Dairy-free pizza experiment
The thing I miss most about dairy is cheese. I prefer almond milk to cow or goat milk already, but milk is often an ingredient in unexpected things. These things can include salami and pizza dough. So here is my attempt to make a dairy-free pizza.
Pizza Crust
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup milk (I used almond milk)
1/4 cup vegetable or olive oil
Stir ingredients until it all starts to glob together, and then knead until it has a doughy consistency. Divide into two equal portions for two pizzas.
I placed the dough onto baking stone pizza pans and then used a handy-dandy roller to shape the dough into a rough circle and rolled the edges up afterward. This would hopefully contain the toppings. I gave everything a brush of olive oil after this, too.
I started with a mixture of one cup storebought diced tomatoes with onions and one 6-oz. can tomato paste because I wanted to try a chunkier tomato base. Next time I will just use tomato sauce. This stuff didn't spread well. I sprinkled the whole works with italian seasoning mix.
After that, I added some storebought sliced mushrooms. They were on sale, but they are cut too thick for my liking. You can use an egg slicer to cut a mushroom just like a hard-boiled egg and save some money if you don't find a sale or the pre-sliced mushrooms are too thick.
I also browned some hot italian sausage and added that after the mushrooms. Then I used Follow Your Heart Vegan Gourmet Shreds Mozzarella Cheese Alternative as my final topping.
I baked both pizzas for 25 minutes at 425 degrees Fahrenheit. The dough was still not done in the middle. It was also pale. I attribute this to the milk alternative experiment. I ate a test piece anyway, and it was actually kinda OK. And after giving it more time to properly bake, I now find it an entirely satisfactory substitute all around.
Changes for next time:
Yes, there will be a next time. I will use tomato sauce instead of experimenting with chunky paste and diced tomatoes. I will add garlic. LOTS OF GARLIC! And I will slice my own mushrooms and use more pork sausage. And I will try to avoid posting about it using a mobile phone, because this is a pain to edit.
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Look so delicious, dear friend @jacobtothe...❤
Thanks for the valuable recipe... I'll try it next time...
Have a lovely day...🤗☕❤
I do love this. I love cheese and cheese and lots of cheese on top of dough 😊
I love cheese too, but I do not love the indigestion that follows its consumption. Thus the alternative used here.
Actually turned out well. My son in addition to being allergic to nuts is also allergic to dairy. I do all the cooking and it certainly is a challenge. I often end up doing 2 versions of the same dish because it is just that hard to get away from.
Well, that nut allergy puts the nut-based cheeses out of the potential substitutes list. I think the faux-zarella I used should be good. It's far better than Daiya "cheese" IMHO too. And they have other varieties too, although I have not tried them.
@generikat gave me her pizza dough recipe, so I may try that next time. I also might look into alternative flours and give a gluten-free crust a go.
Hmm interesting experiment! Is there a reason you chose not to use a yeast dough? (I know some folks prefer a crispy, cracker-like thin crust.)
A couple thoughts:
You could easily make a traditional yeast dough using just water, rather than milk, or half water and half non-dairy milk. Also, for the sauce, if you take a moment to put the italian seasoning in the sauce, and heat it, it'll release a lot more flavor. (If you don't feel like using a pot on the stove, you could totally just dump it into a bowl and pop it into the microwave.)
The dough recipe was just the first recipe I found when I checked the cookbooks. This particular cookbook was old enough to call it "salad oil" rather than vegetable oil in its instructions. Also, I had no yeast on hand, so a baking powder leavening was my only real option. I'm not at all opposed to alternative crust recipes, and may even experiment with gluten-free flours, although past experience indicates that will not likely turn out well.
I may have to try heating the seasoning in the sauce, too. I thought about just buying crushed/pureed tomatoes and blending in my own seasonings as well. But one experiment at a time!