Garlic Bread Pizza W/ Marinara Sauce

What makes a pizza a pizza? I asked myself that question while making this. I think in order to have a pizza in front of you, it has to have a crust, tomato sauce, and cheese. But what if you serve it with homemade marinara sauce just off to the side in the form of a dipping sauce? Is it a pizza then? Or is it some sort of "deconstructed" pizza?

I don't know. I don't have all the answers.

But I do know this: this garlic bread made with pizza crust, in the shape of a pizza that has all the necessary ingredients to be a pizza is certainly delicious.

Oh, and did I mention this recipe is totally vegan? Because it is!

For the pizza dough:

• 1 package active dry yeast
• 1 cup warm water
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 1/2 cups flour, plus more for dusting
• 3 tablespoons nutritional yeast
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder

For the garlic butter:

• 2 tablespoons vegan butter (like Earth Balance or Smart Balance)
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

For the toppings:

• 1 recipe garlic butter
• 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
• 1/2 cup vegan mozzarella shreds (like Daiya or Follow Your Heart)
• optional: 1 teaspoon chili powder for a little spice

For the marinara sauce:

• 1 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• pinch sugar (to help balance acidity)

• 1/2 package of vegan beefless crumbles (like Gardein, Aldi's brand, or MorningStar Farms)

In a large mixing bowl, add your packet of yeast, warm water, and sugar. Let sit for 15 minutes. If you don't see a reaction happening, then your yeast is dead, you didn't use warm enough water, or your water was too hot. Ideally, you want it around 100 degrees. So it's not too hot to stick your finger in, but it's warmer than your body temperature. Hopefully that helps.

Anyway, after letting that mixture sit for a little while, add in the rest of the pizza dough ingredients and mix until a shaggy dough forms.

Flop the shaggy dough onto a floured surface. Knead by hand until a smooth ball of dough forms, around five minutes in, sprinkling additional flour if the dough is too sticky.

Spread a small amount vegetable oil all around the inside of the bowl and place the dough inside, flipping it over so it's covered in oil. Cover with some plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for about 45 minutes, or until it's doubled in size.

I preheated my oven to 180 degrees and then turned it off. Then I placed the bowl of dough inside, keeping the door just barely open so the heat could escape. That seemed to work really well.

Once your dough is done rising, preheat your oven to 425 degrees and grease or spray a 12" pizza pan. Plop the dough onto the pan, punch it down, and form it into a circle as big as the pan.

Make your garlic butter by mixing all the ingredients in a small bowl. Spread the garlic butter all over the flattened pizza dough with the back of a spoon. Top it with vegan mozzarella shreds, nutritional yeast, and some optional chili powder.

Bake at 425 for 18 minutes on a middle rack. Then move the pizza pan to the top rack and broil for 2-3 minutes. Keep an eye on it so it doesn't burn.

While the garlic bread pizza bakes in the oven, you can make the sauce. Open the can of crushed tomatoes and pour them into a medium sized pot. Add about a 1/4 cup water into the can and swirl it around so you get all the extra crushed tomato bits and pour that into the pot as well. Heat on medium. Add in the minced garlic, Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, and sugar. If you like, you can add some vegan beefless crumbles too. They add a good, meaty texture to the sauce that I prefer. Lower the heat and stir occasionally.

Take the garlic bread pizza out of the oven and let cool for a couple minutes before you start cutting into it. I like to cut three equal cuts one way and then one perpendicular cut down the middle the other way, but you could also cut it the traditional triangle pizza slice way.

Make sure to serve it with a ramekin full of the marinara sauce.

So what do you think? Does this qualify as pizza? Maybe, maybe not. But honestly, all that really matters is it tastes really, really, really good.