Mamma Mia, a firm favorite in our household! Nothing better than homemade dough - this easy Basic Vegan Pizza Dough recipe is perfect for both beginners & pizza-holics!
❤️ What's Great About this Recipe
- It's vegan!
- only simple ingredients
- healthier alternative to store-bought pizza dough
- easy to make and perfect for pizza making beginners
- the pizza turns out deliciously fluffy
- the recipe is authentic and traditional
When it comes to comfort food, pizza is definitely at the top of my list! For enjoying a delicious pizza at home, there are some fairly good ready-made options out there, however, nothing beats a homemade pizza made from scratch! And this is where this Basic Vegan Pizza Dough recipe comes in!
With ready-made vegan pizzas, I always find the toppings are great but pre-made dough simply lacks the kind of flexibility, rise, and soft crunch that I love about freshly-made pizza.
This homemade Basic Vegan Pizza Dough recipe has been our go-to in our household - it simply creates the perfect, fluffy but crunchy base for our homemade pizzas, and on top of it all: It's also super easy to make!
This recipe is truly perfect for newbies to pizza making as well as true connoisseurs. It's solely made from simple ingredients you can find in any well-stocked supermarket and does not require any fancy equipment.
🌱 Ingredients & Notes
Here is everything you need for this recipe:
- Bread flour - I recommend using strong bread flour for creating your very own homemade pizza dough.
- Dry active yeast - yeast is vital for your pizza dough to rise and become wonderfully soft and fluffy during the baking process. For this recipe, I have used half of a sachet of dry active yeast (roughly 3.5 grams).
- Water - the water you're using needs to be lukewarm - not hot or cold. The water temperature will activate the dry active yeast and put it to work to make the magic happen in your pizza dough.
Why using bread flour is better for pizza dough
A few pro's of using bread flour are:
- better & firmer texture than all purpose flour
- soaks up liquid better, creating a softer, fluffier texture
- gives a great soft crunch on the outside edges
Equipment
- a large mixing bowl
- wooden spoon
- measuring jug
- clingfilm (or a clean kitchen towel)
- an oven
How to make vegan pizza dough
Step 1: Combining the ingredients
To prepare the pizza dough I like to use a large mixing bowl and begin by combining the dry ingredients: bread flour, salt, and yeast. Combining these first ensures that all ingredients are evenly spread in the mix.
Create a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and carefully pour in most of the lukewarm water. Leaving a little behind will allow you to adjust the dough texture as this can slightly vary depending on the brand and quality of flour you're using. With my Sainsburys strong white bread flour, I've used around 90% of the water.
Step 2: Kneading
With a wooden spoon, start to combine the ingredients until they become too sticky to stir. At this point move on to using your hands and thoroughly combine the ingredients until a dough is formed. On a floured surface, knead the dough with your hands for about 2-3 minutes or until its surface is smooth.
Step 3: Rising time
Roll the dough into a large ball and place it back into the large mixing bowl. Brush the dough ball with a little olive oil, then cover the bowl with cling film or a clean kitchen towel and place it in a warm, dark place for 2 hrs to rise. Ideally pre-heat your oven to 50 degrees, turn it off, and place the bowl inside with the door shut. During this time your dough will double in size.
Once the 2 hrs elapse, remove the bowl and preheat your oven to 200C. Push the air out of the risen dough with your hand, then remove it from the bowl. Divide it in two parts and gently knead each half on a lightly floured surface for 1 minute.
Step 4: Shaping the pizza base
Use your hands to shape your pizza base: It's best to start by pressing down the ball of dough, then picking it up to carefully stretch it into a larger round shape. Place the dough back down and press it into place with your fingers. You're looking to get this dough to about 0.5-1cm thickness.
Step 5: Topping & Baking
Top your pizza with your roasted tomato pizza sauce & favorite toppings - I added chestnut mushrooms, spicy tomato relish, vegan chili cheese, and capers on this occasion (yum!).
Bake each pizza in the preheated oven for 12 minutes. Carefully remove it from the oven, cut it into slices and serve immediately.
How to freeze homemade pizza dough
You can prepare and freeze pizza dough for later use. You can for example easily scale this recipe to create some excess dough to freeze for future pizza creations, however, I personally find that the best results come from freshly made pizza dough.
If you're looking to freeze the dough, the best time to do so would be after the 2 hr rising time. Gently knead the dough with your hands on a floured surface for 2 minutes, then divide the dough into portion sizes. This recipe makes enough dough for two 18 inch pizzas, so if you've scaled up, take this into account.
Wrap the dough portions in cling film individually and transfer them to your freezer.
To defrost, simply place the dough at room temperature to defrost until soft, then knead on a lightly floured surface for 1 minute before forming your pizza bases.
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Vegan Pizza Dough
Ingredients
- 300 g strong white bread flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 sachet dry active yeast (3-4g)
- 200 ml water lukewarm
- a little olive oil
For the topping:
- roasted tomato pizza sauce
- your favorite vegetables
- vegan pizza cheese
Instructions
- In a large bowl combine strong white bread flour, salt and dry active yeast.
- Create a well in the middle of the flour mix and pour in the lukewarm water.
- Using a wooden spoon, stir the ingredients to combine. Once it becomes too sticky to stir, switch to using your hands.
- On a floured surface, knead the dough with your hands for about 2-3 minutes or until it's surface is smooth.
- Roll the dough into a ball, place it back into the large mixing bowl and brush with a little olive oil. Cover the bowl with cling film or a clean kitchen towel and place it in a warm, dark place for 2 hrs. Ideally heat your oven to 50 degrees, turn it off and place the bowl inside with the door shut whilst it doubles in size.
- Once the 2 hrs elapse, preheat your oven to 200C. Push the air out of the risen dough, then remove it from the bowl, divide it in two parts and gently knead each half on a lightly floured surface for 1 minute.
- Using your hands shape your pizza base. It's best to start by press down the ball of dough, then picking it up to carefully stretch it into a larger round shape. Place the dough back down and press it into place with the your fingers. You're looking to get this dough to about 0.5-1cm thickness.
- Top your pizza with your roasted tomato pizza sauce & favourite toppings, then bake it in the pre-heated oven for 12 minutes.
Notes
- It's important to use bread flour for the right texture
- the water needs to be lukewarm as it will otherwise not activate the yeast
- stick to the resting times for the dough
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