Homemade Vegan Cheese Pizza

We love pizza around here, and when it doesn't come vegan-style from the local parlor (seriously, when are the big chains going to catch on to this?!) you have to find new-fashioned ways of doing it the "old-fashioned way." As you know, bread is Jason's thing and he's found a great basic recipe for any homemade pie. Here's how he does it...

1 C warm (hot, but not boiling) water

1 T active dry yeast

2 1/2 C all purpose flour,  with 1/2 C separated
(we tried making this with all whole wheat flour and it turned out great, so if you're watching your intake of the white stuff, feel free to substitute)

1 T salt

1 T sugar (or preferred sweetener - we use agave when we have it)

• Combine the hot water and yeast in a small bowl, then let it sit for about 5 minutes.
• Combine 2 C flour, sweetener and salt in a large bowl.
• Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and pour the yeast mixture into it.
• Combine ingredients with a spoon until it can no longer be properly stirred by that method. Then dump it out onto a floured surface and start kneading, adding more flour in small increments if it's really sticky.
• Once the dough has come together and lost its stickiness-factor, shape it into a ball, place it into a large bowl (the one you already used is fine), and cover it with a towel.
• Allow the dough to sit for one hour.
• Heat oven to 400 degrees.
• While oven is warming up, take out your dough and cut it in half. 
• Use a rolling pin to shape your dough to fit either on a large cookie sheet or (like we do it) on a large round baking stone.
• Use a fork to poke a few holes here and there on your crust.
• Cook the crust at 400 degrees for 10 minutes.
• Remove the crust from the oven and add your toppings (we use Muir Glen Pizza Sauce, Vegan Gourmet Cheddar, Vegan Gourmet Mozzarella and sometimes we throw on a bunch of veggies when we have them).
• Place well-topped pizza back into the oven and continue baking for another 10 minutes, or until your toppings are piping hot and your crust is just the way you like it. I can't ever seem to make that vegan cheese melt, so that's why it looks weird in the picture, but melted or not it still tastes pretty good.
• Enjoy!

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