Vegan White Pizza w/ Dairy Free Mozzarella, Truffle + Roasted Garlic Oil, and Parsley Pesto
Difficulty: 3/5 (5 being hardest)
Spice Level: 1/3 (3 being spiciest)
Prep & Cook Time: 80 minutes
Servings: 8 slices
The Challenge: Vegan White Pizza
White pizza is classically dough, a garlic infused oil base, melted mozzarella + romano cheeses, and then light toppings like parsley/pesto/tomatoes. Recreating vegan is no easy feat, but instead of just recreating (as always) I wanted to up the game a bit here. For this pizza, we are going 100% from scratch. The dough is homemade (and will be the best damn dough you've ever had), the vegan dairy free mozzarella is homemade, and the roasted garlic + truffle infused oil is homemade.
That's right folks this is from the hearth and made with love. It takes about 90 minutes, but a significant amount of that time is waiting for cashews to soak, dough to rise, and garlic to roast. Overall, its a relatively simple, low-ingredient dish.
So how are we going to make that wonderful buffalo mozzarella vegan? Well, we won't. See, I don't think vegan should need to taste 100% like the original. Instead, we take a concept and make it amazing for plant-based eating. For the mozzarella, we are making a very soft spreadable version via my friend the cashew along with a healthy dose of nutritional yeast to give it that nutty + cheesy element.
The dough is simple, but the key is organic bread flour over AP flour. Bread flour gives you a crispier crust (not crunchy). Ever made homemade pizza and you can't pick up a slice because the dough is too soft? Yep me too. Thanks to some research I found that bread flour creates a crispier more decadent crust. And the research was right. This crust is too die for!!
Okay okay I could keep going. Let's just get into it.
Ingredients:
Pizza Crust
- 2 cups organic bread flour (can sub AP flour but I really recommend bread flour)
- 1/2 tsp coconut sugar
- 1/2 envelope instant dry yeast
- 1 tsp salt
- 3/4 cup warm water
- 1 tbl olive oil
Dairy Free Mozzzarella
- 1 cup raw cashews (soaked in very hot water for 60 seconds)
- 1/4 cup plain vegan yogurt (I used Silk plain, unsweetened)
- 1/2 lemon, juiced
- 1/2 cup unsweetened rice or soy milk
- 3/4 tsp salt + onion powder
- 3 tbl nutritional yeast
- 6 tbl tapioca flour
Truffle + Roasted Garlic Oil
- 1 garlic head
- 1.5 tbl of black truffle oil
- 1.5 tbl of olive oil
- 1 tbl nutritional yeast
- pinch of salt + pepper
Parsley Pesto
- 1.5 cup tightly packed fresh parsley
- 1 cup tightly packed arugula
- 0.5 cup tightly packed fresh basil
- 1/4 cup sunflower seedes
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1 tbl lemon juice
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tbl olive oil
- 1 tbl nutritional yeast
Other
- 2 roma tomatoes, sliced
- 1 shallot, sliced into long strips
- 10-12 pieces of fresh basil
Equipment You'll Need:
Cutting Board . Sharp Cutting Knife . Measuring Cups . Measuring Spoons . Food Processor . Large Boiling Pot . Rolling Pin . Ravioli or Cookie Press . Parchment Paper . Silpat (optional) . Baking Sheet . Medium Frying Pan
Before You Cook:
- Wash and cut all fresh ingredients
- Preheat oven to 375F
- Bring 3 cups of water to a boil and pour over cashews for cheese, soak one hour
1. Mix flour, sugar, salt, and yeast for dough together in a large mixing bowl. Slowly pour in warm water, mixing with a wooden spoon. Mix together with your hands to form a dough ball. Pour olive oil over top and mix in with hands until well blended. Place into a large clean bowl that has been rubbed down with 1 tsp of olive oil. Cover and store in a warm place. Let dough rise for 60 minutes. It should be 1.5-2x in size.
2. While the dough rises and cashews are soaking, we will begin to roast our garlic. Break all the cloves out of the head but leave the skin on. Coat with 1 tbl of olive oil and a pinch of salt + pepper. Place into oven at 375F and roast for 25-30 minutes in parchment paper or aluminum foil (enclose the cloves int either and make sure sealed tight).
3. While waiting for dough, cashews, and garlic, add all the pesto ingredients to the food processor and blend until smooth texture. Typically, I blend 15-20 seconds, scrape down sides, and repeat 2-3 more times. Move into a bowl and refrigerate until serving.
4. Once the garlic cloves are done and can be handled, remove the skins. Separate 5 cloves out and place into a small mixing bowl/ramekin. Leave the rest aside for topping on pizza. Mix the 5 cloves with the rest of the truffle oil and garlic oil ingredients with a fork, breaking up the cloves. Mix well and set aside. Increase oven heat to 475F.
5. After the cashews have soaked for 40-45 minutes, drain, and add to a food processor with the rest of the cheese ingredients. Blend in the food processor until smooth for about 50-60 seconds.
6. Add the cashew mixture to a medium pot over medium heat and stir for about 5 minutes until it starts to firm. Remove from heat and continue to stir for another 2-3 minutes until a thick firm "mozzarella ball" has formed. Cover and place into the refrigerator.
7. At this point, the dough should be done. Place the dough onto a floured surface and roll out to about a 12-inch pizza dough size. Place onto a pizza pan or stone (I prefer a pizza pan).
8. After rolling out the dough, spread on the truffle garlic oil. Next, using a tablespoon scoop out large chunks of the mozzarella cheese and place onto the dough. Use a finger or the back of the tablespoon to gently flatten the cheese down so it creates little mozzarella cheese chunks. Continue this all over the pizza. I usually use about 3/4 of the cheese and leave open spots for other toppings.
9. To finish, top with sliced roma tomatoes, the rest of the garlic, shallot strips, and pop into the oven at 475F for 10-12 minutes. I broil the pizza at 525 for a last 2 minutes. Once out, top with fresh basil immediately (the heat will cook it slightly) and when ready to serve sprinkle on some pesto. Enjoy!
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