Vegan Pizza

Hello all! I thought I'd have made some desserts before now but — I was good! So here's tonight's dinner, a vegan pizza.


A note about soy cheeses. There's a lot of talk about soy cheese. I was a big skeptic for a long time. I was a humongous cheese lover before going vegan. I've yet to find a cheese that really hits the spot, say, something good enough for a grilled cheese sandwich, but Follow Your Heart Vegan Gourmet Mozzarella is damn good. We use it everyday in our morning tofu scrambles and it melts in the frying pan —but it didn't melt too great on the pizza. Still, this cheese tastes good and adds a lot of comfort. They stock it at Whole Foods, and in Atlanta I get it at Sevananda cooperative grocery store — a treasure.

Pizza crusts are easy as far as making your own bread goes — so it's a good introduction to the process. I love making bread, but it's been a while. Most pizza crusts are easily vegan, by the way. Some things to keep in mind: don't use metal utensils (except a measuring cup, I suppose) I've heard (though not experienced myself) that metal + bread dough = ruined flavor and general badness so use wooden, ceramic or plastic bowls and utensils. Wash your hands really well (get under those fingernails!), take off your rings and be prepared to get messy and use your arm muscle. Lastly, even though I say "let the dough rise an hour" it may take longer (especially if it's a rainy day, like today, or if you live in a very humid area, like I do) so get started early enough that you'll have time for the dough to rise for 1-2 hours, and set for another 20 minutes before baking. You can use your down time to prepare sauce and toppings.

Crust:
2 1/4 tsp. active dry yeast (that's one pouch if you use the pouches)
1 1/2 cups warm water (about 110 degrees Fahrenheit, feels warm to the touch but not hot)
3 tsp. brown sugar
2 tsp. agave (you can use honey if you want to be unvegan, or just more brown sugar)
1 tsp. salt
2 1/2 tbsp. olive oil
about 3 1/4 cups flour (I use King Arthur's unbleached white whole wheat, but I'm sure all-purpose is fine —just remember that bleached flour is not vegan!)


Step One: Proof the yeast. This step is called "proofing your yeast". In a medium-large bowl, mix the warm water, sugar and agave until the sugar dissolves. Add the yeast, stir and walk away. In fifteen minutes, come back and find that your yeast has proofed! It should be a little foamy, almost fluffy and make a quiet snap, crackle, pop sound when you move or stir it. (If your yeast doesn't proof properly, it might be too old, no good, or maybe your water was too hot or too cold.)


Step Two: Add your other ingredients. Mix the salt and olive oil (I also had some fresh rosemary and thyme lying around, so I threw those in there too) with your yeast mixture. Add the flour a quarter cup at time, adding about 2 1/2 cups (I added more until it was easy to work with my hands).


Step Three: Knead the dough. Turn the dough out onto a clean, well-floured, steady surface, such as a cutting board. A good tip I picked up around the web is: if your cutting board keeps sliding around the counter while you knead, put a kitchen towel underneath it. Knead more flour into the dough, a little at a time, until it's not too sticky anymore.
Don't worry if you don't use all the flour, or if you need a little more than the recipe calls for (I lose track at this stage, honestly, and suspect that I added more), you want your dough to be smooth, not very sticky, it'll make it easier to work with. Take your time adding the flour: sprinkle it on there, knead it in thoroughly, add some more.

Knead the dough for several minutes, as few as five, as many as twenty, depending. Kneading the dough builds gluten chains, so as you're kneading, imagine each push and prod is creating more and more little bread muscles (sounds crazy, doesn't it?) don't rip or stretch your dough, just massage it lovingly and you'll find it's becoming more and more sturdy and glutinous.

If you skimp on the kneading, the dough will become crumbly and unpleasantly cake-like after you bake. If you knead it too much, it may end up stringy and chewy. After you spend some time with doughs, it becomes an intuitive process.


