veggie pizza.

 it was memorial day weekend.
it was 95 degrees.
our AC was broken.
seems like the best time to turn the oven to 500 degrees and make pizza right?

clearly i thought it was a genius idea.

i've made pizza before and while our AC was in working condition, but i believe the weather conditions were quite stiflingly as well during that pizzamergency.

this pizza is healthier than the previous pizza.
it has 3 kinds of vegetables.
half a whole wheat crust.
it's meatless.
and practically cheeseless.
(not totally, i mean come on.... its pizza)
still interested?
nelzo needed some arm twisting as well.
just check out the above picture again and read on.

these are the ingredients needed to make a half whole wheat dough.
this was an experiment in the true sense of the word as i've never baked with whole wheat flour before.
i like whole wheat products, multigrain, etc, in fact i don't remember the last time i bought a bread product that was "white bread," so why was i still only baking with white flour?
time to step out of the comfort zone.

 this is the first stage of the dough.
mix 3/4 cup of white flour with 3/4 cup whole wheat flour.
add 1 teaspoon salt and 3/4 teaspoon yeast.
then 1 cup of warm water and 1 tablespoon of oil
the original recipe calls for 1 cup of water but maybe the gluten levels affected things,
so i added 2 more tablespoons of water to get this dough at the right consistency.

the dough also included two stalks of this beyond aromatic parsley finely chopped.

this is the dough after a 2 hour nap.

well the dough snoozed away i prepared my toppings.
i will warn you, this pizza was a bit labor intensive.
none of the labor requires technical skills, but it's all a bit time consuming.

first the tomato sauce.
instead of using jarred i wanted to make my own.
but i didn't want to sweat over a hot stove (literally all day),
so it had to be a raw sauce.
ie. that it wasn't precooked.

start out with these gorgeous tomatoes.
slice in half and drop in your mini prep.
immediately strain in a colander to remove the excess water.
add back to the mini prep with your favorite italian spices, minced garlic and 1 tablespoon of olive oil.

would also make a fine italian-style salsa for brushetta!

next up was a roasted pepper.
i've never made a roasted pepper and the internet gods made it sound easier than pie.
Note: pie is not easy.
start with a bright, bold pepper such as this little man.

turn on a burner. place pepper on burner and rotate.
outside of pepper should be charred black.

let cool completely.
this pepper was more than hot hot hot.
then simply rub darkness off the pepper and chop up.
seriously, so good. i could have just eaten as is.

now take a package of mushrooms.
(clearly unpictured, excellent job on my part)
dump into a baking pan, douse with 2 tablespoons of olive oil
and generous amounts of salt and pepper.
roast at 350 for about 20-25 minutes.

now check out all your toppings.....
they're luscious and beautiful.

spread sauce over thyme-flecked crust.
dust with peppers and mushrooms.
cover in paper-thin slices of parmesan cheese.
strew basil leaves with wild abandonment
and a drizzle of olive oil because i said so.
(like your mom said, not like the lame sauce diane keaton movie where she does the preacher from seventh heaven)

this pic appropriately named 'pizza the hut.'
just sayin.

again, i keep disappearing from the blogosphere.
i'll return within the week.
if you know that quote you get bonus points.
the only person who i bet does who reads this is sarah.