Pizza Pizzazz

I LOVE pizza night! I’ve experimented with all sorts of pizza bases, from Lebanese bread to polenta pizza crust to commercial wholemeal crusts. With a 5 kg bag of organic wholemeal spelt flour in the fridge, I decided it was time to try a spelt pizza crust. I followed the pizza crust recipe in my Thermomix recipe book, with some minor substitutions.

Ingredients:

Pizza bases

140 g/ml plant milk (I used oat milk)
140 g/ml lukewarm water
1 sachet dry yeast
20 g tahini
500 g wholemeal flour (I used spelt flour)

Spreads

Tomato spread – mix tomato paste with dried basil, oregano and garlic granules

Kale pesto

Toppings

Sweet potato slices – peel and cook in sandwich press until tender, or bake in 200°C oven for 10-15 minutes, then flip and bake for another 10 minutes
Mushrooms, thinly sliced
Red capsicum, thinly sliced
Broccoli, cut into florets and sautéed in a non-stick pan until just tender
Pitted olives, thinly sliced
Water-packed artichoke hearts, thinly sliced
Sun-dried tomatoes, thinly sliced
Baby spinach
Savoury yeast flakes/nutritional yeast

Method:

Thermomix method

Place water, plant milk, tahini and yeast into the Thermomix bowl. Mix for 5 seconds on speed 3.

Add flour. Mix for another 6 seconds on speed 8.

Set dial to closed lid position, and knead for 2 minutes on interval speed.

Regular method

Combine water, plant milk, tahini and yeast in a large bowl. Stir in flour. Knead for 5 minutes or until dough is smooth and elastic.

Both methods

Transfer the risen dough to a floured bowl and leave in a warm place for 30 minutes or until dough has doubled in bulk.

Break dough into four equal sized balls and allow to rest for 15 minutes. Roll into pizza shapes and bake at 200°C for 10 minutes. Add toppings and bake for another 5-10 minutes or until toppings are completely warmed through. Spinach burns rapidly, so add it after 5 minutes of cooking.

Our favourite combos:

• Pesto
• Sweet potato
• Mushroom
• Capsicum
• Artichokes
• Olives
• Spinach
• Nutritional yeast

• Tomato spread
• Broccoli
• Mushroom
• Sun-dried tomatoes
• Olives
• Spinach
• Nutritional yeast

• Tomato spread
• Sweet potato
• Mushroom
• Capsicum
• Olives
• Sun-dried tomatoes
• Spinach
• Nutritional yeast

• Kale pesto
• Mushroom
• Sweet potato
• Capsicum
• Sun-dried tomatoes
• Olives
• Artichokes