Saturday, September 28, 2013

Vegan Mofo 2013: Book Review and Giveaway: Julie Hasson's Vegan Pizza


I have been a fan of Julie's for years.  The first of Julie's books I ever bought was her cupcake book, way back in 2005!  And each and every book she has put out since has been even better, so you can only imagine how excited I was to get my hand on a book full of recipes for vegan pizza!  Yeah, I was pretty excited.  And now the wait is over.  Julie's new book, Vegan Pizza: 50 Cheesy, Crispy, Healthy Recipes in finally in my hot little hands.  And I was so excited about it, I bought 2 copies!  So now I have one to give away to one of you.  Just follow the prompts in the widget below to enter to win.  Since I am sending it out, this contest is open to anyone, worldwide!


Julie Hasson's Vegan Pizza

Now on to the book review.  The intro is sweet and Julie tells us about her personal love affair with pizza and how her transition to veganism had her rethinking her pizza making.  Then she teaches us how to stock our pantry with all of the vegan pizza necessities.  Moving on, there are tips and techniques for making the perfect pie, and then...it's on to the recipes!

She starts us out with plenty of different dough recipes, including my favorite kind of pizza dough, that I never make myself, but now I can, Cornmeal Dough (page 12), then she blows my mind with a whole chapter on house made meats....wha-wha-what?  This lady is reading my mind!  Faux-meaty are some of my favorite recipes in the world, and now I have 6 new meaty ways to top my pizzas.  Next up are the cheesy sauces and spreads.  Yep, a chapter devoted to making your own delicious creamy and zesty sauces.  My favorite?  The Smoky White Cheese Sauce (page 30).  Now, with just these recipes, there is enough ammo to make an abundance of delicious pizzas, and we haven't even gotten to the  recipes for entire pizzas yet!

Components taken care of, Julie now gives us the recipes for all sorts of pizzas, from pizzaria classics, to those inspired by the fresh bounty at the farmer's market.  And then it gets really creative!  Cheeseburger Pizza, complete with dill pickles (page 72), Bibimbap Pizza (page 88), and she even finishes with some sweet pizzas for dessert...Coconut Caramel Pizza (page 107) anyone?

This book is smartly laid out with easy to follow recipes, sidebars and variations giving more in depth info on the recipes, and the recipes almost all nicely fit on a 1-2 page layout, so there is no page flipping in the middle of your pizza making.  In the back of the book, Julie offers up some useful resources and metric conversions, and a user friendly index.  The only thing missing is the full color photos.  But seriously, how many different ways can you take a picture of a pizza? Besides, Julie posts lots of pictures on her flickr photostream and on her website to give us a good idea on what these amazing pies (as well as lots of other yummy foods she makes) should look like.

Get yourself a copy of this book!  Even if you aren't vegan, or even vegetarian, because knowing how to make a pizza from scratch, at home, is something every home cook should know, and Julie can teach you how to do it with no fear and no hassle.  This book gets two thumbs up from me.

Julie also was kind enough to share a recipe to get you excited about the book. And, lucky for you guys, it features the The Smoky White Cheese Sauce I mentioned above!

Smoky Wild Mushroom and Potato Pizza (page 60)

Smoky Wild Mushroom and Potato Pizza

CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE  (C) 2013 Julie Hasson, reprinted with permission

CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE  (C) 2013 Julie Hasson, reprinted with permission

CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE  (C) 2013 Julie Hasson, reprinted with permission


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36 comments:

Amey said...

yeah! I already have a copy of this book and I can't wait to get to work makin' some pizza! Just a couple more days of mofo and I'll be a free agent in the kitchen! ha ha. I love Julie's recipes so much, and I am also totally stoked about all the faux meats recipes. Can't wait!!

Loz Bear said...

I love making my own pizza, but one of my favourite ever pizzas came from a little pizza truck at a festival with its own wood fired oven. Hold the cheese and lots of veggies - so tasty!

Emily Segal said...

This looks so good! Also delighted it's an international give-away. Thanks for that.

Amy said...

I've been waiting for this book. Dying to read it!

Dani said...

I love homemade Pizza, although the pizza dough and me are often on war, because he/she doesn't want to rise, doesn't want to not stick to either the mixing bowl or the rolling pin and so on... ;)
But still I love it homemade, though I have to admit that I sometimes buy a premade pizza dough. But I'm definitely gonna try the recipe above.
My favorite pizza is either Pizza Funghi (just sauce, cheese and mushrooms) or Pizza Bolognese Style (with Sauce, ground meat substitute, a lot of onions, garlic and cheese). Of course all vegan. :)
Greetz from Luxembourg,
Danielle

coconutandberries said...

I love that Julie gives recipes for homemade cheesy/meaty toppings! I love making homemade pizza but am not too creative with mine usually. I have recipes for pesto or romesco sauce topped pizza with grilled vegetables on my blog though which are probably my faves to date :)

Wendy said...

