Basic Vegan Pizza Dough Recipe

Mamma Mia, a firm favourite in our household! Nothing better then homemade dough – this easy Basic Vegan Pizza Dough recipe is perfect for both beginners & pizza-holics!

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 were 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.

What you’ll need for this Basic Vegan Pizza Dough

Equipment

• a large mixing bowl
• wooden spoon
• measuring jug
• clingfilm (or a clean kitchen towel)
• an oven

Ingredients

Bread flour

I very. much prefer using bread flour over regular flour for this recipe and I highly recommend you go with a strong bread flour as well in recreating you’re very own homemade pizza.

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

Dry active yeast

Dry active 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)

Lukewarm water

Very important: 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.

How to make pizza dough

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.

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 throughly 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 it’s surface is smooth.

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.

Shaping the pizza base

Use 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.

The home stretch

Top your pizza with your roasted tomato pizza sauce & favourite toppings – I added chestnut mushrooms, spicy tomato relish, vegan chilli cheese and capers on this occasion (yum!).

Bake each pizza in the pre-heated oven for 12 minutes. Carefully remove it from the oven, cut into slices and serve immediately.

 

A view important things to note for this recipe to work out:

• 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

How to freeze homemade pizza dough

You can prepare and freeze pizza dough for a 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.

 

This recipe is:

• 100% vegan
• using simple ingredients
• easy to make
• deliciously fluffy
• traditional
• really delicious
• perfect for pizza making beginners

Print

Looking for more pizza inspo?

Roasted Tomato Pizza Sauce