Mini Pizza

I made this 7-inch customized pizza for $1.79.  

Ingredients for one mini pizza

• 1 mini crust (recipe follows)
• 1/3 cup marinara sauce
• 1/4 cup daiya cheese (or any vegan cheese shreds)
• Any other toppings of your choice

For the crusts, I modified this recipe from Allrecipes.com.  I added Italian seasoning, decreased the oil, increased the rise time and added a kneading step.

Crusts (This recipe makes enough for SIX mini crusts; make all six and freeze the extras for easy future meals!  Or cut the recipe in half and make three crusts.)

• 2.25 tsp active yeast
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 cup warm water
• 2.5 cups bread flour

• 1 TBSP olive oil (to take this up a notch, use garlic-infused olive oil)
• 1 tsp salt
• a few shakes of Italian seasoning or basil and/or oregano

Instructions

1. In a bowl, stir the yeast and sugar into the warm water, and let the mixture sit for 10 minutes to activate the yeast.

2. Stir in the remaining ingredients and then knead the dough for 5 minutes.

3. Place the dough into a lightly oiled bowl and brush (or spray) the top of the dough with oil.  Cover the bowl loosely with a towel and let the dough rise for 30 minutes.  Preheat the oven to 450 F during this time. 

4. Divide the dough into six equal pieces.  Roll (or press) each piece into a thin circle approximately 7 inches in diameter.  Place as many dough circles as you can fit onto a pan, and prick the dough all over with a fork.  Bake for 5 minutes at 450 degrees.  Repeat until all the crusts are baked.

5. At this point, you can cool the crusts and freeze them in an air-tight container for future use, or you can add the toppings and finish baking.  You will no longer need a pan, as the pre-baked crusts should be firm enough to sit directly on the oven rack.

To assemble each pizza

Spread approximately 1/3 cup of marinara sauce on the pre-baked crust, and add 1/4 cup of vegan cheese.  Add any other toppings. Note that certain vegetables, such as mushrooms, onions, and green peppers, should be sautéed first or they will be essentially raw on the finished pizza.  

Bake the pizza for approximately 7 minutes (or until the bottom is as crispy as you like). 

cost per pizza (based on the example pictured, which includes spinach and mushrooms)

yeast:  $0.06
sugar:  less than 1 cent
olive oil:  $0.03
bread flour:  $0.07
salt:  less than 1 cent
Italian seasoning:  $0.05
marinara sauce:  $0.20
daiya cheese:  $0.68 
mushrooms:  $0.50
spinach:  $0.20

​Total cost per pizza:  $1.79

*Note, I bought a 24-oz jar of marinara sauce at target for $1.47.
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          per pizza

          calories:  371
          fat:  10.3 g  
          carbs:  62.2 g 
          protein:  10.7 g