Okay, so maybe “classic” isn’t the right word.\u00a0 I’m still trying to perfect this one, but hey, it’s pizza!\u00a0 If the many recent tofu and tempeh recipes I’ve tried have had you rolling your eyes, saying “See, that’s why I could never be vegetarian; all they eat is that tasteless fake crap,” then roll those eyes no more.\u00a0 Nothing about this pizza is fake; in fact it’s much more real than whatever flavor-enhanced pie Papa John’s brings to your door.\u00a0 When you make the dough and sauce yourself, you know exactly what goes in, and it’s all good stuff.<\/p>\n
Now before the healthy eaters object, complaining “Sure it’s vegetarian, but pizza is terrible for you,” let me say that it absolutely doesn’t have to be.\u00a0 I don’t see what’s unhealthy about whole-wheat flour, olive oil, basil, tomatoes, and fresh mozzarella cheese.\u00a0 Whole grains are great for you, especially when you need to replace the mega-calories burned up by endurance training. And mozzarella has one of the highest protein-to-fat ratios among cheeses.\u00a0 If you must go healthier, then use shredded low-fat or vegan cheese instead.<\/p>\n
![\"Man](\"https:\/\/www.nomeatathlete.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/04\/meals-0181.jpg\")
I will make one admission, and that is that yesterday I didn’t make fresh dough, instead grabbing some frozen that we had made earlier, using white flour.\u00a0 But I almost always use whole wheat flour, and I can tell you that it tastes just as good as the refined white version.<\/p>\n
For those who don’t know, margherita pizza is from Naples, Italy, where there are legal standards for what constitutes pizza.\u00a0 In order to call pizza Neapolitan, it must be made with 100% white flour, never rolled with a pin, and cooked in a wood-burning oven, in addition to satisfying many other restrictions.\u00a0 So that’s why “classic” isn’t really the right word to describe mine.\u00a0 I’m still working on making the crust ultra-thin (as you can see from the pictures, it’s certainly not that, even with the aid of a rolling pin).\u00a0 And since, shockingly, my townhome was sold to me without a 2000-degree wood burning oven, I’ve gotten my best results from using a pizza stone on a grill that gets to about 600 degrees.<\/p>\n
If any pizza aficionados are reading this, I’d love to hear your advice on how to make this pizza more authentic, given that I want it to have a whole-wheat crust.\u00a0 I believe that making the effort to acquire fresh yeast instead of using dried might help.<\/p>\n
One thing that doesn’t need any adjustment here is the sauce.\u00a0 It’s called salsa<\/em> semplice<\/em>, Italian for “simple sauce,” and it’s just that.\u00a0 Tomatoes and sea salt, nothing more.\u00a0 And it’s perfect that way.\u00a0 If you decide that making your own dough just isn’t in the cards, at least try the sauce (which takes five minutes to make).\u00a0 I’ve specified San Marzano tomatoes; if you can’t get those then use the best organic Italian tomatoes you can find.<\/p>\n Dough<\/strong><\/p>\n Sauce<\/strong><\/p>\n Toppings<\/strong><\/p>\n Like I said, this recipe is a work in progress. I’m still experimenting with different yeasts, rising times, and cooking methods (oven vs. grill, pizza stone vs. direct contact). For that reason, I’m not going to give this recipe a rating. On the days when it turns out well, it’s nothing short of 5 cows out of 5. Today it was probably a “3.” The crust was just too thick to crisp up nicely. But as I said earlier, it’s still pizza, and it’s hard to screw it up too much. Try this yourself and let me and the other readers know how it works out for you. And buon appetito!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Okay, so maybe “classic” isn’t the right word.\u00a0 I’m still trying to perfect this one, but hey, it’s pizza!\u00a0 If the many recent tofu and tempeh recipes I’ve tried have had you rolling your eyes, saying “See, that’s why I could never be vegetarian; all they eat is that tasteless fake crap,” then roll those […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":30644,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[82],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-30245","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-vegetarian-meals","8":"entry"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n![\"Uncooked](\"https:\/\/www.nomeatathlete.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/04\/meals-0221.jpg\")
Finally, if you want to make your own dough but just don’t have 10 hours to wait for it to rise, then use rapid-rise yeast and let it rise, covered with a damp cloth, in a barely-warm oven.\u00a0 It will rise in an hour or two.\u00a0 But look up more specific instructions if you want to go this route.<\/p>\nMargherita Pizza Recipe<\/h3>\n
\nAuthor: Matt Frazier<\/span><\/div>\nServes: 1 Pizza<\/span><\/div>\n\nIngredients<\/div>\n\n
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\nInstructions<\/div>\n\n\n
![\"Freshly](\"https:\/\/www.nomeatathlete.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/04\/meals-0291.jpg\")
<\/div>\n3.2.2929<\/div>\n<\/div>\n