We were so upset when Timothy from TJ Vegan Fusion Party Food told us he will not be running his stall anymore. We bugged him and asked if he was willing to share his secret recipe with us and guess what he agreed! Preparation work started 2 days ago as the dough required 16 hours to ferment. I was really eager to try his recipe and mine was a far cry from the original. Somehow, I got the mixture of the yeast, mushroom flavouring and the crust all wrong so I am definitely going to try re-making this again.

To made the pizza dough: (I made this 2 days before making the pizza)

3 cups of bread flour (he recommends prima bread)

1 cup of water (I added 1/2 cup more actually!)

1 tsp of instant yeast (sold at Phoon Huat)

1 tsp of salt

Method:

Mix them all in the food processor (or by hand like me) and then add in the cup of water and process until it becomes a dough.

Store in an airtight container in the fridge for at least 16 hours. (Coat the container with a little oil before storing it.)

Once you are ready to use it, take it out from fridge and leave it in room temperature for about half an hour to soften.

Roll it into flat round pieces with the edge being slightly thicker. (I found it easier to make them in the shape of pita breads.)

This dough makes 10 pieces of crust. (I made four hence mine was too fat and the texture was too doughy)

A Special Tip: You can choose to poke holes on the dough before baking them. If you don’t poke holes, the dough will bloat up and you can make a bloated-edged wood-fired version or use it to make pita bread.

Cook the dough on Willow’s non stick round pizza pan (sold at cold storage for $10) or on a preheated pizza stone for 8 mins at 230 dec G until you can see 1 or 2 brown toasted spots. Use the middle of the oven to cook the crust.

Take it out of the oven and then apply a thin spread of tomato paste (only use Leggo’s brand sold in a bottle) on it.

Let the paste dry a little before adding the cheese sauce.

The Cheese Sauce: (I made this 2 days before baking the pizza)

30g of Nutritional Yeast or one-third amount of a 100g packet (I used 3 tablespoons)

1 Cup of Glutinous Rice Flour

Half a normal size pan of water (I added 2 cups of water)

Method:

Mix them into a mixture before cooking on a pan, stirring until it thickens.

You can choose to make a watery sauce or a thicker sauce.

It would taste stronger the longer you store in the fridge.

Don’t pour too much (if you are using a watery sauce or the pizza will turn soggy).

Marinated Mushrooms Mixure:

A pinch of salt

Dried Oregano Herbs (I put 2 tablespoons)

Olive or Soy Soil (1 tablespoon)

A little lemon juice (Optional)

Method:

Mix it all up evenly and wait for a couple of mins for the mushrooms to absorb the oil.

A fast marination is the trick to get the mushrooms to remain tender, if they are marinated for too long they will turn soggy.

It takes practice to know just how much oil to add (I id not know how much so I added a tablespoon)

If too much oil is added, the mushroom will leak out lots of oil onto the pizza and you would have to drain it when the pizza is cooked. (That was what happened to mine!)

Pizza Assembling Process:

After spreading the marinated mushrooms on the pizza, cook it at 230/250 dec F for 8 mins until the top is sizzling from the oil and then it is ready.

Use the top-level of the oven to broil it until it sizzles.

You can make another variation with tomatoes and capsicum and black olives.

The Results:

Mine turned out looking quite good but the taste was missing. The dough was too tough and the toppings tasted bland. We had to eat them with more chilli flakes and salt to finish them up. I heard from Timothy he plans to start a cooking class, hopefully he will so that I can learn how to make a proper pizza! Thank you Timothy for being so generous to share your secret recipe and do let me know if I missed out any points.