Sunday 2 February 2014

Buffalo cauliflower sourdough pizza with tofu blue cheese spread

When it comes to pizza, I love kooky ideas.  I love vegan and fusion and cheese.  I am fascinated by Frank's Hot Sauce and buffalo flavour.  I don't understand buffalo.  Yet I still want to recreate it.  Having a bottle of Frank's made me try this buffalo cauliflower wing pizza with tofu blue cheese spread.  Then I sprinkled it with home made vegan cheese. 

We all loved the sourdough base.  I really liked the pizza toppings but E found them a little weird.  I was sad my home made cheese didn't make much impact - it wasn't of the melting kind!  (Stay tuned for more on this cheese!)  The pizza was fun to make and fun to eat but I am not sure if I would repeat it.

I didn't mind the spiciness.  (It was rather spicy for me.)  In fact, I think the spicy buffalo cauliflower was more of a success than the tofu blue cheese spread.  The spread was sharp rather than pungent and didn't remind me of blue cheese.  Don't get me wrong!  I liked it.  Perhaps, however, I would prefer the pizza with a creamy cheese sauce.

We had the pizza early last month when the weather was kinder.  None of these 30 C days for a week in a row like we are now experiencing.  Just decent summer weather that allowed me to bake pizza to eat while we watched the DVD of the Little Drummer Boy movie.

But now it is February.  All the festive fun is behind us and we are well and truly into 2014.  Even into school lunches.  Yes, Sylvia started school last week and has pizza on her list for lunchbox ideas.  So I am sure there will be more pizza.  More sourdough pizza experiments.  More adventures in pizza toppings.  Though perhaps more plain toppings for lunchboxes!

I am sending this pizza to Susan for YeastSpotting and to the new Healthy Vegan Friday hosts: Suzanne at Hello Veggy, Anna at Herbivore Triathlete, and Kimmy at Rock My Vegan Socks.

Previously on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
One year ago: Lamingtons at the beach
Two years ago: Lorne - beach, bush and eating out
Three years ago: CC Soba noodle salad
Four years ago: Emergency Zucchini and Rice Burgers
Five years ago: Apricot and Orange Glazed Tofu
Six years ago: Muhammara by Moonlight

Buffalo cauliflower pizza with tofu blue cheese spread
Pizza base a development of this one of mine and topping adapted from Keepin It Kind
Serves 2-3

Sourdough pizza base:
[NB you will only need half this dough for the pizza]
250g starter out of fridge
150g water
300g plain white flour
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sweetener (I used sugar)

Buffalo cauliflower:
1/2 head cauliflower, broken into florets
1/2 cup soy milk
1/2 cup chickpea flour
1/2 cup franks hot sauce (or other hot sauce)
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
several dashes of smoked paprika
grinding of fresh black pepper

Tofu blue cheese spread:
125g firm tofu, crumbled into small pieces
1 tablespoons nutritional yeast
juice of 1 lime (or half a lemon)
1 1/2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoons white miso
1/2 teaspoons tahini
1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
1/4 teaspoons dried oregano
1/2 teaspoons dulse granules
a couple of pinches of salt

For the pizza:
1/4 cup pizza sauce (I sort of made this tomato sauce without the sweet potato)
few small slices of vegan cheese, chopped small (optional)
polenta, to sprinkle on tray

To make the sourdough pizza base: Mix all ingredients into a dough and knead for about 4 to 5 minutes until you have a smooth dough.  Place in a bowl and cover with cling wrap.  Allow to rise for 3 to 4 hours or until doubled in size.  While it rises, make the toppings.

To make the buffalo cauliflower: Preheat oven to 220 C.  Mix soy milk and chickpea flour in a small mixing bowl.  (If your oven is quite poorly like mine, lightly steam the cauliflower for about 5 minutes first to ensure they will be soft.)  Tip cauliflower into the mixture and place battered florets into oiled roasting dish.  Roast for 30 minutes.  Toss cauliflower florets with the hot sauce, spices and seasoning.  Roast for a further 5 to 10 minutes until starting to brown but not too crispy (remember they still need to cook on the pizza).

To make the tofu blue cheese spread: Mix all ingredients in a small mixing bowl.

To make the pizza: Preheat oven to 220 C.  Roll out a large pizza (remember you will only need half the pizza base dough).  Sprinkle polenta on the base of a large pizza tray (to stop the base sticking when baked) and place base on the tray.  Spread pizza sauce on the base.  Crumble on the tofu blue cheese spread.  Top with buffalo cauliflower and vegan cheese.  Bake for 20 minutes or until pizza is golden brown and base is cooked.

