Marinated Mozzarella and Veggie Pizza

Ingredients:

This pizza is vegetarian as long as you use mozzarella which does not contain animal rennet.

- 1lb Fresh Mozzarella (Caprese Log)
- Handful Fresh Basil
- 1 Red Bell Pepper
- 1 Red Onion
- 1 Whole Clove Garlic
- 1 Tomato
- Crimini Mushrooms (Portabellos also works well)
- Red Wine Vinegar
- Balsamic Vinegar
- Marinara sauce or pesto
- Black Pepper
(Artichoke hearts also go very well as a topping with this recipe.)

Dough:
You can either make the dough from scratch or buy premade dough. Since there is a Trader Joe's nearby and premade focaccia dough is only $1.00 a ball, I used that.
- 1/2 cup flour or corn meal to roll out dough
- olive oil

Step 1:

Wash the vegetables.

Step 2:

Cut mozzarella into 1/4 thick slabs.

Step 3:

Place the mozzarella in bowl and cover with approx 1/4 cup red wine vinegar and 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar.

Step 4:

Peel the garlic and onion and de-stem the basil.

Step 5:

Julienne the onion and chop the other ingredients coarsely.

Step 6:

Add the ingredients to a bowl with mozz and vinegar. Add black pepper. Stir until everything is covered, making sure not to tear up the mozzarella.

Step 7:

Chop the mushrooms in half and julienne the bell pepper. Pull out the dough if you are using store bought dough. Let the veggies marinate for at least an hour.

Step 8:

Let the dough rise, and punch it down and let it rise again.

Step 9:

Roll out the dough. (I put string cheese in my crust.)

Step 10:

Perforate the dough with a fork to eliminate bubbles.

Step 11:

At this point you may be deviating from how I do this. I have a very bad oven, and having learned from past experience, I have to partially precook my pizza dough before adding toppings. So I brush my pie with olive oil and place it in the oven at this point. If I you have a good oven I would skip this step.

Step 12:

While my pie was cooking I placed the marinating mozzarella and veggies in a collander to get rid of the liquid.

Step 13:

Pie after being pre-cooked:

Step 14:

Normally I use pesto, but today I am using Classico Cabernet Marinara.

Step 15:

Add mushrooms.

Step 16:

Add other ingredients.

Step 17:

Place in oven until cooked to your satisfaction.