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Vegan Pizza
![Vegan Pizza](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/04/20/dining/gh-vegan-pizza/merlin_171739674_697084cc-d19a-4d07-8983-5804a56204f2-articleLarge.jpg?width=1280&quality=75&auto=webp)
- Total Time
- About 45 minutes, plus soaking and rising
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
- 2cups/255 grams all-purpose or 00 flour, plus more for dusting
- 1½teaspoons kosher salt
- 1teaspoon granulated sugar
- 1teaspoon instant yeast
- ¾cup lukewarm water (see Tip)
- Olive oil, for greasing the bowl
- 1heaping cup (about 5 ounces) raw cashews, soaked in water for at least 2 hours then drained
- 1teaspoon kosher salt
- 1tablespoon lemon juice
- Black pepper, to taste
- 13 to 15ounces pizza sauce or tomato sauce
- Fresh basil leaves (optional)
For the Pizza
For the Cashew Mozzarella
For Assembly
Preparation
- Step 1
Prepare the pizza crust, whisk together the flour, salt, sugar and yeast in a mixing bowl. Add the water and use a spoon or your hands to mix everything into a shaggy dough ball. Cover the bowl with a damp dish towel and allow the dough to rest for 5 minutes.
- Step 2
Transfer the dough to a floured work surface and knead a few times. At this point, you can transfer the dough to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook and knead on medium-high for 5 minutes, or you can continue to knead by hand for 8 to 10 minutes. The dough is ready when it has a silky smooth surface and can be stretched without tearing easily.
- Step 3
Transfer the dough to a bowl that’s been well coated with olive oil. Cover the bowl with a damp dish towel or plastic wrap. At this point, you can keep the dough covered in the refrigerator for up to two days. When you are ready to bake, allow the dough to rise in a warm part of your home for about 1½ hours, or until it has doubled in size.
- Step 4
Prepare the cashew mozzarella, place the drained cashews into a food processor and pulse briefly until the cashews break down into a coarse meal. Scrape down the bowl of the processor and add salt and lemon juice. Continue processing the cashews as you drizzle ⅓ cup water into the processor’s spout. Process the cashews for 1 to 2 minutes, stopping once or twice to scrape the sides of the bowl. You’re aiming for a texture that’s slightly looser than hummus; add an extra tablespoon or two of water as needed. When the cashew mixture is creamy but easily spreadable, stop and season it to taste with black pepper.
- Step 5
Heat oven to 500 degrees. Place a pizza stone, baking steel or sheet pan turned upside-down in your oven and heat it to 500 degrees.
- Step 6
When the oven is ready and your dough has doubled in size, divide your dough into two pieces and shape them into balls. Flour a work surface and a rolling pin. Roll each piece of dough into a 10-inch round.
- Step 7
Transfer one round to a piece of floured parchment or a well-floured pizza peel. Spread a scant cup of the tomato or pizza sauce onto the dough. Add about 5 or 6 heaping tablespoons of the cashew mozzarella to the pizza. Use the back of your spoon to spread each dollop into a flat circle.
- Step 8
Use your pizza peel to transfer the pizza, or carefully transfer the parchment paper with the pizza on top, to your preheated pizza stone, baking steel or baking sheet. Bake each pizza for 10 minutes, or until the edges begin to brown. Top the pizza with basil leaves, if using, and serve.
- If you have a kitchen thermometer handy, aim for water temperature of 110 degrees. One shortcut for lukewarm water: Combine hot water with cold water in about 1:3 or 1:4 proportions. For this recipe, use ¼ cup hot water and ½ cup ice cold water.
Private Notes
Cooking Notes
For a more convincing fresh mozzarella texture and taste, add a little nutritional yeast, miso paste, and flour or corn starch. Remember the mixture will solidify significantly as it cooks so it's ok if it seems runny at first, but if it's too thick, it will come out of the oven feeling dry and crumbly.
I took a major shortcut on this. I used a pre made crust, pizza sauce and some homemade almond ricotta. Baked at 425 for 10 mins. Topped w fresh basil, red pepper flakes and the tiniest drizzle of agave nectar. Amazing!
Simple, don't use tomato sauce, that is liquid and thus evaporates, but peeled tomatoes that you can reduce to the desired compactness by working them with your hands in a bowl. You just need to add to them salt and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.
1 tsp active dry yeast = 3/4 tsp instant yeast
This is a sad vegan pizza. I would call this an early-stage-vegan pizza. Why try to copy a cheese idea? Simply go for a Great Pizza. Just a a delicious sauce and fabulous sautéed and roasted veggies, fresh herbs. You will top any pizza made with a fake cheese or fake meats. Choose real, delicious veggies and cook them to be wonderful. Vegan life isn’t about fake foods. Just make your food vegan AND delicious.
Vegan life is about not harming animals. It's not a diet plan. Enjoy "fake" food and junk food if and when you you like. So many great recipes out there and in here. Thanks for including Vegan recipes NYT!
The cashew mozzarella would benefit from some onion powder, garlic powder and nutritional yeast. And I think it will burn at 500 degrees for 10 minutes. Better to add it afterwards. The heat of the pizza will heat it nicely.
Add liquid to cashews to achieve desired consistency.
For a more convincing fresh mozzarella texture and taste, add a little nutritional yeast, miso paste, and flour or corn starch. Remember the mixture will solidify significantly as it cooks so it's ok if it seems runny at first, but if it's too thick, it will come out of the oven feeling dry and crumbly.
I took a major shortcut on this. I used a pre made crust, pizza sauce and some homemade almond ricotta. Baked at 425 for 10 mins. Topped w fresh basil, red pepper flakes and the tiniest drizzle of agave nectar. Amazing!
I was stoked about the cheese because I love cashews, but mine either didn’t come out right or it simply lacks the substantial texture and bite characteristic of cheese. It wasn’t bad, but it didn’t hit the cheese pizza spot for me.
I thought this was just ok. The vegan cheese was not half bad - it would be an ingenious base for a cheese-style spread (perhaps with smoky paprika) but wasn't convincing as mozzarella. I enjoyed the pizza anyway because I made a good sourdough crust (I'm guessing this crust recipe is good too) but it didn't have the mouth feel of melted cheese. I might be happier with a vegan pizza that dispenses with "cheese" altogether and adds roasted veggies or similarly interesting topping
Not the finest texture or taste, but decent. I often hear that people use nutritional yeast flakes for a cheesier taste/texture.
1 tsp active dry yeast = 3/4 tsp instant yeast
I would appreciate any pointers on how to substitute active dry yeast here for instant yeast?
Check seriouseats (dot) com; search for yeast. They have a primer on different types, and implications of substitution.
This looks great! Any tips for how to keep the tomato sauce nice and saucy (not dried out) when cooking at 500 deg F for 10 minutes?
Simple, don't use tomato sauce, that is liquid and thus evaporates, but peeled tomatoes that you can reduce to the desired compactness by working them with your hands in a bowl. You just need to add to them salt and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.
What is "looser" in the context of hummus/grainy liquid? Viscosity I suppose?
I think it refers here to how liquidy the mixture is. However, I found it ambiguous because how loose is your hummus versus my hummus? I don't know that there's a constant. When I made the recipe today I made the cashew mixture about as loose as my hummus, which is fairly loose. Any more liquidy and I don't think it would have worked.
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