Guest guest Posted September 9, 2009 Report Share Posted September 9, 2009 For quite awhile now, one of the main grocery staples in our house has been the Roasted Vegetable Pizza from Trader Joe's (way cheaper than Amy's vegan pizzas), but lately I've been craving those decadent vegan pizzas from Pizza Orgasmica. I was so sad when I called them up and found out they DO NOT deliver to my neighborhood. I ordered a cheese-free Indian pizza from Zante's instead, and it was tasty, but not the sumptuous pizza experience I was craving. On a different day, I arranged to order " pick-up " from the Pizza Orgasmica in the Embarcardero II plaza (downtown SF). This is the pizza I ordered: http://www.pizzaorgasmica.com/menu/erotica.html And it was DELICIOUS! Just what I had been craving! My boyfriend and I shared the medium size, with soy cheese ... I would be totally happy, except .... it cost $30.00!!!!!! (They charged $4.00 extra for soy cheese.) I was treating my bf because I knew he wouldn't consent to something so expensive. In fact, when he found out the cost, he was shocked; he does not want us to ever spend that much money on 1 pizza (no drinks) for the 2 of us again. Especially when we can buy 2 maybe-not-fabulous-but-good-enough Trader's Joe's pizzas for like $8 total. And we don't have to make a special trip to Embarcardero II for the pick-up. But I am still craving that Pizza Orgasmica style pizza! THE SOLUTION: MAKE HOMEMADE PIZZA!??!! Soon afterward, I saw Joelle's post about Daiya cheese, and then Chris' link to the awesome pizza in So Cal, and I got all inspired to make wonderful vegan pizza of my own, at home! I went to Rainbow and got some vegan cheese and pizza crust and started experimenting. EXPERIMENT A Materials- * Crust: Corn-spelt pizza crust from Rainbow. * Sauce: organic canned pizza sauce (delicious!) from Rainbow * Cheese: Teese mozzarella and Follow Your Heart cheddar * Toppings: Mushrooms, fresh basil, whole garlic cloves, red bell pepper, tomatoes Procedure: Assembled pizza in the usual manner, except we put quite a lot of tomatoes in the center. Oven heated at 425 per the crust instructions but the FYH cheese said to bake at 450 to 500. Baked for 15 minutes, then added 8 more minutes at 450 when it seemed the cheese and vegetables weren't cooking enough. RESULTS: A lot of the pizza turned to liquid and started boiling off and spilling outside the crust. I noticed most of the liquid was in the center where we had the tomato bomb. We let the pizza cool down, and we found that it tasted pretty good around the edges, where there hadn't been as many tomatoes. And we thought maybe the FYM cheese wasn't holding up as well as the Teese. Also we thought that maybe we cooked it too long, and that's why it turned to liquid. Of course, most of the pizza pieces fell apart, so it didn't have a good " grab me a slice of pizza " aesthetic. EXPERIMENT B Materials- * Crust: Corn-spelt pizza crust from Rainbow. * Sauce: organic canned pizza sauce (delicious!) from Rainbow * Cheese: Teese mozzarella * Toppings: Mushrooms, fresh basil, whole garlic cloves, red bell pepper, very few tomatoes Procedure: Assembled pizza in the usual manner, except we only added a few thin slivers (toothpick-sized slices) of tomato. (My boyfriend really loves fresh tomato on a pizza, otherwise we would have ditched the toms completely.) Oven heated at 425 per the crust instructions, baked for 15 minutes, then added 3 more minutes at 450 ... I saw that it was starting to turn to liquid again and boil out of the pizza so I pulled it out of oven. RESULTS: This time the pizza held together pretty well. But it didn't taste nearly as good. Experiment B just wasn't that flavorful, even though the ingredients were almost exactly the same. I think we figured out why: the vegetables were not cooked enough, and actually the crust wasn't as crispy, didn't seem as cooked either. We'd like to have cooked it longer, but if we do that, it seems like the whole thing will turn to liquid again. ************************************* So ... I'm asking the good folks at BAV for help. How can we make a fully cooked tasty veg pizza with vegan cheese, one that won't turn to liquid or fall apart when you try to grab a slice, one that will have a crispy crust topped with sumptuous veggie toppings? Do you have recommendations for pizza crusts or toppings I should use? Or other suggestions? Thank you for your help! -Rachel D. San Francisco, CA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 9, 2009 Report Share Posted September 9, 2009 Alvarado Bakery has a very good prebaked pizza crust that you can sometimes find a Whole Foods. One variety is vegan. The crust is tender and holds up well. (Whole Foods also sells another brand of prebaked crust, but it is harder and I didn't' like it as well as Alvarado's.) Another option is the frozen crust, also available at Whole Foods. This is frozen raw dough, which you have to defrost, shape, put on the toppings, then bake. I've had some trouble getting that to get baked enough, though. It always seems a little underdone. One key thing to do is to brush the crust with olive oil before putting on the sauce. This prevents the sauce from being absorbed by the crust, making it soggy. I have found the canned or bottled sauces to be pretty good. (Don't use TOO much sauce, also leads to sogginess.) Assembly: I get the crust ready, brush with olive oil, apply sauce with a large spoon to smear it around. Then add veggies and fake meats if you like them, then the vegan cheese. Don't use too much cheese. Follow Your Heart cheese becomes very