How to prepare a vegan and healthy pizza to suit you

Pizzas drive us crazy and crazy. For the dough, for the ingredients or for everything together, what began to be known as fast food now It is part of the diet of many people. In any supermarket we can find dozens of varieties of very cheap refrigerated and frozen pizzas and rarely does a full cart not contain at least a couple of varieties.

Pizzas can be an acceptable meal or they can be bad choices (such as processed and packaged ones), it will depend on the ingredients we choose. A commercial pizza is not the same as a homemade one.

It is not that the homemade is better because it is “homemade” but because we can choose healthier ingredients and control at all times what we want them to contain or not.

A delicious vegan pizza from the dough to the toppings

At home we can make pizzas that you will never find in the supermarket: with kale chips, with homemade tomato sauce, with an integral base of cereals and legumes, with vegan cheese, with nuts…

Mass

Choose better whole grain flours to make a homemade dough. Whole wheat flour, for example, but it can also be combined with others such as corn flour, quinoa flour, spelled flour, buckwheat flour, etc., legume flours such as chickpea flour, adding soy or pea protein to powder, or even put seeds in the dough.

Find a pizza dough recipe that you like and customize it to your liking. It is a matter of adding more water or more flour as needed. To add seeds do it at the beginning, with the flours. For example, you can put a tablespoon of broken flax seeds, chia seeds, sesame seeds, etc.

If you don’t have time or space to knead too bases can be made without kneading or buy flat breads that can serve as a base (even if they are not the same), such as whole wheat or corn tortillas, chapatis, large whole wheat pitas, etc.

Vegan pizza base dough recipe

Ingredients

1.5 cups of lukewarm water 1 and a half teaspoons of baker’s yeast A pinch of salt 3 cups of whole wheat flour 1 tablespoon of olive oil

Preparation

Mix the flour with the salt and yeast and add the lukewarm water. Mix well, cover, and let sit for 10 minutes. Knead the dough for about 10 minutes, until it has a rather smooth surface, even if it is a bit sticky. You can add a little more flour to knead. Shape the dough into a ball, cover it with the oil (distribute it over the entire surface with your hand), cover it and leave it in a warm place until it doubles in size. Scoop out the dough, shape it (makes 4 medium or 2 large pizzas) and place the pizzas on baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 210ºC with heat up and down. Put the toppings you want and bake each pizza at medium height, at 210ºC for 15 minutes or until it has grown and is golden.

The sauce

usually put first a thin layer of tomato sauce. Make a homemade tomato sauce with fresh tomatoes and spices and use it on your pizzas.

Don’t put a lot like this we prevent the dough from getting too wet and end up mushy instead of tender.

if you want to innovate swap the tomato sauce for a light hummus or a guacamole shaken with the blender. Spread a thin layer over the dough just as you would with the tomato sauce.

the toppings

Choose seasonal ingredients preferably. Cut the vegetables into thin slices so that they are cooked and browned in the oven.

If you use potatoes or sweet potatoes you will have to steam or cook them first because they take more time and would remain raw if we put them directly on the pizza.

Use what you have at home and like. Mushrooms, green asparagus, zucchini, cauliflower, onion, peppers, corn, kale, sliced ​​brussels sprouts, walnuts, pine nuts… are great.

By on top you can sprinkle with a pinch of salt for more flavor and to facilitate browning and roasting in the oven.

instead of minced meat uses fine textured soybeans. You just have to hydrate it and brown it in the pan with the ingredients you want before putting it on the pizza. I like it with thyme and soy sauce.

Don’t make rookie mistakes. Tofu, although it is called “tofu” in reality, it is not, it is called that because it is made in a similar way to cottage cheese, but putting sliced ​​tofu as it is will not give it the flavor or texture of cheese.

If you want it to have cheese on topyou can choose to make homemade vegan cheeses or buy some commercial vegan cheese, preferably one that is meltable.

Don’t overload the pizza of ingredients or the dough will hardly rise at all in the oven. Sprinkle on top with oregano or other spices that you like, for example black pepper.

You can also put sauce on top, trying not to be too much. For example barbecue sauce (form a spiral from the center of the pizza with a tablespoon of sauce), vegan bechamel, etc.

If you want the vegan cheese to melt better you can put heat only on top or soft gratin the last 3-4 minutes of cooking. Bake the pizza until the crust is done and looks lightly golden.

You can add more ingredients once the pizza is made, for example fresh avocado, olives, carrot strips, sprouts and sprouts… combine colours, flavors and textures.