This easy vegan spelt crust pizza with fresh tomato sauce is known as “Fam Fav Pizza” by its creators, Marisa Miller Wolfson and Laura Delhauer, and might also become a family favorite of yours, too!
Excerpted from The Vegucated Family Table by Marisa Miller Wolfson and Laura Delhauer, the authors credit Akua Joy for the crust and sauce recipe for this sublime pizza.
They write: “We met Akua Joy when we attended the first ever Black VegFest in Brooklyn and bought some muffins from her stand. We asked about her favorite family recipes, and she told us about the pizza she makes from scratch using a sauce with tomatoes fresh off the vine and a spelt crust.
Once we tested the recipes, we instantly fell in love with both the Perfect Pizza and Pasta Sauce and the crust. They have become our go-to crust and tomato sauce. You can choose your family’s own adventure with your preferred sauce and toppings, too.
Thanks to our recipe tester Christa Garvey for suggesting a time-saver: doubling the recipe and, after the dough has risen, freezing half for another day. Clever!
One-eighth of this crust has more than 15 percent of the daily iron a one-to-three-year-old needs. It also supplies some protein, fiber, and B vitamins. Toppings like pizza sauce, veggies, and beans will make it even more nutritious.”
Akua Joy adds: “I discovered my simple pasta sauce recipe when I grew tired of purchasing already-made sauces that had more than just tomatoes in them. I wanted something healthier for my family. The first or second time I attempted my sauce, I loved it, and it hasn’t changed since.”
The Vegucated Family Table is available wherever books are sold
Reprinted with permission from The Vegucated Family Table: Irresistible Vegan Recipes and Proven Tips for Feeding Plant-Powered Babies, Toddlers, and Kids by Marisa Miller Wolfson and Laura Delhauer, © 2020. Published by Ten Speed Press, a division of Penguin Random House, Inc.
Do you love homemade vegan pizza? Explore this roundup of creative vegan pizza recipes.
Spelt Crust Pizza with Fresh Tomato Sauce
This easy vegan spelt crust pizza with fresh tomato sauce is known as “Fam Fav Pizza” by its creators, and might also become a family favorite of yours, too!
Ingredients
Perfect Pizza and Pasta Sauce
- 7 or 8 organic tomatoes
- 2 tablespoons grapeseed oil
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 4 or 5 garlic cloves, chopped
- 3 to 4 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- Handful of fresh basil leaves, chopped
- 1 teaspoon pink Himalayan salt or sea salt
- 1⁄4 teaspoon black pepper
Spelt Pizza Crust
- 3 to 4 tablespoons grapeseed oil or olive oil, plus more for greasing pan and bowl
- 1 3/4 cups organic spelt flour, plus more for dusting
- 1/2 cup organic all-purpose flour
- (1/4-ounce) packet active dry yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)
- 1 teaspoon pink Himalayan salt or sea salt
- 2/3 cup very warm water
Toppings
- 1 to 1/2 cups shredded vegan mozzarella
- 1 to 1 1/2 cups of your family’s favorite veggies, steamed or roasted
Instructions
- First, make the sauce. In a food processor, pulse the tomatoes for a few seconds just to coarsely chop them— do not overprocess.
- In a large saucepan, heat the grapeseed oil over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook, stirring, for about 5 minutes.
- Add the tomatoes to the pan and cook, stirring gently, for 2 minutes. Reduce the heat to low, add the nutritional yeast, basil, salt, and pepper, and simmer until the sauce changes to an orange color, 20 to 25 minutes.
- Remove from the heat, blend if you’d like a smooth texture. Let any unused portion cool, then store in airtight container in the fridge for 3 to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
- Preheat the oven to 450°F. Grease a pizza pan or a cookie sheet lightly with the oil (see Note).
- In a large bowl, stir together the spelt flour, all-purpose flour, yeast, sugar, and salt until well blended. Add the 3 tablespoons of oil and mix well. Add the warm water and mix well.
- Lightly dust the counter with flour, then turn the dough out onto the counter and knead until all the ingredients are well incorporated and it looks smooth like dough.
- Lightly oil a large clean bowl. Place the dough in the bowl, cover the bowl with a dish towel, and set aside in a warm place in your kitchen to rise for at least 15 minutes (this is a good time to prepare your toppings).
- Lightly dust the greased pan with flour. Turn the dough out onto the pan and dust lightly with flour as well. Use a rolling pin to evenly roll the dough out to cover the pan.
- Spread your desired sauce evenly on the dough, add favorite veggies and vegan mozzarella, and bake until the crust is golden brown, 15 to 18 minutes. Let cool, then slice into 8 wedges and serve.
Notes
A cookie sheet is the kind of baking sheet without sides. If you only have a rimmed baking sheet, you can flip it over and grease the bottom instead.
More about The Vegucated Family Table
Raise happy plant-powered children with more than 125 family favorite recipes by Vegucated film creator Marisa Miller Wolfson, plant-based chef Laura Delhauer, and 22 parent contributors from the vegan community.
For both vegans and the veg-curious, The Vegucated Family Table answers the question every caregiver ponders on a daily basis: “What should I feed my child?” But this book goes a step further, showing parents how to navigate the early years of childhood as a vegan, giving not only recipes and nutritional advice but also tips for holidays, packed lunches, play dates, and more.
Unlike other family-oriented vegan cookbooks, The Vegucated Family Table is the first to focus on raising vegans “from scratch,” from five months through elementary school. A Q&A section focuses on nutrition, with advice by renowned pediatric nutritionist Reed Mangels.
With more than 125 rigorously tested recipes for beloved dishes like Baby Mac-o-Lantern and Cheeze, Chickpea Sweet Potato Croquettes, PBJ Smoothie Bowl, Tempeh Tacos, Baby’s First Birthday Smash Cake, and more, this book will become the go-to reference for parents raising vegan children.
About the Authors
Marisa Miller Wolfson is the force behind the documentary Vegucated, about how three meat- and cheese-loving New Yorkers went vegan. She speaks about veganism and parenting at veg conferences around the country. Laura Delhauer is a plant-based culinary artist and environmental rights advocate.
A note from Nava: I first met Marisa when her film, Vegucated*, was being shown at my local arts film theater way back in 2011! It was the first, but not the last time I saw this film, which presents the path to veganism with touches of humor and lots of compassion.
I’ve always been a fan of using humor to engage people with subjects that might otherwise put them on the defensive. Though it’s approaching its tenth anniversary, Vegucated still feels fresh and current. Please recommend it to friends and family members who are on the fence about adopting a plant-based life.
Since then, Marisa has become a mom, so I was delighted to learn that she has used her advocacy (along with co-author Laura Delhauer) to create a beautiful book on feeding the young vegan family. Kids often grow up to prefer the foods they cut their teeth on (literally and figuratively), and this book gives busy parents a blueprint for starting their kids off on the right path.
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