I’m not sure how the idea really came about but we recently decided (while eating pizza, of course) that there are so many different kinds of yummy vegan pizzas that one could probably eat pizza every night for an entire week and not tire of it. Well this sounded like a challenge I was more that willing to take on, and you know what… it is in fact quite easy to eat vegan pizza every night for a week and still want more, go figure.
Day 1
Deep Dish Pizza with Sausage, Mushrooms and Spinach
This is a favorite at my house and reminds me a the pizza we used to get at Zachary’s when we lived down in the bay area, so good! I use this recipe and the only changes I make are I use a springform pan instead of a skillet and I swap about 1/3 cup of the flour for cornmeal. I use the Italian sausage from Fieldroast and Daiya mozzarella non-dairy cheese.
Day 2
Sweet Potato and Leek Pizza
This pizza came about after having this for dinner a few weeks ago. It was really good but I couldn’t help thinking that it would make an even better pizza, hey I was right!
The basic idea is an herbed crust topped with a white bean puree and then piled high sauteed leeks, garlic and sweet potatoes then top that with a breadcrumb, rosemary, olive oil mixture.
Crust:
1 cup warm water
1 tsp. sugar or agave nectar
2 cups white whole wheat flour
¾ cup all purpose flour
2-3 tsp. dried herbs of your choice (parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme perhaps…)
3 Tbsp. olive oil
2-1/4 tsp. yeast
I used my bread machine for the crust but here are the basic directions if you are making crust by hand:
combine yeast, sweetener and water in a small bowl and set aside for about 5 minutes. In a larger bowl combine flour, salt and herbs. Add in yeast mixture and then oil and mix until well combined. Knead dough on a floured surface adding more flour if necessary to get a nice dough (you know… smooth, elastic, not sticky). Let dough rise for about an hour then roll out into desired shape and add toppings.
To make the white bean mixture:
½ cup onion, finely diced
3 cloves of garlic, pressed
½ – 1 cup vegetable broth
15 oz. can cannellini beans, rinsed
saute the onion and garlic in a little broth until soft, adding more if the pan becomes dry. Add the beans and about another 1/3 cup of broth and simmer covered for about 10 minutes. Mash the mixture with a masher or transfer to a blender or food processor. Add more broth if necessary to get the consistency of fluffy mashed potatoes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Set aside while you prepare the leek sweet potato mixture.
Sweet potato/ Leek topping:
3 medium leeks sliced and cleaned, white parts only
3 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
Salt and pepper to taste
1 Tbsp. chopped fresh rosemary
1 large or 2 small sweet potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced, steamed
Saute the leeks for a few minutes in a little olive oil, add the garlic, rosemary and salt and pepper. Continue cooking until just becoming soft. Add the already slightly steamed sweet potatoes and cook for a few more minutes.
Assemble the pizza:
spread the bean mixture on the rolled out dough, and spread leek mixture evenly over that. If you want to add the breadcrumb mixture, combine about 1/2 cup of breadcrumbs, a Tbsp. or so of fresh rosemary and a little olive oil and sprinkle that over the whole thing.
Bake at 400 degrees for about 20-25 minutes or until crust begin to brown.
Day 3
Pesto Pizza!
A classic, right? I think this one may just be my favorite, tough call though so don’t quote me on that. This one is super quick to put together, the dough only needs to rise for 15 minutes! Make your pesto ahead of time and you’re looking at under an hour…nice.
Crust:
(Adapted from 1001 Low-fat vegetarian recipes)
1-1/2 cups all purpose flour
2-1/4 tsp. yeast
½ tsp. salt
1 cup hot tap water
3 tsp. agave nectar
1 to 1-1/2 cups whole wheat flour
Combine AP flour, yeast and salt. Add hot water and agave, mix until fairly smooth. Add enough wheat flour to get a dough that you can knead. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead in flour until you have a smooth dough that is not sticky. Cover the dough with the bowl and let rise for about 15 minutes. Roll dough out into a large circle or rectangle and add toppings.
Spread your dough with a nice slathering of vegan pesto (my fave is the Besto Pesto recipe from the Uncheese book), top with: tomato slices, kalamata olives, roasted garlic, red onion, artichoke hearts and bake for 20-25 minutes in a 400 degree oven.
