Raw Pizza Recipe

This Recipe is from the kitchen of Karen Knowler. Who is a Raw Food Coach, teacher, and raw food advocate. You can check out her site here.

*This recipe is also the same recipe that she teaches and serves on all of her "Raw Food for Beginners" courses...and it is always a Great Hit with Everyone!

You’ll need a dehydrator for this recipe (or you could try a low set oven with the door ajar). You can make this pizza in the evening , and have it ready for lunch the next day as long as you start dehydrating the base as early in the evening as possible. The base takes about 15 minutes to get together and about 12-20 hours to dehydrate depending on how thick you make it and at what temperature you dehydrate it (115 deg F to 125 deg F is perfect). An hour before serving, get together your other ingredients and make the 'cheese', tomato sauce and chop the toppings.

Makes one 25cm /10 inch circular pizza (enough to cover a Paraflexx sheet in an Excalibur)

Crust/Base

• 400g sprouted wheat (or sprouted buckwheat)
• 2 medium fresh tomatoes
• ½ a medium sized onion
• 6-8 sundried tomato halves (ideally pre-soaked)
• About 10 leaves of fresh basil
• Liberal shaking of Italian dried herbs mix
• 1 clove garlic
• ⅓ cup of olive oil

1. Place all ingredients in a food processor and process until a thick dough consistency is achieved. If the mixture feels quite dry, add more fresh tomato.
2. Pour into a large mixing bowl in order to finish mixing by hand and feel the texture of the mixture. Make sure all ingredients have been blended together well. If not, return to processor and repeat the process until satisfied.
3. Spread the mixture bit by bit onto a paraflexx sheet and gradually shape into a circle or square shape according to your preference. Use the palm of your hand to press the mixture out to the desired shape and size and thickness. A good thickness is approximately 3-4mm high.
4. Dehydrate at 95 - 110°F for approx. 4 hours (until top is nearly dry), then flip over and dehydrate again until other side is dried to desired degree. (Some prefer the base to be hard and crispy, but I prefer it to be semi-dry so that it is easy to cut and eat - a bit more bread-like).

'Cheese'

• 2 cups of raw macadamia nuts
• 2 cups of cashew nuts
• Juice of 1-2 lemons (depending on sweetness and amount of juice)
• 1 clove of garlic

1. Blend all ingredients thoroughly using either food processor or hand blender.

Tomato Sauce

• 4-6 tomatoes
• 10 sundried tomato halves
• 1 clove garlic
• Half a red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 teaspoon fresh ginger, chopped
• Handful of fresh basil leaves

1. Blend all ingredients thoroughly using food processor, hand blender or vita-mix.

Toppings

Choose from:

• Fresh tomato slices
• Fresh bell pepper slices (red, orange, yellow)
• Fresh onion rings
• Black olive halves
• Basil leaves, finely chopped
• Italian seasoning (dried herbs)
• Chopped pineapple
• Broccoli florets, halved and marinated
• Mushrooms - either fresh, marinated in olive oil, garlic and lemon juice, or dehydrated after being marinated
• Anything else that appeals!

Assembly of the Pizza:

1. Spread the 'cheese' evenly over the top of the pizza base.

2. Spoon the tomato sauce on top of the cheese topping and spread evenly until there is a good covering.

3. Top your pizza with your chosen ingredients. I usually begin with the tomato, then the onion rings, then bell pepper, then olives, then mushrooms, then fresh basil and finally sprinkle the whole pizza with the Italian seasoning. Occasionally I add pineapple or broccoli florets.

4. Serve either fresh as is, or put the whole pizza back in the dehydrator for a while until warmed through. Either way it is delicious!

Sometimes it seems overwhelming when we hear dehydrate or have all these new recipes to throw together to make one dish. I have found that once you try it, it really isn't so bad. When I do it, I just concentrate on one thing at a time- like the cheese recipe.....then put that aside and move onto the next thing. Just being organized is the main thing........We are taught to cook our food and not cooking everything seems like some weird alien territory...Once you take on a new recipe, and taste how fresh and flavorful everything is you will be more than happy that you went beyond your comfort zone and tried something new!