Easy Vegan Pizza

Apparently there is some discourse about whether or not active yeast is a vegan ingredient. I say yes because I seriously doubt yeast has the capacity to feel anything. Maybe that’s an immediate turn-off for some, but not for me. When making any sort of dough, you have to use yeast, otherwise it will never rise. So, get a cup of warm (NOT HOT – THIS WILL KILL THE YEAST) water and pour it into the bowl of a stand mixer (or a large mixing bowl if using your hands to knead or a hand mixer). Add a teaspoon of sugar and wait ten minutes.

When you come back to the yeast, it should be foamy and noticeably different than when you first put it into the bowl. If it hasn’t changed, wait another five minutes. If there is still no change – throw it out and start over. I won’t lie, I totally screwed up my first batch of this and had to start over, so don’t feel too bad if you also do. If you really want to avoid this, follow the instructions on the yeast packet like you are supposed to instead of just winging it like me. Once your yeast mixture is ready, add your salt and your olive oil, then turn your stand mixer on low and start slowly adding flour as you mix it. Once it is all combined pretty well, dust your work surface with flour and take out your dough. Start kneading it by hand until you have a pretty smooth ball. Once it’s at that stage, add it to a bowl and brush with olive oil. Cover it with saran wrap or some sort of covering and let it sit in warm area for an hour or until it has doubled in size.

Once the dough is ready, take it out of the bowl and cut it in half. Now you have enough dough for two pizzas! Yay! Set one piece of dough aside. Take the other piece of dough and roll it out until it is about 12 inches across. I used a rolling pin for a little bit and once it felt good enough, transferred it to a pizza pan and finished stretching it there. Now you can make your sauce. This is really simple and very customizable if you hate some of the spices I used. Basically all you do is add your canned tomato sauce to a pot on the stove and heat it up. I had mine on medium low. Once it is heated, add your spices to taste and let it simmer while you get ready to do everything else. Once it is how you want it, add your sauce to the dough. I used around half a cup to a cup of sauce, but this is really just however you want it to be. Then add your vegan cheese of choice – I used the So Delicious Vegan Mozzarella. It melts super well and is very creamy. It also tastes very similar to real mozzarella according to my non-vegan Wisconsin native best friend, so I think that’s a good testament to how yummy it is.

Next, put the pizza in the oven. It should be ready at 450 degrees. Here is the important part: cook time will vary depending on your oven. Start with ten minutes and check after that. If the dough seems really gooey, add another five minutes, but keep a careful eye on it or it will burn. Once it’s done, take it out of the oven and cut immediately. Then eat it, baby! Congrats, you just made your own pizza and absolutely zero animals were harmed in making it!

Ingredients:

For the dough:

• 1 packet active dry yeast
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt, I used pink Himalayan salt
• 2 tbsp olive oil, plus more for brushing over the dough and crust
• 3 cups all-purpose flour

For the sauce:

• Two 15 oz cans of tomato sauce
• 1 tsp Italian seasoning
• 1 tsp ground sage
• 1 tsp basil
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp salt and black pepper, to taste
• Up to ¼ cup of sugar, to taste

For the pizzas themselves:

• 1 bag So Delicious Vegan Mozzarella cheese or your preferred vegan cheese
• Either leave the pizza plain as it is or customize with whatever other toppings you want! I used 1 green bell pepper, 3 small red and orange sweet peppers, ¼ of a red onion, half of a large Portobello mushroom and 1 clove of minced garlic to make a vegan supreme pizza! Get creative and make something yummy.