Vegan Feast Pizza

Written by McDonald, T.  |  Date 19th of January 2026

I love a good pizza and this is a favourite of mine. TVP for the minced beef, extra firm tofu for the ham, jalapeño peppers and olives.  As ever, make the poolish the night before, and it will add flavour and made such a difference to the light crispness of the base.

Notes

• I used plant menu cheese, which was not the best idea.  As you can see, the cheese didn't melt very well.  I recommend using a vegan cheese that is labelled as good for melting. 

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 10" 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 

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.
  

Let the dough proof for 15 mins before putting in the oven.

Makes 1 10 inch pizza

Time, 25 minutes

Ingredients

• 25 g of grated vegan cheese alternative
• TVP mince x 1 or 2 tbsp
• Tofu x 15 g
• Jalapeño peppers
• Onion x 20 g

For base

• 150 g of plain white flour
  
• 105 ml of warm water
• 1 tsp of dried instant yeast
• ½ tps of sugar

For tomato sauce

• 3 tbsp of tomato paste 
• 2 tbsp of cider vinegar
• 1 tbsp of oil
• 2 tbsp of water

Method

Make the Poolish

1. Mix together 100 g of flour, the ½ tsp of yeast and the sugar 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 pizza dough and sauce

1. Remove poolish from fridge.
   
2. Add the remaining flour (50 g) and ½ tsp of dry yeast to the poolish with 5 ml of water.  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 tomato paste 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.

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.