Ultimate Deep Dish Pizza

I looove deep dish pizza. Yes, Lou Malnati's sans cheese is vegan but sometimes I prefer to make my own. Not gonna lie, this one took a while to make, but totally worth it. Bring on the yumminess. There are a lot of cross-referenced recipes so I recommend reading them all before you begin, though you can be flexible with the timing if you prefer to do the steps in a different order.

Ultimate Deep Dish Pizza (serves 4)

1 recipe deep dish pizza dough
1 recipe TVP sausage (skip the last step; don't fry it)
1 recipe spinach basil pesto
1 portobello mushroom cap
2 Tbls. balsamic vinegar
1 Tbls. brown sugar
3/4 cup vegan mozzarella cheese
2 roma tomatoes, thinly sliced
Canola oil

To start, make the sausage and pesto and set both aside.

Make the pizza dough. While it is rising, wash the mushroom and slice thinly. Heat a drizzle of canola oil over medium heat and sautee the mushroom slices for a few minutes. Turn the heat up a bit and add the balsamic and sugar, cooking until the mushroom slices are glazed, about 10 minutes. Set aside.

Slice the tomatoes and set aside. In a small bowl, combine the mushrooms with the cheese. Once the pizza dough is ready and has cooked for the first 5 minutes, layer on the sausage, cheese/mushroom mixture, pesto, and sliced tomatoes.

Bake at 375 F for 30 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack for a few minutes before slicing.