Why I Make This Recipe?
A few weeks ago, I suddenly crave for a decent pizza like the one I had at Juliana’s in Brooklyn 2 years ago (those good old days eh? 🤣). I googled the best pizza in Hong Kong in hopes of satisfying my pizza cravings. However, as a vegan in Hong Kong, I came across some common issues: 1. High quality pizza (or food in general) are expensive, and I am not spending $20 USD for a pizza; 2. Most of them are not vegan. I know what you are thinking, “Just order without the cheese!” Nope. For goodness sake, restaurants like adding butter to their pizza dough. Who on earth add butter in their pizza dough? 🤦♀️ Ok, enough complaints. Hence, you might have already guessed, I started my pizza making journey. Sourdough pizza has always been on my to-do list, so why not?
Inspiration
I adapted this recipe from my all-time-favorite sourdough master Maurizio from The Perfect Loaf. In fact, he is the main reason why I started my artisan baking journey (or addiction haha). I topped this pizza with some homemade pizza sauce, caramelized onions, baby mushrooms, french beans, vegan mozzarella cheese from Miyoko and some arugula and it was literally THE BEST pizza I’ve ever had! I don’t have a pizza stone but I baked it on a preheated cast iron skillet.
Sourdough Vegan Pizza
Course: MainCuisine: ItalianDifficulty: High4
servings1
hour10
minutesIngredients
285g T00 flour (use all-purpose flour if you don’t have access to T00 flour)
32g Whole spelt flour (you can also use whole wheat flour as Maurizio did)
212g water (divide into 162g+50g)
9g salt
47g levain (100% hydration)
Directions
- Autolyse
- Mix flour and 162g water and let it rest for 1.5 hours at room temperature.
- Kneading
- Add levain and additional 50g water. Hand knead for 10-15 mins. Rest for 15 mins.
- Mix in the salt and knead further knead for about 5-10 mins until you feel the dough is strong and gluten is developed.
- Bulk Fermentation
- Perform 3 sets of S&F with 30-min intervals.
- After the last set of S&F, let it rest for further 30 mins.
- Using both of your hands, shape the dough into a very tight boule. For more details, take a look at Maurizio’s blog post. Then place it in the fridge overnight
- Divide & Shaping
- Line a baking tray with baking paper
- Divide the dough into 2 equal portions (about 290g each)
- Shape the dough balls into very tight balls
- Place the shaped dough on the lined baking tray. Allow the dough to sit at room temperature and proof for around 4-6 hours. It depends on your ambient temperature. So remember to check them from time to time.
- Alternatively, you can put the fully proofed dough balls in the fridge until it’s time to bake.
- The proofed dough will look more relaxed and puffy.
- Forming Pizza & Bake
- Here I am using Lodge cast iron combo cooker as I don’t have a pizza stone. So I will include instructions of both method below for your reference.
- Remember to shape the pizza on a baking paper, so you can easily transfer it into the oven!
- If Using Lodge Cast Iron Combo Cooker
- Preheat oven, together with the combo cooker, to maximum temperature (preferably 290°C/550°F or above) for at least 45 minutes.
- When the oven is ready, shape your pizza dough. You can follow the instructions here or search for some tutorials on YouTube).
- Place your preferred toppings on the pizza.
- Turn oven from bake setting to maximum broiler setting.
- Sprinkle some cornmeals on the combo cooker to prevent sticking and carefully place the pizza onto the combo cooker.
- Quickly spray some water on the pizza. Cover the combo cooker, then place it back into the oven and bake under the broiler setting for 1.5 to 2 minutes.
- Turn broiler off, remove the cover and turn oven back to bake at 290°C/550°F.
- After 1 minute, rotate the pan 180ºC. Bake for an additional 4-5 minutes or until done to your liking.
- If Using Pizza Stone
- Preheat oven, together with the pizza stone, to maximum temperature (preferably 290°C/550°F or above) for at least 45 minutes.
- When the oven is ready, shape your pizza dough.
- Place your preferred toppings on the pizza.
- Turn oven from bake setting to maximum broiler setting.
- Open oven and carefully slide the pizza dough on top of the pizza stone.
- Quickly spray some water on all sides of the pizza. Place it back into the oven and bake under the broiler setting for 1.5 to 2 minutes.
- Turn broiler off and turn oven back to bake at 290°C/550°F.
- After 1 minute, rotate the pizza 180ºC. Bake for an additional 4-5 minutes or until done to your liking.
Few Last Words
- And there you go! A delicious sourdough pizza freshly baked and highly customization to your liking ⭐ I love topping it with homemade pizza sauce, veggies, vegan mozzarella cheese from Miyoko’s, and finish up with a sprinkle of nutritional yeast, sprouts and arugula 🌱
- If you don’t want to use store-bought vegan cheese, you can make my cauliflower cheese sauce or cashew cheese)
- If you are reluctant to try this recipe because it looks complicated, it is not! It’s much simpler than you think and the outcome is totally worth the work 👍 You can also double the recipe and freeze the divided dough balls, so you can have freshly baked pizza anytime you want. Plus, what’s better than putting whatever you like on pizzas? Especially for us vegans, where vegan cheese is not that common at most restaurants.