My favo pizza is one from a restaurant because in the stores they don't sell vegan pizza :( I love making pizza at home but except the recipe from VwaV I don't have many recipes for making pizzas. So nice that I can join this competition from Belgium! :D

Anonymous said...

I haven't liked any of the vegan pizzas I've tried to have a favorite. I'm looking forward to this book to change that.

Book and Cat Librarian said...

I made a really good one that had spinach, sun dried tomatoes, plum tomatoes, pickles, mushrooms, garlic, and vegan kielbasa.

Beedi said...

I really like making pizza so home made all the way. Just plain with FYH mozz or with garlic olives and roasted red peppers.

Katie said...

Homemade = yum. So much creative possibility!

Lori said...

I've always been a sucker for spinach, broccoli and mushroom pizza - yum!

jacqui said...

Homemade is always great! Especially when choices are limited with takeout or store bought. Add that to how expensive it can be. This book sounds like what I need to expand my choices!!

Bobbie {thevegancrew} said...

I love making homemade pizzas (just made one last night) and can only imagine all the fun we could have making pizzas from this book!

Jessica Eagle said...

Thanks for the giveaway...again :)
My favorite vegan pizza is certainly homemade style with Greek flavors; spinach, kalamata olive, red onion, tomatoes...miammm and with Daiya cheese.

Hannah said...

I like Amy's vegan pizzas, doctored up with fresh herbs and sriracha.

n_selah_d said...

Homemade we live in a SUPER small town that's about as meat and cheese as you can get so it's much easier to do it yourself!

Em said...

My favorite pizza is always going to be regular cheese pizza. It's a classic.

sarahhhhhh said...

homemade.!!

Anonymous said...

I love homemade pizza, but honestly, my homemade pizza isn't as good as restaurant pizza. Maybe this book could change that?!?

Courtney

Melody said...

Can't wait to try out the smoky cheese sauce!

Cadry said...

My favorite pizza is homemade taco pizza!

Mel said...

This cookbook sounds fantastic, I love making my own pizza bases and crazy toppings.

Jessica said...

we love making homemade with pestos of all sorts!

Cee said...

My favorite is homemade. I usually make the yeast-free crust from one of Sarah Kramer's books, add sauce, spinach, and make Isa's tempeh sausage crumbles to go on top. When it's done cooking/baking, I'll add sauteed mushrooms and nutritional yeast. YUM. ceevegnashville [at] gmail [dot] com

Anonymous said...

Homemade is always my favorite, hands down. Right now I'm eating a lot of pizza with rocket pesto as a base, and topped with locally grown shiitakes and heirloom potatoes!

Anonymous said...

Restaurant! I rarely have the energy to make all the components of a good pizza. Faves that come to mind are PF Pizza Co in Reno and Zachary's in Oakland.

jo90 said...

Oh do we love a good home made pizza! Lots of pesto, lots of cheese and my favourite is mixed roast veg. Mmmm

Unknown said...

Homemade thin spelt crust, topped with a thin layer of marinara sauce and some roasted red onion, egglant and red bel pepper slices

Terri Cole said...

What amazed me, 18 months ago when I took the plunge into being vegan, was how much I enjoyed pizza WITHOUT cheese! I like a whole wheat crust, topped with red sauce, artichoke hearts, roasted garlic, olives, mushrooms and red peppers.

gaia (at) cinci (dot) rr (dot) com

Unknown said...

I love any pizza made with a whole wheat crust and lots of grilled veggies, sans the cheese!

Sharon @ Bit of the Good Stuff said...

My favourite has got to be a thick wholewheat crust topped with sun dried tomato paste or pesto and lots of Mediterranean veggies.

Liza said...

I've had some amazing pizza from Viva Pizza in NYC!

Unknown said...

Now that i live in Ireland it has to be homemade, but when i lived in Italy nothing could beat a good pizzeria pizza! Easy to request in vegan form (and without being looked at like you're weird) because italian pizza is all about simplicity, less is best. I like it just with tomato sauce oregano and garlic or tomatoes and onions. My homemade pizza though is usually topped with tomato sauce, cherry tomatoes, onions and capers (DO try capers on pizza, they give an amazing taste even if you normally don't like them!)

Cookware Reviews said...

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2012 Copyright/Permissions/Disclaimers

All recipes written by me, Joni Marie Newman, unless otherwise noted. Please feel free to refer to or link back to any of my recipes, but please ask for permission, and remember to give credit when reprinting recipes in their entirety. I do provide links to affiliate programs (such as Amazon) in which I receive a small commission for items purchased. I do not provide paid reviews. All reviews done on products or books are of my own unsolicited opinion. On occasion I may receive a book or product to review. I will note when this is the case, but rest assured, it will not affect the authenticity of my review. Thanks!--Joni