On the Stereo:
Rosa Duet: Barb Waters

29 comments:

  1. I am intrigued by buffalo cauliflower, too, but I don't like spicy things at all so I haven't really pursued it. I am happy to see the besan worked since that's the only flour I have!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Janet - I didn't find it too spicy and my spice threshhold is fairly low - I think I halve the amount of cauliflower so that probably helped. The besan was great - love the stuff

      Delete
  2. The buffalo cauliflower is a feast in itself...almost like cauliflower "popcorn". I'd love a spicy bowlful! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Peace Patch - I agree that the cauliflower is delicious without the pizza - but then again I could just eat steamed cauliflower by itself.

      Delete
  3. Replies
    1. Thanks Yummy C - just my sort of healthy food :-)

      Delete
  4. Yum! That sounds absolutely delicious! i'm going to have to try it for sure :-)

    ReplyDelete
  5. YES YES TO ALL OF THIS YES (funnily enough, I'm eating a meal flavoured with Frank's right now).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Hannah - funnily enough I was pleased to finally finish my Franks and then I bought another bottle so hope to be eating it again soon :-)

      Delete
  6. Oh yes! This was one of my favorite pizza pre-vegan and your version looks incredible! Thanks for sharing your recipe on Healthy Vegan Fridays.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Anna - I have never heard of this type of pizza before but I can see why you would love it

      Delete
  7. Oh my word, Johanna, I LOVE this concept and recipe!!! The spicier the better! I am soooooo pinning this!!! Thank you so much for sharing...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Louise - I don't like much wuss but a little can be very nice - though I am sure you could up the spiciness of this easily

      Delete
  8. This looks amazing and all the flavours sound wonderful. I agree that I love try different topping ideas, but this is so inventive

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Katie - I thought it inventive and then was surprised to see Anna above recognise the type of pizza - it is very different to those we have available here

      Delete
  9. I like the sound of the buffalo cauliflower. It's one of my favourite vegetables really! :D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Lorraine - I love cauliflower too - and always loved it as a child (what child wouldn't love a vegetable always covered in a creamy cheesey sauce)

      Delete
  10. I don't understand buffalo either, but like you, I am intrigued by it! This looks like such a great way to use the flavour and the cauliflower sounds great even on its own. Sadly Mr B wouldn't cope with the spice but I imagine I could get through a fair whack of this pizza solo...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Kari - I have another bottle of franks hot sauce now so I think I can't stay away from buffalo - it wasn't too spicy for me which surprised me - though it had a kick - but yes I think it was light enough to eat a decent amount by yourself and made for great leftovers

      Delete
  11. This one was on my "to try" list and I'm not sure if it's moved up or down after this post...
    "Buffalo" flavoured things don't really exist here but I do like the idea of a bit of spice and a creamy layer together.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Emma - I still find buffalo a mystery because it doesn't exist here but I do encourage you to bump it up the list for the cauliflower - though if you had a blue cheese sauce of your own you may want to try that

      Delete
  12. I just realised I can't comment on your blog if I use my iPad now! So here I am on my laptop. I was thinking Sylvia must be starting school. I hope she loved it. I know another Sylvia with a mum called Johanna who started school last week (I think I told you about them many, years ago, when I first started reading your blog before Lentil Institution was even born).

    I'd forgotten about cauliflower on pizza. I used to do that, and must do it again soon. I'll be interested to hear more about that vegan cheese - or other vegan cheese, for that matter.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Linda - I remember that comment about another Johanna and Sylvia - didn't know it was you but nice to put a "face" to a comment that was memorable. I didn't know that ipads made it harder to comment - or maybe it is just my blog? The vegan cheese is from the Artisan vegan cheeses book and is still in the fridge - I think I like it but have been a bit on and off it so when I have eaten a bit more I will write more about it - the recipe says at least 2 months or even more - very hard being patient but at least it means the cheese copes if I am not using it

      Delete
    2. Haha, I remember telling the other Johanna about you. She was a bit disturbed by it, and was convinced one of her friends must have started a blog and used their names. :-) Her daughter is usually called Sylvie these days

      Delete
  13. This looks so good. I really can never eat enough cauliflower, so any new way I can find to cram some extra down my gullet will automatically win my heart, especially when it's spicy too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Joey - I don't eat enough cauliflower - some days I just feel I can't fit a whole caulif in my fridge but it is always brilliant to use.

      Delete
  14. Your pizza sounds and looks really good! I'd love to try buffalo cauliflower, I think I've seen it in several different places now.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Mihl - buffalo seems very popular in America - esp when the superbowl is on.

      Delete

Thanks for dropping by. I love hearing from you. Please share your thoughts and questions. Annoyingly the spammers are bombarding me so I have turned on the pesky captcha code (refresh to find an easy one if you don't like the first one)