Vegan Neapolitan Pizza

Written by McDonald, T.  |  Date 11th of November 2024

This is a relatively easy pizza.  I say relatively because it can be a little tricky, but not impossible.  The key is to stay calm and not try to rush it. With this in mind, if this is your first time at making a pizza dough with a high hydration, do it on a day that you have time to think and follow the instructions at a pace that suits you. The results are well worth the perseverance and the more you make this recipe the better and easier it gets. I have used vegan pepperoni, but you can use any toppings that you like.

Notes

Baker's %

Flour =  100% 

Water = ?%

Yeast = 1.4%

Salt = 1.8% - 2% 

• 73% hydration to keep it light and crisp.
  
• I will be using 150 g because that is enough for one 9" pizza, so now I can work out how much water to use. 

150 × 0.73 = 109.5

I will round this up to 110 ml

• I will make two pizzas.  One with plain white flour and one with wholemeal flour in part.
   

How to knead sticky dough

• The trick is to keep your fingers on the same part of the dough without moving them and stretch and squish the dough fast until it starts to become smooth and elastic like.
• Use a little oil on your hands if you need to at first until you master this technique.
  

Makes 1 pizza

Time, 20 minutes

Ingredients

• Slices of tomato
• Slices of tempeh
• Paprika
• Black pepper
• Salt
  
• 25 g of grated vegan cheese alternative

For base

• 150 g of plain white flour
  
• 105 ml of warm water
• 1 tsp of dried instant yeast

For tomato sauce

• 1 tbsp of vegan red pesto 
• 1 tbsp of tomato paste 
• 1 clove of garlic

Method

Make the Poolish

1. Mix together 100 g of flour, 1/2 tsp yeast and the golden syrup in a small bowl with a spoon.
   
2. Add 100 ml of warm water (no hotter than 36 °C) and stir with a spoon until it comes together as a smooth paste. Leave in a warm part of the kitchen for 1 hour and then leave in the fridge overnight (16-24 hrs). 

Poolish after 16–24 hours.

Make the pepperoni

1. Slice the tempeh and add to a dish with the ground black pepper, some salt, paprika, and oil.
2. Leave in the fridge until needed. 

Vegan pepperoni.  Brush with tomato paste if you want it red.

Make the pizza dough and sauce

1. Remove poolish from fridge.
   
2. Add the remaining flour (50 g) and 1/2 tsp of dry yeast to the poolish with 5 ml of water and salt.  Mix with a spatula until combined.  Mix the yeast with the flour before adding to the poolish for best results.
   
3. Knead in the bowl for 5–8 mins.  The dough will be very sticky, so you will need to know how to knead sticky dough. Shape into a ball and leave for 5 -10 minutes covered.
   
4. Rub a little olive oil on your hands and shape the dough into a ball, and put back into the bowl, cover and leave in a warm part of the kitchen for 1 hour. 
5. Add the semolina and some flour in equal parts into a bowl and mix.
   
6. After 1 hour, shape into a ball. Add the ball of dough to the bowl with the flour and semolina to completely coat the dough.
   
7. Preheat the oven to 180 °C 
8. Mix the red pesto, tomato paste, chopped garlic and cider vinegar together to make the sauce. 
9. Put the dough on a work service and proceed to push to the edges using your fingertips from the centre outwards. Keep doing this until you have a circular shape.  Try not to stretch the dough.  
10. Now you can use your hands to increase the size of the circle by flipping the dough back and forth over the top of your hands and back to the service. 
11. Spread the tomato sauce over the base while avoiding the crust around the edge.
12. Let it proof once more for about 20 - 30 mins.
13. Add toppings and bake on a baking sheet for about 13–15 mins.

Semolina and flour dusting for pizza dough.

 

Results

Plain white flour

This resulted in a light and crisp crust that had a great taste, but was tricky to get ready for the toppings.

With part wholemeal flour.

As you can see in the images below, the wholemeal base did not yield an airy crust.  Instead, it gave a rather bready texture to the base even though it was still crisp on the outside.

I found the plain white flour to make the better pizza, but the wholemeal one will have more nutritional value. 

I hope that you liked this blog and if you do try this recipe, please let me know how you got on and what it turned out like. You can leave a comment in the comments below.