Deep Dish Pizza with Pretzel Crust

This Vegan Deep Dish Pizza with Pretzel Crust, homemade vegan cheese sauce, mushrooms and spinach is perfectly saucy, melty, gooey and really easy to make from scratch! And the pretzel crust takes it to another level! Soyfree Nutfree option

Guys, I made this epic Deep Dish Pretzel Crust Pizza! That’s right, deep dish pizza meets pretzel! I’m a super fan of pretzels, and LOVE making my vegan deep dish pizza I was instantly obsessed with the idea of combining those two favorite foods.

I knew I had to come up with a vegan version for you guys and as I just posted how to make this amazing  vegan cheese sauce, I knew that it had to be cheesy pizza. It’s actually not that difficult to make a batch of homemade pretzel dough – no boiling is needed here. Just brush the pizza dough with the baking soda wash and cornstarch wash and it will brown up and get all pretzel like!

This delicious vegan pizza is not only filled with the cheese sauce, but it also has some mushrooms, and fresh spinach. All of that cheesy savory goodness served on a crisp Pretzel crust?! Unreal!  It’s a cheese pie in pizza form!

If you haven’t tried olive oil crisped basil on pizza, you have to try it! It adds a fabulous flavor especially to the browned mushrooms over cheese sauce combination !

We use a cast iron skillet to give the pizza its signature shape. You can also use a cake pan.

The major difference between traditional pizza dough and pretzel dough is that here, we brush the crust with a baking soda wash and prebake it before we add the cheese sauce and toppings. Pre baking ensures that the bottom doesn’t get soggy, which can easily happen in a deep dish pizza with thick saucy filling.

More vegan recipes for pizza lovers:

Gluten-free Almond Flour Pizza Crust

Vegan Pizza Waffles

Vegan Pesto Pizza Rolls Recipe

Vegan Pizza Snack Bites

Vegan Margherita Pizza With Cashew Mozzarella

Cheesy Pull Apart Pizza Bread

Ingredients:

• I use a mix of all-purpose flour and semolina flour for my pizza dough and we let it rise by adding yeast which we activate in some warm water and sugar. Semolina adds sturdy ness to the dough which is essential for a deep dish pizza. You can also use rice flour as a substitute
• olive oil adds richness to the dough
• For that pretzel look, we brush the risen dough with a baking soda wash and a cornstarch wash:
• As for the cheese filling, I recommend you make my vegan cheese sauce or this cashew cheese or my liquid mozzarella . if you are using some other sauce , remember to add some flour into it so it thickens and sets during baking
• sliced mushrooms and baby spinach are the perfect toppings for this cheese pizza but fresh basil and tomatoes would also be divine
• I like this pizza with a touch of heat to balance out all that rich cheese so a good sprinkling of Pepper flakes is a must for me

Tips:

• To make this gluten-free, use my gluten-free pan crust Don’t make it too deep. Bake the crust then add fillings and bake again
• The water you mix the yeast with should only by lightly warm, not hot. Hot water will kill the yeast.

How to make Vegan Deep Dish Pretzel Crust Pizza

Make your crust; add the warm water, active yeast, and sugar to a bowl. Mix well and let it sit for 5 minutes to activate the yeast. Then add in the olive oil, flour, salt, and semolina and mix really well.

Press and mix to make it into the dough. If the dough is too sticky add more flour one tablespoon at a time. Cover the dough with a wet kitchen napkin and let the dough sit in a warm place or in the warm oven (110ºF to 120 deg F) for at least 45 minutes to an hour or until the dough has risen significantly.

Sprinkle some flour on the dough and transfer to a floured surface. Knead the dough into a ball then transfer it to a parchment-lined baking dish. You can either use a 7.5inch cast iron or similar size pan or springform pan.

Using some flour push out the dough on the pan and on the sides of the pan until is 1 1/2 to 2 inches tall on the sides. Let this dough sit to rise near the warm oven for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the cornstarch slurry;  mix the cornstarch in the water then heat the water in a saucepan or the microwave until it’s boiling. Mix really well to thicken evenly and set aside.

Heat up the water for the baking soda wash until hot. Mix the baking soda into the water. Brush the baking soda wash all over the crust, then brush again on the edges.

Then let this wash dry out a little bit for 2-3. minutes. Then brush the cornstarch slurry all over the crust, especially on the edges of the pizza crust. Bake this pizza crust in a preheated 450ºF oven for 10 to 11 minutes. In the meanwhile, prep your toppings and set them aside.

Add one tablespoon of flour into the cheese sauce, mix really well and set aside. You can also use my mozzarella cheese here (no need to add flour to that cheese) or you can use any other creamy cheesy sauce or even Alfredo sauce. Depending on the cheese sauce, if it’s thick enough, you can add flour or not.

Remove the pizza crust from the oven. Then fill it with the cheese sauce and spread the sliced mushrooms. Then toss the spinach or the basil with olive oil and some black pepper and spread the leaves all over the pizza. Add some pepper flakes.

You can also brush the crust with a little bit of olive oil (optional).   Put this pizza back into the oven. Reduce the heat to 400ºF and bake for 17 to 20 minutes or until the sauce has thickened and the edges have turned golden brown.
Check at 16 mins. If there is too much browning you can put a piece of parchment paper on top of it to reduce the direct heat.

Remove the vegan pretzel crust pizza from the oven and let it sit for 10 minutes for everything to settle a little bit. We like to wait for an additional 5 minutes so the cheese sets more and we don’t make a mess when we cut into it. Then slice and serve!

Storage

Store refrigerated for upto 3 days. Reheat in the oven covered with parchment.
Freeze: Place a single layer of slices on a big dinner plate and top with a layer of parchment  paper, foil, or parchment paper, and keep stacking, alternating pizza and paper, until all the pizza’s on the plate. Wrap the whole thing tightly up in plastic wrap before placing it in the fridge. Stored this way, your cheese pizza won’t dry out.