Delicious Roasted Garlic & Portobello Mushroom Vegan Pizza made from scratch in less than 1 hour!
Anyone for pizza?
......I thought so! Doesn't everyone like pizza?
I did once try a dairy free Daiya pizza and it was one of the worst things I have ever eaten. An anaemic flat tasteless crust topped with vegetable pieces which had definitely seen better days and cheese that was so bad I hope I never have to eat it again.
So when I came home from work last week with nothing planned for dinner and an almighty pizza craving there was no chance of me popping to the store to pick up a boxed frozen one. If I wanted pizza then I had to make it myself.
I just so happened to have everything I needed to make pizza at home but I didn't have much time as it was already pretty late and my son was so hungry he was about to chew his own arms off.
So I had to make one and I had to make it quick.
This Roasted Garlic & Portobello Mushroom Vegan Pizza comes together from start to finish in under one hour and doesn't take much effort except for a little kneading. You don't even need to make pizza sauce. It is full of fresh, tasty ingredients and I promise is much better than any frozen vegan pizza!
As you can tell I am not a fan of most of the vegan cheeses that are available so this pizza is not topped with any. I made some of my cashew cheese and drizzled that over the top but feel free to omit this if you can't be bothered to drag the blender out of the cupboard. It will be almost as delicious without!
This Roasted Garlic & Portobello Mushroom Pizza recipe makes enough pizza dough for two large pizzas. You can choose to make two, or once you have kneaded the dough split it into two portions and either keep it in the fridge overnight so you can make another pizza the next day, or pop it into a freezer bag, seal tightly and freeze it for up to three months. When you come to need it again remove from the freezer and leave to defrost at room temperature for a couple of hours or in the fridge overnight. Once it is defrosted you can carry on with the recipe as described below from the shaping part onwards.
The topping ingredients listed are enough to top the two pizzas. If you are just making one then half the quantities.
Roasted Garlic & Portobello Mushroom Pizza
Author:
Ingredients
For the roasted garlic
- 2 large whole bulbs/heads of garlic
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 2 small squares tin foil (large enough to wrap each garlic bulb in)
For the dough
- 375g / 3 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon instant yeast , also called quick acting or rapid
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 240mls / 1 cup of lukewarm water plus a few extra tablespoons , you might not need all of it or you may need a little more - see directions
For the toppings
- 160mls / ⅔ cup tinned crushed tomatoes (if you only have whole or chopped then blitz them in a blender or food processor for a minute) or 2/3 cup of my marinara sauce
- 2 large portobello mushrooms
- dried oregano , mixed herbs or italian herbs
- salt & pepper
- olive oil for brushing the mushrooms
- 2 handfuls fresh arugula
For the cashew cheese
- 75g / ½ cup cashew nuts (dry weight). Either soak overnight in cold water or cover with boiling water for 15 minutes)
- 4 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
- 120mls / ½ cup water
- salt & pepper
INSTRUCTIONS
- Start by preheating your oven to 350 degrees F.
- Brush your squares of foil with olive oil.
- Cut the top quarter off your garlic heads, straight across, so that the tops of the cloves are exposed. Discard the top part.
- Place in the middle of the foil and draw it up around the bulbs and squeeze tightly shut.
- Place on a tray and bake in the oven for 25 minutes.
- Check they feel squishy through the foil. Return to the oven for a few more minutes if not.
- When ready allow to cool in the foil.
- Turn the oven up to 450 °F.
- While the garlic is roasting place all of your dry dough ingredients in a bowl (with the yeast on the opposite side of the bowl to the salt).
- Add the olive oil and enough water to make a moist but not too sticky dough. Stir it with a spatula until the flour is absorbed. If it looks particularly dry add a couple of extra tablespoons of water.
- Scrape your mixture onto a clean and dry surface. If you think you will find kneading like this difficult then grease your surface and your hands with some olive oil. This will make it easier to handle. Do not use more flour to knead on or add more flour during the process! If you do you risk your pizza base becoming dense and heavy.
- Start kneading. If you are not experienced in kneading dough I recommend you watch a video on You Tube to help perfect your technique. You will need to knead for about 10 minutes. Your dough will start out quite sticky but the more you knead the smoother and less sticky it will become. After roughly ten minutes your dough will be smooth and if you try to squeeze the ball of dough flat between your two hands it will bounce back into it’s ball shape quite readily.
- Grease a mixing bowl with a little oil and place your dough in it. Cover and leave to sit at room temperature for 15 minutes.
- Remove the dough from the bowl and cut into two pieces.
- Rub some oil over your work surface and roll your dough out on it into a circle shape (about 4 mm thick) with a rolling pin then place it a baking tray.
- Spread 1/3 cup of crushed tomato or marinara sauce on each pizza.
- Sprinkle with salt, pepper and a generous amount of dried herbs.
- Slice your mushrooms and arrange them over the top. Brush with a little olive oil.
- Unwrap your garlic and squeeze each clove out gently.Start squeezing from the base and they should pop out easily.
- Arrange the cloves on your pizza.
- Bake at 450 for 15 - 18 minutes.
- While the pizza is baking add the ingredients for your cashew cheese to a food processor or blender.
- Blitz until completely smooth.
- When the pizza is cooked remove from the oven.
- Drizzle with cashew cheese and top with fresh arugula.
- Enjoy!
NUTRITION
Nutritional information is provided for convenience & as a courtesy. The data is a computer generated estimate so should be used as a guide only.
Makayla says
I used this recipe as a basis for customizable homemade pizza. The dough recipe is amazing! I made it into 6 personal sized pizzas and used vegan sausage, mushrooms, fresh garlic, sun-dried tomatoes and several other toppings. I used the “vegan pizza sauce” recipe for this and it was so yummy!
A Virtual Vegan says
I'm so pleased you enjoyed it! This is such an old recipe and I'd forgotten about it. I might just have to give it an update with some new pics etc!
Lori says
Delish! I don't like vegan "cheese" substitutes much, either. Thanks.