Being vegan has become one of the most popular things out there today. Making different foods with vegan items; including pizza crust. Yes, you read that right, pizza crust. How does one make this fantastic substitute for the fattening pizza dough?
Ingredients to Make Pizza Best Crust
Below I will tell you all the ingredients you will need to make this wonderful crust. Being vegan doesn’t mean you have to miss out on all the great tasting foods out there. It won’t taste like cardboard either. You can add different spices, to your taste, and fix it like a normal pizza.
Cauliflower is one item that has really gotten popular among those trying different things to replace items with, such as pizza dough and rice. There is one recipe that is completely vegan for this crust, simply because flax seeds are replacing the eggs in the recipe. You can use fresh cauliflower but you must cook it first. You can do this by either steaming it or roasting it. Stores also have started carrying frozen cauliflower rice, which is a lot easier (and faster) to prepare, if you are short on time. People have also used the frozen cauliflower florets, just leave them to thaw in the fridge over-night, and then use your food processor to really grind it up good.
You will need to “drain” the cauliflower, because this vegetable holds a lot of water, and you don’t want your crust to be mushy. You can use a paper towel or a thin cooking towel, like a milk bag, to get rid of the excess water. Squeeze it until there is no water left at all. Take a look below at this recipe, give it try and tell us what you think.
Easy Cauliflower Vegan Pizza Crust
Equipment
- Pan
- Bowl
- Oven
- Parchment Paper
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds cauliflower (fresh/frozen/drained)
- 3 tbsp flax seeds (ground up)
- 1/2 cup Almond flour (you can also use coconut flour, soy flour, buckwheat or sorghum flour)
- 1/2 tbsp salt (or salt substitute)
- 1/2 tbsp garlic powder (or to your taste, some like more)
- 1/2 tbsp oregano (you can also use basil or Italian seasoning)
Instructions
- To get yourcooking sheet ready, add a layer of parchment paper to it, the entire length ofthe pan. This will help to cook the crust more evenly and easy to remove onceit’s done.
- Once youhave gotten all the water out of the cauliflower, (set that extra to the sidebecause you may need a little bit); put it in a medium/large mixing bowl, addall your ingredients and mix well. If the dough is a little too dry, add alittle of the cauliflower water to it so it sticks together but not too much orthe crust won’t come out the way it’s supposed to. You can use your hands (which are mypreferred method so I can see how well it’s holding together) or you can useyour mixer. Whichever one is easiest foryou.
- After youhave mixed the ingredients, put them in the middle of your pan and spread itout, as evenly as you possibly can. Youcan make it thick if you prefer that, but the thin crust is the best for this recipe. You may want to use a roller to get itto the thinner side. Bake this for about30 minutes at 400, then pull it out and flip the crust over, baking another 10minutes or so, to get the rest of the moisture out.
- Use theparchment paper to take it off the pan, careful not to burn yourself. Have another piece of the paper ready to use,place it on top of the crust and then flip it over. Place back on the pan andbake it another 10 minutes or so. The crust will be a golden brown when it’sdone. When then crust is done the wayyou like it, pull it out and add your toppings to it (suggestions below), popback in the oven for 5 -10 minutes.
Pizza Toppings
The best way to do vegetable toppings for these vegan pizzas is to sauté them first. When you do this little trick, you already know that the vegetable are cooked all the way through, so you don’t have to worry about burning them in the oven. Pick your choice of them and then use olive oil or coconut oil to sauté them. They will be very flavorful and taste amazing on the crust.
When the crust is done, then add them to the top of the pizza crust. You can use tomato sauce, with added spices to your taste, or just plain. I prefer the spices because it gives it that extra kick of flavor you are looking for. Mozzarella cheese is 100% vegetarian, but it does include dairy products. It can be used on the pizza; however, if you prefer not to use this type of cheese due to your vegan diet, then you can substitute it for these cheeses: Field Roast-Garden Herb Chao Slices, or Miyoko’s Creamery – Sundried Tomato Garlic Cheese Wheel. There are other cheeses you can use, but if you want to have a vegan pizza that tastes like the real thing, I would definitely recommend these three.
Vegetables Recommended for Vegan Pizza
- Artichokes (especially the seasoned ones, chopped up)
- Spinach leaves
- Red or White onion (sliced or chopped, your preference)
- Garlic cloves (minced – careful how much you add, too much garlic will kill the taste of your other vegetables)
- Tomatoes (fresh or Dried)
- Mushrooms
- Green or Red peppers (Variety of different flavor here, but the colored ones are much sweeter)
- Black or green olives
- Fresh Black Pepper (grinded to taste)
- Zucchini Slices (thin slices)
This next vegan pizza dough is just a simple recipe, but you need to allow an hour for it to rise because it does have yeast in it. Believe me when I say, waiting the hour will be well worth it in the end!
