh was cooking in a pan outside on the camping stove, we got peppers, mushrooms, onion, tomatoes, and zucchini chopped and on the pizza.
When the tempeh had all the liquid cooked out we put it on the pizza and put the pizza on the grill.
We knew we would have to be careful that the pizza didn't burn on the bottom because the heat is coming from there so we carefully turned the barbecue up and down, off and on.
Mark took over that business while I contemplated under the apple tree.
At the end when the dough was pretty much done, we put it under the grill in the oven. We put that high and low until it was perfect.
The in laws were home during this process sitting out on the patio. I knew they thought it looked good but they would never give in and try anything that I made especially because it's vegan and has no cheese on it.
The odd time when we ordered vegan pizza we would get vegan cheese which I really never thought was necessary so we didn't bother with it.
Who will have the first slice?
"Why do you always catch me with my mouth full?"
I had to console the dog who would have gladly tasted it but he wasn't getting any.
We just couldn't finish the whole thing so we had the rest for a snack later
Have a good weekend foodie friends!