Soy-Free, Stuffed Crust Pizza

February 27, 2015

Soy-Free, Stuffed Crust Pizza

Hi there, it's Laura.

Tonight I thought I'd share one of my family's very favorite recipes that I make- Pizza! My mom is crazy allergic to soy, (like we are talking massive migraines where she is throwing up and writhing in pain), so a lot of our family recipes have to be soy-free so that she can, ya know, actually be able to eat. Crazy right? Also, as you probably know, most pizzas out there, whether frozen, from a restaurant, or delivery, are packed with soy, so I made it my mission over the last year to come up with a delicious pizza recipe that didn't have soy, so that mom could enjoy this delicious comfort food with the rest of us. And now, I'm sharing it with you fine folks!

Soy-Free, Stuffed Crust Pizza

Ingredients:

Dough:

3 cups Warm Water (make sure it's not too hot, just warm)

3 tsps Sugar
3 tsps Active-Dry Yeast

6 cups Flour ( I used white, but if you want to make it healthier, you could use wheat)

2 tsps Olive Oil

Couple Pinches of Salt (depends on taste)

Couple handfuls of Flour for kneading

Olive Oil Cooking Spray

2 cups of Mozzarella

Toppings:

Now here, you can choose whatever kind of sauce and toppings you would like, but I just went with good, old fashioned cheese and pepperoni. Here's what I put on top

2 jars of Pizza Sauce (We use Classico Traditional Pizza Sauce, bc it doesn't contain soy)

6 Cups of Shredded Mozzarella (Sounds insane, but it takes this much to cover them)

25 Hormel Pepperonis

Yields: 2 large pizzas

Directions:

First, combine warm water, sugar, and yeast in a medium size bowl (I just use the measuring cup bc I'm lazy). Stir gently to help the yeast dissolve and then let it proof for about 15 mins (I put mine in the oven on the "Proofing" setting and it always gets nice and foamy).

Once yeast mixture has proofed, in a large bowl, add flour slowly to mixture (I use my Kitchenaid to initially mix and knead the dough, but you could do this all in a large bowl by hand.) I switch to a dough hook after most of the flour is mixed in, and add the remaining flour. You can add more flour if the mixture is sticking to the sides of the bowl, or the counter, or you.

As you are kneading the dough, sprinkle salt all over it and pour the oil on it. Stir until the dough forms into a ball, and separates from the sides of the bowl.

Take the ball of dough out of the bowl and onto a floured surface ( I use a cutting board). Knead the dough for 2 mins or so (adding flour occasionally so that it isn't sticky), clean the bowl, spray the bowl with an olive oil cooking spray, put ball of dough back in the bowl, and roll it around in the oil to coat it.

Get a damp kitchen towel, and place it over the bowl. Let it proof for at least 45 mins, or until it doubles in size (I put the bowl back in the oven on the "Proofing" setting).

Once it has risen, put back down on floured surface, and knead into a log.

With a sharp knife, cut the log in half. Each half will be the crust of your pizzas.

Let each half sit for a minute, and preheat oven to 425 Degrees F.
Grab one of the balls of dough, and flatten into a disk. If you have a pizza pan, grease it slightly with the olive oil cooking spray, and you want to stretch out the dough gradually until it fills the pan. The key is to not have areas of the pan that the dough is thin or torn. If this happens, simply grab a piece of the disk that has more dough, and add/blend it into the area that is thin. This way your pizza will bake evenly, and you wont have any holes in your crust.

You want to stretch out the dough to where a little bit of it is hanging over the lip of the pizza pan. If you don't have a pizza pan, you can always use a cookie sheet, and follow the same steps. Personally, I like the perforated pizza pans, because they help cook the crust more evenly.

Now this next step is a matter of taste. For my stuffed crust, I don't like sauce, but some people do, so you can add sauce before you add the cheese for the crust, but I start with the cheese. If you are going to do it my way, sprinkle the cheese around the circumference of the pizza. Then fold dough that is hanging over the edges, over the cheese, and blend it into the bottom dough.