Help with Vegan Pizza

[Guest guest]

UPDATE. Thanks to everyone for your advice and help on the vegan pizza. One

consistent idea was to use a pizza stone to help the pizza cook evenly. I

didn't have time to buy a pizza stone, but I got Daiya cheese and another

premade refrigerated pizza crust from Rainbow and decided to try again. When I

got home, it hit me to try baking it in my cast-iron skillet. It just so

happened that the pre-made crust from Rainbow fit perfectly in the flat bottom

of the pan. I preheated the cast iron skillet in the oven to simulate the idea

of preheating the pizza stone. The round piece of cardboard that came with the

prepackaged pizza crust was perfect as a place to assemble the pizza. Using the

cardboard, I was able to easily slip the assembled pizza on to the hot iron

skillet that was already in the oven.

 

Doing all of this ... yes, the pizza cooked evenly! No more mushy center and

liquefied pizza. I thought the daiya cheese was okay, but my boyfriend didn't

like the taste of it. He likes Follow Your Heart mozzarella much better. The

only problem with the pizza was that the premade crust from Rainbow is just a

crispy hard crust, just seemedl like a frozen pizza from the box; it doesn't

give you the real pizza pie feeling that you get when you get pizza from a

restaurant. I figured what we need is better dough and a better pizza crust.

 

So ... last night I used some refrigerated Trader Joe's garlic and herb pizza

dough. This one is a bag of dough that you open out on to a floured surface,

let sit for 20 minutes, then spread it out and add your toppings. I preheated

the skillet in the oven like I had done before. Then, I realized the

instructions said nothing about how to transfer the pizza from the floured

surface to my hot iron skillet sitting in the oven. Thankfully I had not yet

assembled the pizza. The only solution I could think of was to assemble the

pizza directly in the iron skillet. So I pulled the skillet out of the oven,

and *carefully* (using a spatula) pressed the dough into the hot skillet. I

tried pressing the dough around the sides to make a traditional crust, but of

course it was difficult since the dough was starting to cook already as I was

pressing it in. What a mess! But I did eventually get the dough spread out,

was able to apply the tomato sauce, veggies, and soy mozzarella. We ended up

needing to bake it for about 20 minutes instead of 8 to 10 minute like it said

in the instructions.

 

The good news is ... finally, this actually did turn out more like the kind of

restaurant pizza that I was looking for! The crust was a little tough of course

because of the way I pressed it in the hot pan. But I think this iron skillet

method of cooking has a real future. Today I thought, I wonder if it's very

common for people to make pizzas in an iron skillet? Maybe I can find some

advice out there? I googled " iron skillet for pizza " and whaddyaknow, lots of

recipes popped up!

 

I even found this one from Whole Foods, which gives very specific instructions

on how to make a pizza in an iron skillet.

 

http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipes/recipe.php?recipeId=1756

 

It looks like I don't need to preheat the skillet in the oven. Then I can just

assemble the pizza while it's cool and bake according to the instructions in the

link. I'm very excited about trying this.

 

I also found this skillet that looks like it would kick ass for making larger

pizzas.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Lodge-Logic-Pre-Seasoned-17-Inch-Skillet/dp/B00063RWVG

 

Just make sure to have some awesome oven mitts because the iron skillet handles

get extremely hot in the oven!

 

Also, at Trader Joe's, my boyfriend fully expected to stock up on the frozen

roasted vegetable pizzas that have been our staple for the past couple years ...

I told him, be prepared to be disappointed, I heard on bayareaveg they got

discontinued ... and sure enough, THERE WERE NO MORE cheeseless pizzas in the

frozen pizza area. We inquired at the Customer Service counter; the lady there

checked in the computer and confirmed they have been discontinued. She said the

only reason it would be discontinued is if it is in the lower 10th percentile of

products sold nationwide. She said it may have sold really well in San

Francisco, but if it didn't do well nationally, it gets discontinued. Doesn't

that suck!?!!?? I don't understand that. Maybe because it's made specially for

TJs, so they have to make sure it has national appeal. I wish people in the

rest of the country were not so close-minded that they avoided/overlooked this

wonderful, convenient, fabulously vegan party food that was so good!!!! We

always had these pizzas on hand when we had friends over, and all our

meat-eating friends LOVE them! Those pizzas were so awesome. It was great

outreach for the people who love pizza and don't have time to cook, and didn't

realize how tasty and cheap a vegan pizza could be. It makes me mad that this

pizza is no longer available to us, just because people in the rest of the

country are idiots.

 

Oh well. Such is life. The good thing coming out of this is that maybe I will

eventually become a fabulous HOMEMADE vegan pizza maker! We shall see.

 

Take care everybody,

Rachel D.

San Francisco, CA

[Guest guest]

In a decidedly un-vegan, very cheese and meat-heavy place, I found ...

FANTASTIC, amazing, oh-my-god-it's-so-good PRE-MADE VEGAN PIZZA DOUGH!!!!!!!!

 

For $3.00 per bag!

 

http://www.luccaravioli.com/

 

The listed ingredients are: flour, water, yeast, salt, sugar, and cottonseed

oil.

 

Lucca Ravioli

1100 Valencia St. - Corner 22nd St.

Open Monday through Saturday

From 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

(415) 647—5581

 

Ha ha! And you thought I had given up on my experimentation with homemade vegan

pizzas! NOT SO! Little did you know, my boyfriend and I have been toiling away

to perfect our recipe behind closed doors. Finally, we emerge victorious!!!!

If you are interested in making vegan pizza at home, e-mail me and I'll send you

a full report on our last several months of progress and our current vegan pizza

making technology.

 

Cheers,

Rachel D.

San Francisco, CA

[Guest guest]

Rachel -- OK except for the cottonseed oil.  Cotton is heavily sprayed with pesticides.Gail--- On Sat, 2/6/10, rachel4veggies <racheldonovan wrote:rachel4veggies <racheldonovan Re: Help with Vegan Pizza Date: Saturday, February 6, 2010, 11:02 AM

 

 

In a decidedly un-vegan, very cheese and meat-heavy place, I found ... FANTASTIC, amazing, oh-my-god-it' s-so-good PRE-MADE VEGAN PIZZA DOUGH!!!!!!! !

 

For $3.00 per bag!

 

http://www.luccarav ioli.com/

 

The listed ingredients are: flour, water, yeast, salt, sugar, and cottonseed oil.

 

Lucca Ravioli

1100 Valencia St. - Corner 22nd St.

Open Monday through Saturday

From 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

(415) 647—5581

 

Ha ha! And you thought I had given up on my experimentation with homemade vegan pizzas! NOT SO! Little did you know, my boyfriend and I have been toiling away to perfect our recipe behind closed doors. Finally, we emerge victorious!! !! If you are interested in making vegan pizza at home, e-mail me and I'll send you a full report on our last several months of progress and our current vegan pizza making technology.

 

Cheers,

Rachel D.

San Francisco, CA