This particular recipe makes a good 12” thick crust or a great 16” thin crust, it’s your choice. I prefer the thick crust myself.
Easy Vegan Pizza Dough
Equipment
- Bowl
- Oven
- Parchment Paper
Ingredients
- 1 Parchment paper (you will use this to put your dough on to bake)
- 3/4 cup warm water (not hot or you will kill the yeast-it needs to foam up)
- 1 tbsp organic sugar (regular sugar if you don’t have it)
- 2 1/4 tbsp active-dry yeast
- 1 tbsp salt (orsalt substitute)
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 cup all-purpose flour (you can use self-rising flour, just omit the salt)
Instructions
- Mix the warm water, yeast and sugar together. Let it sit there and activate about10 minutes. It should be foaming when you check it; if it’s not, the yeast iseither too old or the water used was too hot. Just warm water will do.
- Stirin the oil and salt. Make sure to mix itwell.
- Onlyadd a 1/2 cup of flour at a time. Bydoing this, it will insure that the dough is properly mixed.
- Knead yourdough, using either your hands or your mixer, until a ball forms. The doughshould be a little sticky, but not too much. If it is too sticky, add a coupleteaspoons of flour to it. Continue to knead the dough for another 5 minutes oruntil it hold together well.
- Once you are done with that, spread a little of the olive oil in a bowl, one that is bigenough to allow the dough to rise twice its size currently. Cover it with a thintowel and let it rise for an hour. Some people just leave it on the counter,but it may be easier to let it rise in the oven. Be sure you have a light that works in youroven, so you can check the progress of the dough.
- Once the dough has risen to two times its size, remove it from the over and pre-heatit.
- Pre-heatyour oven to 450 degrees (DON’T forget to remove the dough before doing this,if that is where you have put it to rise. Otherwise, you will have a big ball of hard dough that can’t be eaten.
- While theoven is heating up, punch the dough down and knead it a few more times untilit’s smooth, a bit more firm and easy to roll out. Now, at this point, you can make your crustand have pizza, or you can also toss it in the fridge until you are ready touse it. This can also be frozen, but mayI recommend, if you do freeze this, make sure to roll it out first, useparchment paper and label the day you put it in. The parchment paper helps itfrom sticking to freezer bags and also helps it to bake more evenly when youare ready to make your pizza. Don’t forget to bake it for about 30 minutes andthen flip the crust over for a more even bake.
Garlic Herb Vegan Pizza Dough
Equipment
- Parchment Paper
- Bowl
- Oven
Ingredients
- 1 Parchment paper (you will use this to put your dough on to bake)
- 3/4 cup warm water (nothot or you will kill the yeast-it needs to foam up)
- 1 tbsp organic sugar (regular sugar if you don’t have it)
- 2 1/4 tbsp active-dry yeast
- 1 tbsp salt (or salt substitute)
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 cups all-purpose flour (you can use self-rising flour, just omit the salt)
- 1 tbsp dried oregano
- 1 tbsp basil
- 1/2 tbsp garlic powder
Instructions
- (If youwould like to use the Italian seasoning instead of the oregano and basil, youcan do that too! I usually mix these and the garlic powder together to they areevenly distributed throughout the dough.)
- Prepare thisdough as you did the one above, only you can choose to add the spices to theflour as you add it in at the end. Thisis easier for me to do, honestly, because I can mix it all up and add it as Igo. I just mix it with a 1/2 cup offlour and then add it.
- Once the dough is complete and ready to form the pizza crust, don’t use a roller if you can help it. Try spreading it out with your hands. The reason I use my hands is because the roller will remove the air formed in the dough, and then it won’t be fluffy and light. Now, if you want a thin crust, by all means, use the roller.
If you’re looking for a true paleo pizza dough or variations, visit this page.
Here are a few of my favorite vegan pizza recipes:
- Spinach Artichoke Pizza
- BBQ Pizza with Crispy Cauliflower
- Socca Pizza
- Vegan Deep Dish Pizza (My favorite – soft and just the right amount of chewy)
- Hummus Pizza with Fresh Veggies (perfect for the hummus fan!)
- Vegan Taco Pizza (Lentil Walnut Meat is used in this)
You can experiment with any type of vegetable that you like, just keep in mind, they turn out better on the pizza if you sauté them first. This really does insure that they are cooked just the way they should be for that fabulous pizza you have been craving. You don’t need to add cheese if you don’t want to; it’s all about what YOU want on it. Give it a shot, see what happens! Let us know how it turns out, what worked and didn’t work for you, and any other advice you think would be interesting to know.