Day 4
Kale, Potato and Sausage Calzone
On day 4, I switched it up a bit with a calzone, still technically a pizza, right? This was inspired by my love of kale, potatoes and sausage – makes sense. I added a little cashew ricotta and topped with marinara, another winner!
Crust:
1-1/2 cup water
1 tsp. sugar
3 Tbsp. olive oil
2 cup all purpose flour
1 to 1-1/2 cups white whole wheat
½ tsp. salt
1 tsp. each of sesame seeds, poppy seeds, garlic powder, dried onion
Either add all ingredients to your bread machine on the pizza cycle or prepare as the dough recipe for the leek pizza above, except divide dough into 6 equal parts and roll those out on prepared baking sheets.
Filling:
1 potato, peeled, diced and steamed or boiled until just soft but not falling apart
1 package Gimme Lean Sausage
1 bunch kale, deveined and roughly chopped
Dash of cayenne
Cook crumbled sausage until nicely browned, then add the already soft potatoes and cook for a few minutes. Then add the kale in batches until wilted, you may need to add a little water to the pan. Season with salt, pepper and cayenne if desired.
Assembly:
Divide filling evenly among dough circles then divide cashew ricotta evenly and seal up the calzones by folding in half and pinching edges together. Bake at 425 for about 20 minutes or until the calzones are just starting to brown. Serve with warmed marinara sauce on top.Day 5
Thai Peanut Pizza
Let me start off by saying that this was a really un-photogenic pizza to start off with, that coupled with the fact that there was a bunch of schmootz smeared on my camera lens made for particularly bad pictures. So let me be very clear – this was a delicious pizza, pretty?, not so much. I used the Peanut Sauce recipe from Vegan on the Cheap and it was delicious by itself, I had to talk myself out of licking the blade on my food processor after I had already cleaned out the bowl.
Crust:
1-1/4 c water
2-3/4 cup white whole wheat flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. agave
3 Tbsp. peanut sauce
Prepare dough as for the recipe above for the leek pizza or use your machine.
When dough has been rolled spread peanut sauce on top. Top with:
Tofu (marinated in soy sauce, canola oil, peanut butter and sriracha then pre-baked)
Chopped snow peas
Grated carrot
Sliced green onion
Thinly sliced red bell pepper
Bake at 400 degrees for about 20-25 minutes, top with fresh chopped cilantro before serving.
Day 6
Mexican Pizza
I am of the school of thought that if it is on a pizza crust than it is a pizza. But I see how some could argue that this is really just a tostada on a pizza crust, but for the sake of pizza week, let’s just call it a pizza. This is the same crust as the thai peanut pizza, with the water reduced to 1 cup and a 1/3 cup of salsa added in (and omit the peanut sauce, of course). I made 6 small crusts so everyone could have what they like on theirs.
The basic idea is this, make and roll your dough and top crust or crusts with 1 can of refried beans and bake for about 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and top with: lettuce, black olives, chopped tomato, sliced green onions, guacamole, vegan sour cream or cashew cream and a drizzle of Nacho Mmmm Sauce.
Day 7
White Pizza with Broccoli and Mushrooms
For the final day of pizza week we had White Pizza with Broccoli and Mushrooms. I have made this a few times before and it always surprises me just how good it is. I used a beer crust because it is made without yeast and the amount of yeast I have gone through this past week is nothing short of absurd. Not to mention it’s super quick and like the best crust ever!
The pizza recipe can be found here:
http://www.vegetariantimes.com/recipe/white-pizza-with-broccoli-and-mushrooms/
The only changes I made was using vegan mozzarella and almond milk, I also added a few chopped garlic cloves in with the margarine for the sauce.
Beer Crust
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup white whole wheat flour
3 Tbsp. ground flax seed
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
12 oz. can or bottle of your favorite brew (I used Deschutes Chainbreaker White IPA)
Combine all dry ingredients in a medium bowl, add beer and mix well. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead a few times, this dough will be a little more sticky than normal crust dough. Roll out into desired shape and top. You will probably need to use your hands instead of a rolling pin because it is so sticky.