Whoever said you weren’t supposed to play with your food clearly lived a boring life. You know what I’m sayin’???

I just think that’s a huge part of cooking and being in the kitchen. What’s the fun of following someone else’s idea of rules, you know? I certainly don’t wanna live like that. ;p So I’ve been playing around with this new flour blend that I got to see how it works in different baking situations. It’s gluten free so it’s made from brown rice and some starches to make it act more similar to a wheat flour.

As of yet it’s been working really well but I hadn’t tried making an entire pizza crust with it yet. My curiosity was getting super excited to try it so I just went for it. I’m pleased to say it turned out delicious and, even though it had a slightly different texture from my usual crust it was still delicious.

For the toppings I realized it’s been long past time for me to share a recipe for those who share my affinity for eating plants. I also tend to make all kinds of alternative sauces when I share a pizza so today I wanted to keep the sauce traditional. Okay, so I had the crust covered, the toppings decided, and that just left one thing; cheese.

That’s when I remembered that cheese sauce again and wondered, hmmmm, could it work???? I know I just shared a recipe for nachos using the same sauce but I happened to have a huge amount of it on hand and I couldn’t help myself.

Now, as I titled this recipe, it’s extra saucy but I love it that way. I think it also complements this gluten free crust really well. Even if you’d prefer to use your own favorite crust recipe (which is great) I hope you still get some inspiration from this one. See you soon.

Extra Saucy Veggie Lover's Pizza

Prep Time: 1 hour, 15 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour, 45 minutes
Yield: 1 pizza (6 - 8 servings)

A pizza for all of the dry pizza haters and veggie lovers together. This pizza is made with a homemade "cheese" sauce and it's so good!

Ingredients

Crust:
2 1/2 cups gluten free flour blend
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup lukewarm water
Toppings:
1 cup pizza sauce (I like to look for one that doesn't have any added sugar)
1 cup "cheese" sauce
1 cup portabello mushrooms, sliced
1 cup heirloom cherry tomatoes, cut in half
1/2 cup sliced olives
1/2 large onion, thinly sliced
1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, roughly chopped
1 tablespoon TJ's everything but the bagel seasoning (or preferred seasoning)

Instructions

Crust:
Stir water, salt, and yeast together until yeast is dissolved and allow to sit for about 5 minutes. Pour into a large mixing bowl and add the flour a cup at a time and mix until dough comes together. Turn out onto lightly floured surface and knead for a few minutes, adding a bit more flour until the dough pulls away from the surface. It should be pretty smooth and resilient. Place in large bowl and cover, then place in warm place to rise until doubled in size. (1 -2 hours)
Pizza:
While dough is rising, preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200C). Roll the pizza dough out into a circle that's roughly 1/4 inch thick and dust a pizza pan with flour or corn flour and place crust on pan.
Spread the pizza sauce evenly over the crust then drop spoonfuls of the "cheese" sauce over it as evenly as possible.
Layer on the veggies and bake the pizza for 25 - 30 minutes until the toppings are cooked and the edges are beginning to brown, Remove from oven and enjoy.

ALL CONTENT IS MINE AND ORIGINAL! All of these food photos were taken with my Nikon D750 and my favorite Lens, the Nikon AF-S FX NIKKOR 50mm f/1.8G. You can find out more in my INTRO POST.

And, by the way, to all the minnows out there, my intro post did a huge $0.21. The key to success on Steemit is to be consistent and persistent. Click on the link below for some great tutorials on how you can also succeed on the steem blockchain: