Pizza Night Progress!

I continue my quest to create good dairy-free pizza, and last night's endeavors were encouraging to say the least.

Start browning any ground pork or beef early on. Ideally, shanghai someone to assist. If making your own sauce, start it simmering so it can thicken. Also, preheat your oven to 425°F.

I made a fairly basic yeast dough using a recipe (well, more like guidelines...) from @generikat as follows:

• Add 2 rounded teaspoons of yeast and 1 teaspoon of sugar to 1 cup of warm water. Set aside for about 10 minutes.

• Mix 1 teaspoon of salt, 3 tablespoons of olive or vegetable oil, and 2 cups of flour. I experimented with a liberal addition of italian seasoning mix in the crust, too.

• Add yeast water. Mix.

• Knead in about another cup of flour until the dough is nice and stretchy without being sticky.

Scientifically precise terms and measurements? Who needs that!

Let the dough sit while preparing the remaining toppings you have in mind. I used turkey pepperoni, shredded mozzarella substitute, sliced mushrooms, pork pepperoni, and diced red peppers (not pictured). I also found some Newman's Own pizza sauce on sale, but if mixing your own, make sure it has simmered off a fair bit of its water content by now.

I should have sprinkled some flour or cornmeal on the baking stones before spreading out the dough. Oh, well. I don't toss the crust, but I do stretch and pull it into a flat-ish disk of dough before using a roller to press it into the shape of the baling stone. For the rectangular stone, I had extra dough rolling over the sides, so I trimmed it off with a knife and added that to the ball of dough for the round stone.

Adding the pizza sauce comes next. I just spooned several blobs of marinara onto the crusts, spread it around, and added more where it was needed until it looked about right. I didn't use even half of my 24 oz. jar for two very large pizzas. I left a small border along the edge free of sauce so I could roll it up into a thicker crust, but that step is optional. Just don't let the sauce spill everywhere.

I added the browned italian sausage next, and about 1/2 lb. went on each pizza. Then I added Follow Your Heart Dairy Free Mozzarella Shreds cheese substitute. This 8 oz. package was a little less than I would like for this much pizza, but it still worked out. I put mushrooms on the round pizza. Pepperonis and peppers followed. I used turkey pepperoni on the rectangle and real pepperoni on the round pizza.

With the toppings applied, I rolled the crust edges slightly and baked them both for 20 minutes.

End result: tasty dinner and a good supply of future lunches in the fridge and freezer!