Do you like pizza?

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That’s a rhetorical question. I know you do.

I’m not saying pizza is everyones’ favorite food, but it certainly holds a unique place in the hearts of billions, with the mere mentioning of the word ushering up feelings of warmth, friendship, and a few drunken mistakes. Such is life.

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Let’s talk ‘zah.

The main ingredients of the sauce are tender roasted garlic and nutritional yeast, i.e. heaven in yo’ god dang mouth. The crust is made from a yeasty, cassava dough, which is baked in a blazing hot oven until it takes on a heavenly crunch.

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Everything about this pizza is simple: the ingredients are few, the flavors compliment one another, and the techniques are traditional in nature. The crust and sauce are satisfying enough be eaten alone, much like rosa pizzas (thin pizza crust with a light layer of marinara sauce) are enjoyed in Italy.

Albeit, a few simple toppings are a nice addition so we reached for shiitake mushrooms, thinly sliced onions, baby spinach, and freshly chopped chives to complete this pie.

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And before you go and kill me about the 1/2 teaspoon of sugar in this recipe, I’ll let you know that it’s not for you, it’s for the yeast.

Without some sort of substance containing glucose or fructose, the yeast won’t have food, and if they don’t have food, they don’t produce gas, and if they don’t produce gas, we won’t have any yeast-y flavor. If you’re concerned, by the time the dough is ready to be prepared, the yeast will have already converted most of that sugar into flavorful gas, which is exactly what we want!

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Like what your taste buds are tellin’ ya? Leave behind a nice rating, share your thoughts with us in the comments, or show us your creations by tagging @noeggsorham on Instagram.

If there’s a dish you’ve always wanted to see veganized, submit it here, and we’ll head to the lab, break out the test tubes, and whip out our culinary gadgets, so that in a couple of weeks there’ll be a recipe dedicated all to you.

We hope this simple, Italian-style pizza inspires you not to give up on the foods you’ve loved for so long just because of a change in diet.

All the best,
Ryan & Kim

Cassava Pizza

Cassava Pizza Crust with Roasted Garlic Sauce

  • Servings: 2 12-inch pizzas
  • Difficulty: Moderate
  • Print

Crunchy, chewy crust. Chees-y, garlic sauce. Fresh Toppings. And lots of olive oil.

Ingredients

Crust:

  • 2 c cassava flour
  • 1 packet active dry yeast
  • 3/4 tsp sea salt
  • 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil + more for coating
  • 1 c warm water + more as needed
  • 1/2 tsp sugar
  • Nutritional yeast, for dusting

Sauce:

  • 2 large heads of garlic
  • 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/4 c water

Toppings (optional):

  • A handful of baby spinach
  • 1/4 onion, thinly sliced
  • A few shiitake mushroom caps
  • Freshly cracked black pepper
  • Fresh chives, chopped

Directions

  1. In the bowl of a stand-up mixer fitted with the hook attachment, combine all of the crust ingredients (aside from nutritional yeast) and knead on high until the dough forms a ball. If it’s crumbly, add a little bit more water. If it’s too wet, add a little more cassava flour. If you don’t have a stand-up mixer, knead by hand for 5 minutes.
  2. Remove the dough from bowl, coat with olive oil, and place dough back in bowl. Cover with a towel and leave it to rest overnight on the countertop.
  3. The next day, pre-heat oven to 350° F. Chop off the top 1/4 of your garlic heads. Wrap in aluminum foil and bake in oven for 45 minutes. After that time, unfold aluminum foil, and cool until manageable, 10-15 minutes.
  4. Once cool, squeeze out each clove of garlic from its skin. Save the roasted meat and discard the skin.
  5. Boost oven temperature to 500° F. Remove towel and check the consistency of the dough. If it dried up over night, knead in a little bit of water, until it becomes pliable again (I added in 2 extra tablespoons the next day). Cut dough in half.
  6. Coat the bottom & sides of a 12-inch cast iron skillet with olive oil and nutritional yeast – about 1/2 tablespoon of oil and 1 tbsp of yeast will do. Then, place one half of the pizza dough in the pan.
  7. Using your hands, spread the dough out in every direction, until the sides of the crust rise up the sides of the pan (view photos in post). If you find that your dough crumbles apart before it stretches that thin, it’s a sign that it needs more moisture, so knead in a lil more water and try again.
  8. Lightly coat the perimeter of the crust with more olive oil and nutritional yeast and bake for 10 minutes.
  9. While the crust’s cooking, blend together roasted garlic meat, olive oil, nutritional yeast, salt, and water in a mini food processor or personal blender until smooth. If the sauce is too thick, add another tablespoon of water until a thick, yet pourable consistency is reached.
  10. When the crust comes out of the oven, spread out half of the sauce on the pizza crust, top with freshly cracked black pepper, a light layer of veggies, and place back in oven for another 10 minutes.
  11. Once done, top with chives, remove pizza from pan, cut into 8 equal slices, and serve immediately.
  12. Cook the second pizza using the rest of your dough and sauce right away, or store the dough, covered at room temperature, for another day, and leftover sauce in the fridge until ready to use.

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