Flex My Pizza
I like to flex. Not my muscles, my diet. I like being an omnivore – eating a real variety of foods. Sure, the health benefits of flexing are great, but the opportunity to eat great food also exists. I admit that when I make and eat vegetarian or vegan cuisine I do so out of no moral or ethical dilemma. I do so because it is tasty and there are a lot of WOW moments on offer. There is a lot of great vegetarian and vegan food out there and I like it.
One place that vegan eats can really shine is in the pizza arena. To create a vegan pizza is easy. You can even make a white pizza with a creamy sauce. When I make a vegan white pizza, I use a converted béchamel to make the cream sauce. I use what I call a 5-4-3 ratio – 5 TBSP oil, 4 TBSP flour, 3 cups liquid.
Here is how I do my vegan, roasted garlic white pizza with mushrooms and onions! Enjoy!
- 2 heads of garlic
- Olive oil
- 5 tbsp olive oil
- 4 tbsp flour
- 2 cups vegetable stock (or other stock, water would work, too)
- 1 cup soy cream (alternatively you could just use 3 cups of vegetable stock)
- ½ medium onion, diced
- ½ lb sliced mushrooms
- ¼ pound baby spinach
- Salt and pepper
- 1 cup water that is luke warm
- 2 teaspoons yeast (1 – 7g packet)
- 3 cups flour
- 1 tbsp sugar (you can use less if you want)
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp salt
- Preheat the oven to 350F
- Slice the heads of garlic open about ¾ of the way up from the root end.
- Roast 45 minutes to an hour. You can usually smell that sweet garlic smell coming from the oven when it is done.
- Set aside to cool.
- When cool, squeeze out the garlic cloves and mash them up well with a fork.
- In a sauce pan, heat 5 tbsp olive oil over medium heat until it is hot.
- Add 4 tbsp flour and whisk until all the lumps are gone. Continue whisking for about 5 minutes. If your using a green olive oil oil it will be hard to tell, but the flour will be slightly golden and look a little sandy. Essentially you are cooking the flour taste out.
- Whisk in the soy cream then whisk in the stock. Add the mashed roasted garlic and whisk well.
- Continue whisking. Raise the temperature of the mixture so it comes to a boil. It must boil or it will not thicken. When it thickens (it will coat the back of a spoon) set aside.
- Season with salt and pepper.
- Let cool.
- In a Saute pan heat some olive oil over medium heat. Add onions and sautee until translucent.
- Add mushrooms and cook but don’t brown.
- Add spinach and cook until wilted. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside and let cool.
- In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, mix water, yeast and sugar. Let sit 10 minutes, it will get foamy.
- Add half the flour and whisk the mixture until it is all incorporated. If you have time, you can let this sit for awhile and it will make for a more flavourful dough, (this is optional)
- Add the salt and olive oil. Whisk in the remaining flour slowly. You may have to use your hands. If you are using a stand mixer use the dough hook. The dough should start coming off the sides of the bowl. If the dough is a little sticky add a bit more flour.
- Knead for 15 minutes until it is nice and smooth and elastic.
- Oil a clean bowl, put in the dough, cover with a dish towel and let it rise in a warm place until doubled.
- Punch it down. Refrigerate for an hour if you have the time. If not, cut the dough in half. On a floured surface, roll the dough into the shape you want.
- Preheat the oven to 500F.
- Fit the dough to a pan sprayed with non stick spray. On the dough slather a nice layer layer of the vegan béchamel. Spread the mushroom and spinach mixture over the sauce.
- Place the pizza in the oven and bake cooking through until the béchamel and crust are singed and the mushrooms are browned a little about 10-12 minutes.
- Serve hot.
- The crust recipe makes 2 crusts so half the dough to make 1 pizza.
- For ease, use a bread maker to make the dough, just toss all the ingredients in and let the bread machine do it with the dough setting.
- Your favorite recipe for crust will also work. Purchased crust will do, too.
For my pizza, I rolled the dough into rectangles that fit my grill pan. I oiled my grill pan with olive oil and set the it on the stove over low heat. I placed the dough on the grill pan and let it grill until there were grill marks on the bottom. The I flipped it and cook the other side. Allow about 6-8 minutes per side. It is ok if it is a little underdone as it will continue to cook in the oven later. I then slathered the grilled dough with a nice layer layer of the vegan béchamel. Spread the mushroom and spinach mixture over the sauce.
Of course, you could just put a little tomato sauce with garlic, oregano, and basil on the pizza and enjoy!
Keep Eating! Keep Innovating!
How do you make your Pizzas? Do you like them vegan or or are you a meat lover? Let us know in the comments or on Facebook.
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