Yep, it’s another oil-free recipe. I’ll be honest: I was skeptical too. If you remember from a few months ago, my mom has been teaching a class locally to a group of women on the plant-based diet, reversing diabetes, etc., etc. Each week, Mom makes a plant-based, oil-free recipe or two to take to her class to try. This last week, Mom made pizza. I was expecting her oil-free crust to come out all dry and brick-like, but we were both blown away by how delicious this pizza crust turned out. I think you’re going to love it too.
Annnnd, because I had my camera out, and haven’t snapped pictures of much food lately, I had a blast catching almost every step of the pizza-making process.
See that lump of weird-looking stuff in the middle of the bowl below?? It’s applesauce–the secret ingredient.
Make a yummy dough and let it rise.
Choose whatever sauce and toppings that you like.
Roll out your pizza crust on to a cornmeal-sprinkled pan. The cornmeal with help keep the pizza from sticking to your pan, if you don’t want to use any oil. If you don’t have a problem with a little cooking spray, go ahead and use that.
Then, you’ll just slap on your toppings.
And bake that big ol’ pizza.
For this pizza, I used the cashew-based mozzarella recipe found in Chloe’s Vegan Italian Kitchen. I highly recommend getting your hands on that book, if you don’t have it already. After the pizza was finished baking, we just drizzled some mozzarella sauce right over the top. Have I ever told you how much I love stuff that drizzles? Or have I told you that I love the word “drizzle” in general (unless, of course, it’s used in reference to the weather)? Well now you know. :)
Whole Wheat Oil-free Pizza Crust
Ingredients
- 1 cup warm water
- 2 1/2 teaspoons dry active yeast
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 2 cups whole wheat flour
- 1 tablespoon vital wheat gluten
- 2 tablespoon flaxseed meal
- 1 tablespoon applesauce
- 1 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Use a fork to combine water, yeast, and sugar in a small bowl--set aside until foaming. If mixture won't foam, you may want to start over from scratch.
- Combine all remaining ingredients (except applesauce) in large mixing bowl. Add foamy yeast and applesauce. If dough is too sticky to handle with your fingers, add a tablespoon of flour. If it's too dry to hold together, add a teaspoon or more of water. Knead dough for just a minute or two.
- Set dough aside in a warm place for 1 hour, or until it doubles in size. Preheat oven to 415 degrees F.
- Knead, stretch, and roll out dough to fill pizza pan.
- Cover with your favorite sauce and toppings.
- Bake pizza at 415 degrees F for 15 minutes, or until dough is cooked through and golden brown.
Nutrition
Hooray for oil-free recipes! And, your pictures are beautiful. I don’t have the Chloe’s Italian Kitchen book yet, I need to check that out. Here’s my favorite vegan mozzarella: http://vedgedout.com/2013/03/11/individual-vegan-margherita-pizzas-with-homemade-fresh-moxarella-cheese/
Yay! Thanks for sharing your favorite mozzarella recipe. I’ll have to check that out. :)
Sounds so yummy!
I’ve got a question: if I don’t have any wheat gluten, could I omit it?
I made this recipe without the vital wheat gluten, because I didn’t have it. It did turn out delicious, but the batter was way too wet. I had to add quite a bit of flour because it was too sticky. I would guess almost another cup. Are these measurements correct?
Lindsay
This looks amazing! My husband and I are following a plant based diet with no oils, no nuts, and this is exactly what I’ve been looking for!!
Thank you for your blog!!!!!
Hey! I tried the crust today without the vital wheat gluten and my dough was super wet, too. I added about half a cup of flour, and my pizza turned out soooooo good! Thank you so so much! Also, my yeast mixture didn’t bubble but the packaging said that you could just throw it right in the dough so it was fine.
I dont have apple sauce, anything else i can use?
I find your recipe very interesting…interesting enough to try it out, I have one question though; can this be made ahead, I don’t eat fresh baked yeast bread, based on counsel given by EGW.
I have to say, this dough kicked my butt the first few times I tried to make it. I’ve been making pizza dough for a long time, at home, by hand, and at work, with a dough machine. I hadnt ever made oil free so being new at it, I followed the recipe 3 times with utter failure (dough was too wet to save). My last attempt that looks like it worked I halved the water and then added tablespoons to make it wet enough to turn into a ball.
The first few times I let the yeast foam like it says to but my last time I put everything together into the bowl and then added the water and then the applesauce (exactly how I would make dough with oil in it).
Can date sugar be used in place of the granulated sugar?
Delicious fluffy dough! Me and my husband loved it!!! I added a big more vital wheat gluten for protein so I needed a little more water but it was perfect! Thank you!
Hi Megan! So glad you enjoyed it. The addition of more gluten flour is a great idea. :)