I have to admit: I love pizza. Already as a little boy it was for me the biggest joy to sit with my family in a pizzeria in Bibione (Italy) or – back home – to the little Italian restaurant on the corner.
Just the smell was fantastic and I simply never got bored of pizza. Whether with pineapple and olives, mushrooms or peppers, fresh tomatoes and spinach, there are so many wonderful combinations for the topping.

The fact that I didn’t eat meat as a child never stood in the way of my love. Pizza really doesn’t need dead animals to taste great. But when I went vegan, things looked different. For a moment it seemed to be the end of pizza. But I quickly realized that a plant-based diet and pizza are not a contradiction at all.
On the one hand, a well topped pizza can do without cheese, on the other hand, there are so many ways to replace the cheese in a tasty, healthy and cruelty-free way.
A new challenge was my departure from gluten. For many, many years I ate the pasta or pizza from the previous evening for breakfast, something with bread for lunch and then made delicious pasta or pizza in the evening. But a few years ago I noticed that I feel even better if I significantly reduce my gluten consumption or even stop wheat proteins.
But I think that a healthy diet must above all be tasty and pizza tastes particularly good to me. So I experimented and here it is: My recipe for gluten-free vegan pizza

What you need for a large pizza for 2 people:

for the dough:
100 grams of rice flour
100 grams of potato starch
100 grams of buckwheat flour
1/2 cube of fresh yeast
olive oil

for the tomato sauce:
350 grams of passata
olive oil
1 onion
2 cloves of garlic

for the topping:
pineapple
Kalamata olives
200 grams of champions
1 red onion

for the cheese (or simply use vegan grated cheese)
100 grams of almond butter or cashew butter
Brewer’s yeast flakes
½ lemon

I always start with the tomato sauce first. Because the secret to a really good tomato sauce is the cooking time. The sauce has to simmer for at least half an hour, but it can also be left on the stove for much longer.
So I cut an onion into thin slices and fry it in a saucepan in plenty of olive oil. While the onions are frying, I also cut the garlic into small slices. Then I turn the heat to minimum and add the garlic.
When everything is well seared, I add the passata. Now stir well again, put the lid on and let it simmer over low heat. My stove is still too hot even on the lowest heat. That’s why I just turn it off in between, leave the tomato sauce on the plate and after a while (maybe 5 minutes) turn the heat back up very slightly. Before I turn it up again, I taste every time, add salt and pepper and a little olive oil.

Next, I prepare the champions. That they have more flavor later on the pizza, I always put them in a little bit of olive oil, salt, pepper and spices. So I cut them into thin slices, spread them on a large plate, pour some olive oil over them, season them to my taste and then put them aside for a while.

Now I am making the dough. I mix the rice flour, potato starch and buckwheat flour in a large bowl. Then I dissolve half the yeast cube in 100 ml of warm water, add it to the flour in the bowl and mix everything with a little olive oil, salt and pepper. Then the dough has to rise.

During this time I turn on the oven and let it preheat to maximum heat. Meanwhile I cut the pineapple and olives into small pieces and the red onion into very thin rings. When everything is ready for the topping, move on to the dough.

First I knead the dough well. If it sticks, I add buckwheat flour or use some olive oil on my hands. I always do it by feeling. At the beginning I tend to add flour because the dough may stick because it has too much liquid. Later I don’t want the dough to get too floury, so I use the olive oil.
In fact, the dough behaves a little differently than a conventional wheat flour dough. And he’s not that tough. So you can’t pull it that well. That’s why I don’t roll it out, I just press it onto the pizza tray like a cake base.

Then I top it the way I like it best and put the pizza in the oven.

But haven’t we forgotten something? Right, the cheese.
So while the pizza is already in the oven, I mix the almond butter (or cashew butter) with the juice of half a lemon, 3 tablespoons of brewer’s yeast and 50 to 100 ml of warm water, salt and pepper in a mug or a small bowl. I find it most practical when the cheese has the consistency of a thin pancake batter. Then you can spread it well over the pizza.

After ten minutes I take the pizza out, pour the cheese over it and let it bake again until the pizza looks fantastic. (about 5 – 10 minutes). Good Appetite.