Playin' with Pepperoni

So, I was at the store the other day and saw a vegetarian version of pepperoni. Now, the fact that pepperoni is meat is not the only reason I won't eat it anymore. Every brand I have seen is chuck full of preservatives and other assorted poisons. So I checked out the ingredients of this soy based pepperoni and decided to give it a try. I also spotted another new product, Fleischman's yeast made especially for pizza crust. I make homeade pizza about every two weeks or so, so I decided to try that too.

The yeast was very easy to use, and quite miraculously you don't have to let the dough rise. (How did they do that?) One package makes exactly the right amount for one large pizza when following the instructions on the package. It was a very fast mix, a quick knead to get it the right smooth and slightly spongy texture, and then it said to roll it out. I did, and the next instruction was to put your sauce and toppings and slide into the oven. I did this and it came out looking great.

So, was it as good as it looked? No. The crust did not rise at all, although if you like a very thin crust it might be passable. The pepperoni not too surprisingly I guess, did not taste like pepperoni. I ended up feeding the pepperoni off my pizza to the dogs who thought it was great. I will stick with vegetable toppings next time and my own crust recipe which I will post in a few days. I do make a delicious pizza, but it wasn't this one.