As may all know I love myself a good pizza, and have excitedly shared the vegan options available at Project Pie in Dundee and UK-wide at Pizza Express. However, I do occasionally like to create my own pizza at home. The very first pizza recipe I followed was one in my Standard Grade Home Economics recipe book which was very basic and my pizzas since then have remained so.
However the most recent issue of Vegan Life Magazine* was the pizza special and in it they had a range of pizza recipes ranging from basic to the sophisticated. Confident I already had the basic recipe down, I decided to attempted a slightly adventurous pizza. So I recreated the front cover recipe - the Pizza Veganiano.
Whilst the base was your standard thick New York base, what made this pizza stand out was the 'cheese' sauce made from carrots and potatoes. Yep, you read that right. The cheese you see on the pizza was actually a sauce made from puréed carrots and potatoes along with nutritional yeast, garlic powder, olive oil and cayenne pepper. This pizza was honestly one of the most beautiful I've eaten and the leftover sauce worked well as part of a cauliflower cheese recipe.
Whilst I've become quite adept at pizza making over the years it isn't the easiest food to make yourself and I've made a few blunders over the years. Here's some of my tips for making vegan pizza for yourself:
- Give yourself a good chunk of the afternoon to put it together - even basic pizza recipes can take an hour plus to prepare
- If you're looking for a thick crust add dried yeast, if you're looking for a thin crust leave this ingredient out
- Making the base is just like baking, which means you need exact measurements as it's a chemical reaction (much like a cake)
- Practice, practice, practice. Your first time making pizza shouldn't be when you have a dinner party looming; create your first few for a date with yourself
- Build your confidence by buying a few pre-made bases to practice choosing toppings first
- Use the correct flour for the job - plain flour works fine, but if you want it to be up a notch buy in some bread flour.
- Vegan pizza tastes better sans cheese. But that's maybe just my own opinion ;)
- Season it! This pizza was on the salty side (which I loved, but I realise my affection for salt - a la the salt vampire - is higher than most people's) but remember to throw some herbs on at least
If you have a copy of this issue of Vegan Life Magazine I highly recommend you try this recipe as it was beyond gorgeous, and I'd quite happy receive something of this quality in a restaurant. If this really doesn't sound up your street the other pizza recipes include a crust based on flax seeds and walnuts, a different crust based on oats and quinoa, mini pizzas and a cheese sauce based on cashews. Then there's the article about what vegan beers to pair with what pizza. Pretty much everything you would need!
Have you tried any of the pizzas from the newest issue? Or did a different article catch your eye?
Have you tried any of the pizzas from the newest issue? Or did a different article catch your eye?
P.S. If you liked this you might like my post on making your own vegan sushi at home.
