But Daiya has changed it. Its tapioca and arrowroot based, but you wouldn’t know it. So, what makes it better than other vegan cheeses? It melts in the oven like real cheese. Whoo hoo! And better still, the natural food market a block and a half away carries the cheddar style shreds (we’re trying to convince them to carry the mozzarella as well). It’s not the healthiest stuff in the world, but it does mean we can occasionally have vegan pizza for dinner. Corinne loves vegan pizza.
Here’s my recipe:
- One bag of Trader Joe’s whole wheat pizza dough
- 1 medium onion
- 2 bell peppers
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 Tofurky Italian Sausages
- 1 jar marinara sauce
- Daiya cheddar cheese shreds
Take the dough out of the bag and let rest for 20 minutes on a lightly floured surface.
Cut the onion and bell peppers up into a large dice, and then add them to a cast iron skillet with the salt. Cook them on medium high heat until the onions are nice and caramelized. If you like your pizza a bit sweeter, you can add a teaspoon of sugar at the end and let it caramelize some as well.
While the onion and peppers cook, chop the sausages into a large dice (or however you like them) and toast them in another pan. You want the pieces dry and a little crispy for the pizza.
After the dough has finished resting, spread it out on a cookie sheet. I don’t bother pretending like I’m working in a pizzeria, but you can. My goal is a crust that’s thin in the center with a nice thick border, but I’m happy if I get it to cover the sheet without ripping. I then spread out the pizza sauce, using just enough to make a thin layer across the top of the pizza. Don’t add too much sauce. Then goes a layer of cheese, I usually go light on this as well. Just enough to cover. Then you add the sausage, and finally the onions and bell pepper.
The Trader Joes pizza crust instructions say to cook your pizza for 8-10 minutes. I find that I need to cook it for 30+ minutes at 450-degrees to get a good crust. My suggestion is to leave yourself plenty of time, and cook it until the crust is nice and golden brown. Undercooked pizza dough is a definite bummer.
And that’s it! It’s not the quickest recipe, but it’s super easy and I always end up with something that the little one will goes nuts over.