Step Four: Let it rise. Form your well-loved dough into a nice smooth ball. Now, liberally coat the inside of a clean bowl in oil and roll your ball around in the oil so it's coated on all sides. Put a towel over the bowl and put in someplace warm to rise. If it's a warm, sunny day, you might want to put it in front of a sunny window. If it's cold or rainy, you may want to preheat your oven to about 175 degrees Fahrenheit, turn it off, and let the dough sit in there like a cozy little womb. It'll take about an hour. You'll know your dough is done rising when it's doubled in size and when you press into it with your finger, the indentation won't bounce back right away.


Step Five: Shape and set. Punch down the dough, squeezing out air bubbles and kneading it just a little bit more. I know we've all seen the cartoons with the pizza chef who tosses the dough in the air to get a perfect circle, well, maybe we can all build up to that. I form a sphere, spread it out on a flat, clean surface with my fingers and then, holding onto the edges, spin it in my hands to let it stretch out naturally. I realize this might sound a little confusing, I wish I'd taken pictures of that step! Do your best to work the dough out to about 1/4" thick for a thin crust, or 1/2" thick for a thicker, softer crust.

If you're using a pizza stone, sprinkle some corn meal on there and go ahead and spread your dough out on it and your good to go for adding sauce, toppings and your shredded Follow Your Heart Vegan Gourmet Mozzarella. If you're using a metal pizza pan or cookie sheet, shape the dough onto the sheet (remember to grease it up with olive oil and sprinkle some corn meal on there to prevent sticking and give the bottom crust a nice texture!) and let it set for about 20 minutes. Around now is a good time to preheat your oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.

Step Six: The fun part. You can use a jar of sauce, sure, but what's the fun in that? Here's what I did while my dough was rising:

Sauce:
2 tbsp. olive oil
3 or 4 cloves fresh garlic, mashed and chopped
1/2 a medium red onion, diced
1/2 cup of sliced button mushrooms
4 leaves fresh basil, shredded, chopped, mashed (get all those juices out!)
15 oz. can of organic tomato sauce
Salt and pepper to taste

Saucy Step One: Saute. Heat the pan over medium-high first, then add the oil -don't let the oil get too hot. Add your garlic and onion. Saute them until the onion begins to turn clear and releases it's juices (I salt my onions lightly at this point), then add the mushrooms, and saute everything together until it's cooked and smells heavenly.

Saucy Step Two: Make it sauce. Reduce the heat to medium-low and add the basil, stir it around a bit. Add the tomato sauce, mix everything well and put a lid on it. Let it come to a simmer - the longer it simmers (stirring regularly), the better it will taste. Add the salt and pepper as you like for flavor.

Step Six: The Fun Part, cont. Once your dough is set, you can build your pizza. I like to brush the crust with olive oil, a little cracked pepper would be yummy too. Spread the sauce and your shredded Follow Your Heart Vegan Gourmet Mozzarella (have I plugged this enough yet, think they'll give me free soy cheese?). I used an entire 10oz block, shredded. Yum! I sauteed a medium zucchini (halved longways and sliced) in a few teaspoons of Earth Balance vegan margarine with garlic and layered that, tomato slices and more fresh basil on top. But it's your pizza, do with it what you will.


Step Seven: The last step. Bake at 425 for 15-20 minutes. The cheese didn't melt like I'd hoped, but the crust was a perfect golden brown, and the smell absolutely tantalizing. Move it to a wire rack or cutting board, let it cool about 10 minutes and then slice it up. Enjoy!

I'm pretty bummed the cheese didn't melt all gooey and delicious —I know this cheese can melt. Maybe it would be good to melt it in a saucepan and then pour that over the pizza? Or maybe it's just because I used an electric oven that has the heating coils on the bottom? Perhaps heat from the top would melt it? I don't know. But it tasted great anyway, let me know if you have any tips about how to make a truly gooey vegan pizza!

Until next time! Here's the puppy: