Here's a tasty veggies pizza with vegan ricotta cheese as a base(I used Kite Hill brand), that's perfectly suited for a summer evening. By slicing the vegetables as thin as possible they will be perfectly baked in 15 minutes. **Although making pan pizza with premade pizza dough and a large cast iron skillet is a snap, using a more conventional method is equally delicious by decreasing the oven temperature (475°F) and baking longer.
INGREDIENTS
Pizza dough of choice, thawed
1/2 zucchini, thinly sliced
1/2 sweet pepper, thinly sliced
5-6 mushrooms, thinly sliced
1/4 red onion, thinly sliced
1 tsp Italian seasoning(or 1/2 tsp each basil & oregano)
1 large clove garlic, thinly sliced
4 oz vegan ricotta cheese
4 oz vegan mozzarella, shredded
1/4 cup vegan parmesan cheese
DIRECTIONS
1. With floured hands, transfer dough to a well-floured work surface. Form into a ball by tucking the dough underneath itself, rotating it until it forms a tight ball. Add 1 to 2 Tbsp oil to a 12" cast iron skillet. Place dough into skillet and turn over to coat evenly with oil. Press dough flattening it slightly. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and let dough sit at room temperature for 2 hours to rise.
2. Preheat oven to 500°F. Press dough around skillet until it fills in every corner, popping any large bubbles that appear. Lift edge of the dough to let any air bubbles underneath escape, then repeat until there are no air bubbles left and dough is evenly spread around the pan.
3. Place zucchini, sweet peppers, mushrooms, onions and garlic in a bowl. Toss with 1 Tbsp olive oil, Italian seasonings and a pinch of salt and pepper.
4. Using your hands, crumble vegan ricotta cheese and sprinkle onto pizza dough followed by shredded vegan mozzarella, spreading all the way to edge of dough. Top with vegetables and sprinkle with salt.
5. Bake 12 to 14 minutes. Turn broiler on high heat then continue to bake another 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle vegan parmesan over pie. Let stand a few minutes before removing with a spatula.
6. Drizzle a little extra virgin olive oil over pizza before slicing.