Before I went vegan, I loved white pizza. A rich garlic sauce dotted with creamy ricotta cheese. For this vegan version, we make a ricotta from cashews and tofu. The sauce is full of garlic, and I like it best with roasted garlic. There’s a recipe for pizza dough, but you can use store-bought dough if you want to save some time. —KH
MAKES 2 PIZZAS
DOUGH
1 cup (237 ml) warm water
½ tbsp (6 g) sugar, agave or maple syrup
½ tbsp (4 g) baking yeast
1 tbsp (15 ml) aquafaba (liquid from a can of chickpeas)
1½ cups (180 g) whole wheat flour
1 cup (125 g) white whole wheat flour, or use more regular whole wheat flour
1 tsp salt
TOFU RICOTTA
¾ cup (180 ml) unsweetened plain nondairy milk
⅓ cup (35 g) soaked cashews, drained
1 tbsp (5 g) nutritional yeast
1 tbsp (18 g) yellow miso
½ (16-oz [454-g]) block firm tofu Salt, to taste
GARLIC SAUCE
2 tbsp (30 ml) olive oil
3 cloves roasted garlic or 1 tsp fresh minced garlic
¼ tsp salt
OPTIONAL PIZZA TOPPINGS
Artichoke hearts
Spinach or kale
Fresh basil
Sun-dried tomatoes
Red pizza sauce
FOR THE DOUGH
To the bowl of your mixer, add the warm water, sugar and yeast. Let it sit for 10 minutes, or until it begins to foam. If your yeast doesn’t foam at all, it may be out of date and won’t cause your dough to rise.
Once foamy, add the aquafaba (or use oil if you don’t have any) and mix.
In a mixing bowl, combine the flours and salt; mix well. Add the flour 1 cup (125 g) at a time to the yeast mixture in the mixer. Mix using the paddle attachment until the dough begins to get too thick, and then change to the dough hook.
Finish adding the flour mixture until the dough is no longer sticky but not too dry. Knead for 10 minutes. Shape your dough into 2 pizza-shaped pieces as thin or thick as you like your pizza base. Just know you will cook it for less time if it’s very thin or extra time if it’s thick.
FOR THE TOFU RICOTTA
To your blender, add the nondairy milk, soaked cashews, nutritional yeast and yellow miso, and blend until creamy smooth. Crumble the tofu and add it to the blender. You don’t want to blend it completely smooth, but kind of pulse until it looks like small lumps that are reminiscent of regular ricotta. Add salt to taste.
FOR THE GARLIC SAUCE
Mix all of the sauce ingredients in a small bowl. If you are using roasted garlic, mash the cloves so they incorporate into the sauce well.
Preheat the oven to 425°F (218°C). Place the shaped pizza dough on an oiled sheet pan or pizza stone. Spread the sauce over the top of the dough and drop spoonfuls of the ricotta onto the dough. Add any optional toppings and drizzle with red sauce if you like.
Bake for 8 to 15 minutes, depending on the thickness of the dough. I recommend checking at 8 minutes and cooking more if needed.