Best Vegan Pizza Dough Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is the trick to good pizza dough? ›

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 ...

Often times, pizza dough is naturally vegan. The basic pizza dough formula is just water, flour, yeast, and salt. The only times that eggs or dairy are used for a bread recipe is typically just for enriched doughs (like brioche or cinnamon rolls– which we have the vegan options for on the blog!).

Salt: Salt adds necessary flavor. Sugar: 1 Tablespoon of sugar increases the yeast's activity and tenderizes the dough, especially when paired with a little olive oil. Cornmeal: Cornmeal isn't in the dough, but it's used to dust the pizza pan. Cornmeal gives the pizza crust a little extra flavor and crisp.

With time, an elaborate network of interconnected gluten strings forms. This network holds the dough together, giving it its structure. Kneading the dough slowly unfolds the entangled network and aligns the long gluten strings in a stretchy, layered web.

A: Typically yes, most pizza dough is vegan since it's made from water, flour, yeast, and salt. However, some variations may include dairy products like butter or milk, so always check the ingredients.

Most pizza dough does not contain eggs. Pizza dough typically includes three main ingredients: yeast, flour, and water. Some recipes will also include a tablespoon of sugar and a pinch of salt. Eggs soften the dough and make it taste richer, while egg whites make the crust a little crispier.

The general rule is to let pizza dough rise until it has doubled in size, which could take anywhere between 1-1.5 hours. This will give the yeast time to activate and create a light, airy texture in the crust. However, I personally prefer cold-fermenting the dough for 48 hours for extra flavor.

Baldwin suggests making your toppings yourself for the best homemade pizza. "Slice your own pepperoni for a thicker cut, roast red peppers and garlic, crumble and sauté some sausage," she says. "Doing all these things from scratch makes the pizza truly great."

What flour is best for pizza? ›

The best flour for making Deep-Dish Pizza Dough is all-purpose flour. In bakeries and pizzerias, Pizza Flour is often used because it is a high-protein flour that produces a light and airy crust. However, all-purpose flour will also work well for Deep-Dish Pizza Dough.

High hydration dough: I prefer to use a dough that is around 75% hydration (the percent of water relative to the amount of flour). This will encourage a lot of gas bubbles, a chewy crust and a complex flavor.

If you're keen to intensify its flavor even more, enhance the dough further – either with infused oil brushed over top, cheese woven into its edges or a combination of herbs and spices kneaded into it or sprinkled on it.

The top chefs all agree that the best pizzas are all about the crust, so salt in the dough should never be sacrificed at the altar of salty toppings. “Building a pizza is like building anything else – you have to make compromises and consider the whole when choosing the parts.

The secret to a more crispy pizza crust is probably not what you think. You might assume that less water will result in a crispier crust. But you'd be wrong. To achieve a more crispy crust, you'll need to add more water to the dough formula.

If your pizza dough is quickly snapping back or difficult to stretch, your dough is too tight. Cover your dough with plastic wrap and let it sit for 10-15 minutes. After a bit of rest, the gluten in the dough will relax, making the process of stretching much easier.