First of all, Friday’s theme was inspired mostly by the Aquabats’ song, Pizza Day. Here is a link to it on youtube. It’s a fun song, and it is indeed the best day of the week.

This pizza is really delicious, that’s all I can say. Although I cannot really tell the crust is actually pretzel crust as I had intended it to be, it is the yummiest, easiest to make, and most bread-like type of crust I’ve ever made for a pizza. It’s now my main crust I go to any time I want to make pizza.

Recipe for Pretzel Crust Faux Pepperoni Pizza with Caramelized Onions and Basil Tofu Ricotta

Ingredients:

For the dough:

• 1 1/2 cups lukewarm water
• 1 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast (1 package)
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 teaspoons salt
• 1 cup bread flour
• 2 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour

For the caramelized onions:

• 1 large sized sweet onion, chopped into ring slices
• 1 tbsp olive oil or Earth Balance
• 1 tsp brown sugar

For the ricotta:

• 1/2 cup basil
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/4 – 3/4 tsp salt depending on your tastes
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1/4 tsp onion powder
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1 block extra firm tofu
• 2 tbsp water

For the pizza:

• 1/4-1/2 cup marinara sauce
• 10-15 slices prepared vegan pepperoni 

Directions for the dough:

1. Mix yeast with lukewarm water in large mixing bowl until the yeast is dissolved.
2. Add to the yeast mixture the sugar and salt and stir until dissolved; add flours and stir with a spoon until combined.
3. Knead dough until it is smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. 
4. Let rise in the bowl with a towel covering it for 30 minutes.
5. Prepare the rest of the pizza ingredients while rising. If you need more time after the thirty minutes rising time to keep preparing the pizza ingredients, you can place the dough in a plastic bag after it has risen in the fridge until ready to use.

Directions for the onions:

1. Heat the oil or Earth Balance on medium high heat in a large frying/sauté pan with a cover (do not place the cover on top yet).
2. When the oil is heated, add the onions and toss to coat in the oil.
3. Let cook, stirring every so often in a single layer.
4. Once starting to brown turn the heat to a lower temperature. Stir every so often.
5. Add the brown sugar after about 20 minutes of cooking. Be careful because they may start to caramelize fast at this point.
6. You’ll want to cook the onions like this for around 25-30 minutes covered, continuing to stir occasionally but not frequently.

Directions for the ricotta:

1. Place everything but the tofu and water into a food processor and pulse until combined and pasty like a pesto.
2. Add tofu and pulse until combined.
3. Add the water.
4. Scrape down the sides with a spatula to get everything further combined, and pulse again. Repeat this step as necessary.

To assemble the pizza:

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
2. Roll out the pretzel pizza dough into a thin circle, with extra flour on the surface.
3. Place on a round pizza pan, or other type of pan if you don’t have a pizza pan.
4. Spread the sauce on the pizza first.
5. Add the desired amount of ricotta onto the crust. You don’t want to use the whole batch. About 1/2 cup of it is a good amount, but you can do what you like/think will be good. Spread it around with a rubber spatula on top of the sauce.
6. Spread the caramelized onions on top evenly.
7. Add the pepperoni slices.
8. Bake for 10-12 minutes or more if needed.

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