Thursday, November 20, 2008

Dairy Free Pizza - and it's good too!



I never thought I'd be posting a dairy free pizza, but here it is. I'm still working out the kinks of the sauce and dough for my own personal tastes, but I've found the dairy free "cheese" that works and tastes better than just edible:

Follow Your Heart Vegan Gourmet Mozzarella cheese substitute and I buy it online at the Vegan Store. I shredded and used the whole block on the pizza.

Now, first let me say there is a trick to melting this. It has to be on a very high temperature. The dough I used (recipe below) says to top the pizza before cooking the dough, so basically you put the completed pizza in the oven at 375 and cook until the dough is finished. THEN you'll need to crank up the broiler on HIGH for a few minutes to melt the cheese.

Now that I've given you my secret to the cheese, here's the pizza:


The Sauce

15 oz. tomato sauce
6 oz. tomato paste
1 Tablespoon oregano
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp basil
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp dried onion, minced
2 Tablespoons sugar

Mix all ingredients together and allow flavors to mesh while you make the dough. *Note: something is "missing". Any suggestions? It's good, but not EXCELLENT.

The Dough

This dough is too bready for my tastes, but the flavor is good. I think next time I will use the same recipe but only use 3/4 of the dough and roll it out thinner. I'll try my hand at cinnamon sticks with the remaining 1/4. [Update: After trying it out, 3/4 of the dough does make a much better thickness (imo).]
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon white sugar
  • 1 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)

  1. Combine flour, salt, sugar, and yeast in a large bowl. Mix in oil and warm water. Spread out on a large pizza pan. Top as desired.
  2. Bake at 375 degrees C (190 degrees C) for 20 to 25 minutes.
Our new favorite pizza dough can be found here.

The pizza I have shown above is mushroom, smoked chicken, and cooked bacon in case anyone is curious. :)

4 comments:

Sarena Shasteen - The Non-Dairy Queen said...

I haven't tried that brand of cheese yet. The pizza looks so good!

Julie said...

I've tried this brand of cheese before and was sooo dissapointed. Thanks for the tip on turning it up on high, though, I'm gonna give it another try. This looks so good!

Becky @ BoysRuleMyLife said...

Julie - I understand your disappointment. I'm learning that different "cheeses" have different properties if you will. This one is certainly not for a really creamy dish and if you don't get that broiler on HIGH, it just won't melt.

I've started writing reviews of some DF products, too. Here's the one on this cheese:
http://mustfollowrecipes.blogspot.com/2009/06/follow-your-heart-vegan-gourmet-cheese.html

Thanks so much for commenting! Please let me know how it goes for you in your next try. :) I hope you enjoy it. For us, this is the closest we can get to pizza.

Becky @ MustFollowRecipes

Darcy said...

This is the brand of cheese I buy for my daughter (age 4). She loves it - even just plain slices of it. I can't stand the taste or texture, but I do use it in recipes that call for cheese and everyone in the family eats it without complaining.

How would I change the dough to make it gluten-free?

Thanks so much for your blog!