liquid when completely melted. I've not used the others. I usually sprinkle with vegan parmesan for more flavor, then put it right into a very hot oven. Baking instructions usually come with the crust. Be sure to assemble the pizza quickly and put it right into the hot oven. That will also help reduce sogginess. Another thing you might try is cooking the veggies first to reduce the amount of water in them. Good luck with this. Karen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 10, 2009 Report Share Posted September 10, 2009 FYI, the soy cheese at Pizza Orgasmica is not vegan, it contains casein. Amici's Pizza has 2 locations in SF that have Cheezly vegan cheese at no extra charge & they deliver to a fair portion of the city. http://www.amicis.com Also, Z Pizza should be opening soon near the Metreon with vegan soy-free cheese (Daiya). http://www.zpizza.com/ In the meantime, enjoy your pizza making! I'm a fan of the " Isa Pizza " in Vegan with a Vengeance. , " rachel4veggies " <racheldonovan wrote: > > For quite awhile now, one of the main grocery staples in our house has been the Roasted Vegetable Pizza from Trader Joe's (way cheaper than Amy's vegan pizzas), but lately I've been craving those decadent vegan pizzas from Pizza Orgasmica. I was so sad when I called them up and found out they DO NOT deliver to my neighborhood. I ordered a cheese-free Indian pizza from Zante's instead, and it was tasty, but not the sumptuous pizza experience I was craving. On a different day, I arranged to order " pick-up " from the Pizza Orgasmica in the Embarcardero II plaza (downtown SF). This is the pizza I ordered: > > http://www.pizzaorgasmica.com/menu/erotica.html > > And it was DELICIOUS! Just what I had been craving! My boyfriend and I shared the medium size, with soy cheese ... I would be totally happy, except ..... it cost $30.00!!!!!! (They charged $4.00 extra for soy cheese.) I was treating my bf because I knew he wouldn't consent to something so expensive. In fact, when he found out the cost, he was shocked; he does not want us to ever spend that much money on 1 pizza (no drinks) for the 2 of us again. Especially when we can buy 2 maybe-not-fabulous-but-good-enough Trader's Joe's pizzas for like $8 total. And we don't have to make a special trip to Embarcardero II for the pick-up. > > But I am still craving that Pizza Orgasmica style pizza! > > THE SOLUTION: MAKE HOMEMADE PIZZA!??!! > > Soon afterward, I saw Joelle's post about Daiya cheese, and then Chris' link to the awesome pizza in So Cal, and I got all inspired to make wonderful vegan pizza of my own, at home! I went to Rainbow and got some vegan cheese and pizza crust and started experimenting. > > EXPERIMENT A > > Materials- > * Crust: Corn-spelt pizza crust from Rainbow. > * Sauce: organic canned pizza sauce (delicious!) from Rainbow > * Cheese: Teese mozzarella and Follow Your Heart cheddar > * Toppings: Mushrooms, fresh basil, whole garlic cloves, red bell pepper, tomatoes > > Procedure: > Assembled pizza in the usual manner, except we put quite a lot of tomatoes in the center. Oven heated at 425 per the crust instructions but the FYH cheese said to bake at 450 to 500. Baked for 15 minutes, then added 8 more minutes at 450 when it seemed the cheese and vegetables weren't cooking enough. > > RESULTS: > A lot of the pizza turned to liquid and started boiling off and spilling outside the crust. I noticed most of the liquid was in the center where we had the tomato bomb. We let the pizza cool down, and we found that it tasted pretty good around the edges, where there hadn't been as many tomatoes. And we thought maybe the FYM cheese wasn't holding up as well as the Teese. Also we thought that maybe we cooked it too long, and that's why it turned to liquid. Of course, most of the pizza pieces fell apart, so it didn't have a good " grab me a slice of pizza " aesthetic. > > > EXPERIMENT B > > Materials- > * Crust: Corn-spelt pizza crust from Rainbow. > * Sauce: organic canned pizza sauce (delicious!) from Rainbow > * Cheese: Teese mozzarella > * Toppings: Mushrooms, fresh basil, whole garlic cloves, red bell pepper, very few tomatoes > > Procedure: > Assembled pizza in the usual manner, except we only added a few thin slivers (toothpick-sized slices) of tomato. (My boyfriend really loves fresh tomato on a pizza, otherwise we would have ditched the toms completely.) Oven heated at 425 per the crust instructions, baked for 15 minutes, then added 3 more minutes at 450 ... I saw that it was starting to turn to liquid again and boil out of the pizza so I pulled it out of oven. > > RESULTS: > This time the pizza held together pretty well. But it didn't taste nearly as good. Experiment B just wasn't that flavorful, even though the ingredients were almost exactly the same. I think we figured out why: the vegetables were not cooked enough, and actually the crust wasn't as crispy, didn't seem as cooked either. We'd like to have cooked it longer, but if we do that, it seems like the whole thing will turn to liquid again. > > ************************************* > > So ... I'm asking the good folks at BAV for help. How can we make a fully cooked tasty veg pizza with vegan cheese, one that won't turn to liquid or fall apart when you try to grab a slice, one that will have a crispy crust topped with sumptuous veggie toppings? > > Do you have recommendations for pizza crusts or toppings I should use? Or other suggestions? > > Thank you for your help! > -Rachel D. > San Francisco, CA > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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