Courgette, mushroom & truffle oil pizza

We are getting stuck right into #Veganuary2021 with this delicious, veggie-filled pizza from Virtually Vegan by Heather Whinney! We’ll be posting plant based meal inspo and dairy free dessert recipes – join us this month for a #Veganuary adventure!

‘Who needs dairy on a pizza? What you need is flavour, and this combo has lots of it. You can make the dough ahead and leave it to prove slowly in the refrigerator for a few days or wrap well and freeze for up to a month. For a change, try tossing a handful of fresh wild rocket/arugula on top to serve and give the pizza an extra drizzle of chilli oil.’

Courgette, mushroom & truffle oil pizza from Virtually Vegan

Makes 4
Prep: 20 mins, plus proving
Cook: 10 mins

Recipe

500g/1Ib 2oz/4 cups ‘00’ flour or strong white flour, sifted, plus extra for dusting
7g/¼oz/1 sachet of fast-action/instant active dried yeast
4 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for greasing
sea salt

FOR THE TOPPING*:
8 tbsp passata/sieved tomatoes
300g/10½oz portobello mushrooms, finely sliced
4 courgettes/zucchini, sliced into ribbons
a pinch of chilli flakes
a generous drizzle of truffle oil
1 handful basil leaves, to garnish
a few oregano leaves, to garnish

*NON-VEGAN TOPPING:
Try any non-vegan topping you like with this base and tomato sauce. It works well with dairy-free cheese, too, but you could scatter over some torn mozzarella if you prefer.

Method

1 To make the pizza dough, put the flour, yeast and a pinch of salt in a food mixer. Make a well in the middle and slowly
pour in 360ml/12½fl oz/1½ cups of warm water. Using the dough beaters, beat until the mixture comes together, then add 4 tablespoons of olive oil and continue to mix until it forms a dough. It will begin to make a slapping noise as it mixes, which means it is ready. Transfer to a floured board and knead for about 10 minutes until it softens up and becomes spongy.

2 Put the dough in a bowl, cover with cling film/plastic wrap or a dish towel and leave in a warm place for 30–40 minutes until doubled in size.

3 Preheat the oven to its highest setting and put a baking/cookie sheet in the oven to heat up.

4 Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for a couple of minutes to knock out the air, then divide the dough into four equal balls.

5 Have all your topping ingredients ready. Roll and stretch a dough ball until you get a round, about 25cm/10in in diameter. Making one at a time, lightly oil the hot baking/cookie sheet and put the dough round on it. Add 2 tablespoons of passata/sieved tomatoes to the top of the pizza and spread it out to cover. Top with mushrooms and courgettes/zucchini. It will seem like a lot of courgette/zucchini but pile them high as they will shrink when cooking. Sprinkle with chilli flakes and drizzle the truffle oil over the top. Bake for 10 minutes until golden. Remove and continue making the other pizzas. Garnish with fresh herbs, slice into triangles and serve.

We can never say no to pizza, so hopefully you enjoy this recipe as much as we do! Don’t forget to check back through Veganuary for oh so many new and delicious recipes.