Vegan Deep Dish Pizza | Gluten-Free Recipe - Elavegan (2024)

FAQs

Is vegan pizza junk food? ›

Now, vegan pizza isn't perfect — vegan cheese and vegan meat are typically very high in fat and salt, after all — but in many cases, it's a healthier alternative to traditional pizza. Thanks to a vegan pie's lack of meat and dairy, you don't have to worry about consuming cholesterol or carcinogens.

The most unique and recognizable element of Chicago pizza, deep-dish crust is at least an inch deep, allowing room for extra sauce and toppings. With its even higher crust, stuffed pizza resembles a pot pie or casserole dish more than a New York-style thin-crust pie!

There are many tricks to achieving a tasty, homemade pizza dough that rises into a beautiful pizza crust, such as making sure your ingredients are at right temperature, using half bread flour for a stronger dough and half all-purpose flour for a nice rise, substituting honey for sugar to help caramelize the crust and ...

It sounds like your base is too thick, you have too many toppings, your oven isn't hot enough, and you're placing the uncooked pizza on a cold pan before putting in the underheated domestic oven.

Vegan Pizzas are healthier

Vegan food is inevitably dependent on a plant-based diet, which means no consumption of sugar, oil, or any junk food. Just loads of fruit veggies and plant-based dietary items. Needless to say, vegan pizza is a healthier choice.

Some of the most popular deep-dish pizza toppings are pepperoni, sausage, green peppers and mushrooms.

The best flour for making New York Style Pizza Dough is all-purpose flour. This type of pizza dough is thin, crispy, and chewy. All-purpose flour is a blend of hard and soft wheat flour. It has a medium protein content, which makes it perfect for New York Style Pizza Dough.

The acidic properties of vinegar inhibit gluten, some will say. This theory proposes that once the water and flour are combined, gluten starts forming, causing the dough to grow tough. Adding an acid, the theory goes, stops the gluten in its tracks and rescues the crust from toughness.

Milk (liquid): Strengthens gluten, helps crust brown, softens the crumb. An enzyme in milk slows the growth of the yeast and it can break down the protein in the flour and weaken the dough. Scalding the milk destroys this enzyme.

Why do you put honey in pizza dough? ›

Honey creates a more golden crust than sugar does. It also helps to keep bread moist and adds a distinctive flavor. Because of its antibacterial properties, it retards mold, which improves the shelf life of baked products. But that antibacterial property has a downside—some honeys can kill yeast.

A baking stone, or pizza stone, is a large piece of thick, ceramic tile that sits on the rack of your oven. By preheating the stone along with the oven to a high temperature—think in the 450°F to 500°F range—it picks up and retains a ton of heat that provides exceptional browning for your bottom crust.

Hydrate the dough

While it may seem counterintuitive, adding more water can actually make your pizza dough crispier. Pizza Media says that a dough that contains more water has the ability to expand in the oven readily.

A baking steel helps the underside of your pizza brown and crisp to perfection. The recommended option is a baking steel, which most home pizza bakers prefer. A baking steel has significant thermal mass, plus it excels in an extra category: thermal conductivity.

Good News, Bad News

But many vegan cheeses are made with coconut oil and other saturated fats that do affect cholesterol — and switching up one saturated fat for another isn't likely to result in a healthier lifestyle.

The Bottom Line. Pizza is not only delicious but can also be a healthy meal choice when thought is put into its preparation. Though many frozen and fast-food varieties tend to be high in calories, fat, sodium and other unhealthy ingredients, pizza can be made healthier.

The truth is, just because something is vegan, doesn't mean it's healthy. There are plenty of nutritious vegan foods out there (find out more about those by following our guide to a whole foods, plant-based diet), but French fries and nuggets usually aren't among them.

Fast food burgers and pizzas are typically high in saturated fats, sodium, and calories. Regular consumption can lead to weight gain, high cholesterol levels, and an increased risk of heart disease.