Vegan Pizza can only go without cheese? No way! That would be only half the fun. From now on, no more envious glances over to your friends' cheese-pulling pizzas: You can simply make your pizza with vegan cheese yourself! All you need is cashews, garlic, and (as a secret weapon for that cheesy flavor) nutritional yeast flakes! And while you're at it, go the extra mile and treat yourself to a spelt pizza dough instead of the standard version. Top it off with fresh tomatoes, red onions, vibrant green zucchinis, and toasted pine nuts and you're good to go. Those envious looks will be all yours from now on!
MY TIP:
You can now find nutritional yeast flakes in the organic section of almost every well-stocked supermarket or health food store. Not into spelt? Of course, the pizza dough also works in the classic version – after all, that's also vegan.
Ingredients
For 4 servings
For the spelt pizza dough
For the pizza
For the vegan cheese
Equipment
nutritional values per serving
Preparation in 10 steps
The day before: Place cashews in a bowl, cover with water, and let soak overnight.
For the spelt pizza dough: Mix yeast with 3 tbsp lukewarm water in a bowl to form a paste and let it sit covered for 10 minutes. Mix flour and salt in a second bowl. Add yeast paste along with 300 ml lukewarm water and oil to the flour and knead in the food processor for 10 minutes (by hand for about 20 minutes) until a smooth dough is formed. Let the dough rise covered in a warm place for 2-3 hours.
For the vegan cheese: Peel and finely chop garlic. Drain cashews in a sieve and rinse with cold water. Put them in a mixing bowl with garlic, nutritional yeast, and 300 ml of water. Use an immersion blender to puree the mixture finely for about 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside.
Prepare gas grill, oven, or pizza oven with pizza stone for maximum direct heat.
Peel onions, halve them, and cut them into fine strips. Wash tomatoes and slice them thinly. Wash zucchinis and peel them lengthwise into thin strips using a vegetable peeler.
Knead the pizza dough well with your hands again and divide it into equal-sized pieces. Roll out on a floured work surface to the size of the pizza peel. Dust the bottoms with flour and place the pieces of dough on a floured pizza peel. Spread 1/4 of the sauce from the inside out on the dough using a spoon. Leave about a 2 cm edge.
Boil cashew mixture in a pot over medium heat, stirring constantly. Let it simmer while stirring until a thick, melted cheese-like consistency is achieved. If the mixture is too thick, stir in a little more water.
Spread 1/4 of the yeast sauce on the pizza. Top with 1/4 of the onions, tomatoes, and zucchinis. Roast pine nuts in a pan without oil over medium heat for about 3 minutes.
Bake pizza in a gas grill (about 5 minutes), oven (about 8 minutes), or pizza oven (about 3 minutes) until the edges are crispy and brown.
If you are preparing the pizza in the pizza oven, you should rotate it by 180 degrees after half of the baking time so that it browns evenly.
Sprinkle finished pizza with pine nuts. Season to taste with freshly ground pepper and drizzle with olive oil.
Tags
Franzi loves BBQ in street food style and drops everything for Satay skewers, Bulgogi, and Bánh Mi. In the BURNHARD team, she texts as if there's no tomorrow, creates recipes and guides, and fights collective vitamin deficiency with legendary grill salads. Her absolute favorite: Spicy Thai papaya salad. Add another Gin Tonic, and the Queen is amused!