Pumpkin Chickpea Vegan Pizza Recipe v1.0.1

pumpkin-chickpea-vegan-pizza.txt

Pumpkin Chickpea No-Knead Vegan Recipe
Makes 2 very filling 12-inch pizzas.

The vegan pizza ends up with a crispy style crust with a very filling protein-filled semi-sweet pumpkin/chickpea topping. Virgin coconut oil adds a surprising and creamy taste while the red bell peppers give a nod to more traditional pizzas.

I came up with this alternative-pizza recipe because I'm vegan (no animal products), and also have a conditional called Interstitial Cystitis (acidic/spicy/soy foods like tomato sauce, onions, and black pepper cause me pain and discomfort), and it's almost Halloween, and had a terrible vegan-pizza craving. If you don't have Interstitial Cystitis, then I'd recommend also adding onion and black pepper for additional taste.

This recipe has a simple mess-free no-knead dough that can be pre-made in bulk and refrigerated ahead of time for a week or two.

No-knead Crust/Dough Recipe
Ingredients (Makes 2 crusts):
  3 cups unbleached flour
  1 tsp salt
  2.5 tsp yeast
  2 cups water
  1 tsp raw cane sugar (or 2 tsp pure maple syrup)

1. Mix flour and salt in a large mixing bowl.

2. Mix yeast, lukewarm water, and sugar or pure maple syrup in a separate bowl and wait for 5 minutes.

3. Pour the yeast/liquid mixture into the mixing bowl with the dry ingredients and mix briefly into a very moist, almost batter-like dough. Do not knead this dough, ever.

4. Cover and let rise for an hour at room temperature. The yeast will knead the dough by itself. The dough will bubble and rise. Do not knead the dough.

5. (Optional but highly recommended) Put dough in refrigerator for at least an hour. This helps the moist dough to be easier to work with later on. If you leave it in the refrigerator for a few days to a week, it will start to develop a more aromatic smell and be more flavorful. Pour off any alcohol that may have formed on the top of the dough if you are storing it for more than a few days. Now this dough is ready for whenever you want, and does not need to be used right away or all at once. Do not knead the dough, ever. You can pre-make and store more servings of dough in bulk for other uses too (rolls, breads, pita, calzones).

Pizza Recipe (Makes 2 pizzas)
  (The dough you prepared)
  2 16 oz cans of chickpeas
  1 16 oz can of pumpkin puree (what you normally put into pumpkin pies)
  1/4 tsp salt
  1 tsp sugar
  2 large red sweet bell peppers
  1 tsp garlic powder
  2 tsp dried basil
  1/2 tsp dried oregano
  2 tbsp virgin coconut oil (melted)
  1-3 tbsp vegetable oil or nonstick cooking spray (for oiling the pan and to oil hands)

1. Preheat oven to 450F (232C). Use convection mode if your oven has it.

2. Oil up a metal baking tray with the vegetable oil or nonstick cooking spray. Make sure it is nicely oiled if you want some crispiness to the dough.

3. Pour/scoop or grab (with well oiled hands) half of the moist, sticky, very stretchy, bubbly, batter-like dough onto the oiled tray. Do not knead the dough. Completely oil up your hands and spread the dough-batter out to a 12-inch diameter circle. If you're baking two pizzas right now, then you may do the same with the second half of the dough.

4. Put dough/tray into oven to prebake the crust for ~10 minutes while you prepare the toppings.

5. Open up the can of chickpeas, drain and rinse. Roughly smash/crush the chickpeas (e.x. press down using the side of a cleaver, or squish with the underside of a bowl) until they are broken and smushed.

6. Add the salt, sugar, garlic powder, basil, oregano, and virgin coconut oil to the smashed chickpeas, and mix evenly.

7. Dice the sweet red bell pepper or cut into long thin strips.

8. Carefully remove the baking tray with crust from the oven and close the oven. (Keep oven on 450F / 232C).

9. Carefully flip the crust upside down on the baking tray. If it is sticking to the sheet, then make sure you use more oil next time.

10. For each pizza, spread half of the can of pumpkin puree evenly onto the crust with a tablespoon (similar to how you'd spread tomato sauce on a normal pizza).

11. For each pizza, spread half of the diced red peppers onto the crust. (1 red pepper worth on each pizza)

12. For each pizza, spread half of the crushed chickpea mixture on top of the pizza.

13. Bake for 15-25 minutes (depending on your oven) until the edges of the crust darken and the tops of the topping darken.

14. Turn off oven, remove tray, and cut up each pizza into 8 slices, sprinkle salt to taste, and enjoy.

Picture of version 1.0.0

I wrote the wrong amount of salt for the chickpea mixture - try 1/4 tsp - 1/2 tsp of salt; taste it to see how much you like. The chickpea amount should be 2 cans rather than 1 can (1 can of chickpea per pizza).

thank's for the recipe, it sounds and looks delicious!
by pumpkin puree do you mean just the flesh of a roasted pumpkin cut in 2 (with no additional spices)?

as for my almond milk thingy (in search of a better word) it's a cooking mixture of almond milk & potato starch (with malt yeast, garlic powder etc) that is cooked and when hot it somewhat resambles grated cheese in texture. so it can be added to all sorts of gratins, pizzas, croque monsieur etc. I can give you the exact recipe if you're interested (it's not mine, it's from a book)

btw i completely approve of using github for cooking gists! 😄

For pumpkin puree - I buy it in cans from a supermarket. It is typically used for pumpkin pie, although I use it for tomato sauce replacement on pastas too. I've never made it myself fresh from a pumpkin, but I think here is the recipe: homemade pumpkin puree

Thanks for the almond milk thingy! It sounds similar to vegan cashew cheese.