Raw Pizza with Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Vegan Mozzarella

A fully raw pizza night, built from three separate preparations: a rich sun-dried tomato sauce, a dehydrated buckwheat crust, and a fermented vegan mozzarella with just the right tang. The result comes surprisingly close to the original. It takes patience, since both the crust and the cheese need time to come together, but very little active work — most of it happens while you're doing something else. Irish moss, a red seaweed, acts as the binder here: rehydrated and blended, it produces a neutral gel that gives structure to both the crust and the cheese, with no gelatin or dairy involved.

Ingredients

Sun-Dried Tomato Sauce

• 4 cups sun-dried tomatoes
• 12 cl water
• 12 cl olive oil
• 3 garlic cloves
• 1 tablespoon basil
• 1 tablespoon oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• The juice of half a lemon

Pizza Crust

• 3 cups buckwheat groats, soaked then dehydrated
• 1 cup psyllium husks
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 50 cl water
• 12 cl olive oil
• 12 cl Irish moss gel
• 1 tablespoon honey
• The juice of one lemon

Vegan Mozzarella

• 1 cup young coconut meat (about 2 coconuts)
• 1 cup cashews
• 6 cl Irish moss
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon powdered starter culture (a kefir starter works very well)
• The juice of half a lemon

Preparation

The Sauce

1. Blend all the sauce ingredients in a food processor until smooth. It should stay thick and rich; if it's too stiff to work with, loosen it with a splash of water, added very gradually.

The Crust

1. Grind the buckwheat groats, psyllium, and salt together into a fine flour.
2. Separately, blend the liquid ingredients for the crust.
3. With the processor running, pour the liquid mixture in a thin stream over the flour and let it run until you get a smooth dough.
4. Spread it out on a work surface dusted with buckwheat flour, as you would a classic pizza dough, shape it to fit your dehydrator tray, and dehydrate for 24 hours at 40°C.

The Mozzarella

1. Blend all the cheese ingredients until perfectly smooth.
2. Line a strainer set over a deep bowl with a cheesecloth (or a thin kitchen towel), making sure the bottom of the strainer doesn't touch the bottom of the bowl.
3. Pour in the mixture, gather up the cloth, and twist it closed.
4. Let it sit somewhere warm, for example on top of a running dehydrator, for about 24 hours. You'll get a soft cheese with a pleasant tang.
5. Divide it into four, roll each portion into a ball, then slice it to top the pizza, or simply dot small spoonfuls across the surface.

Assembly

1. Toss your vegetables of choice with a little olive oil and salt, and let them marinate for about thirty minutes.
2. Assemble the pizza: sauce, mozzarella slices, marinated vegetables.

Tip

Don't try to shortcut the cheese's fermentation: that's what gives it its tang and sets it apart from a simple cashew cream. Twenty-four hours somewhere warm is a minimum, and the taste should be judged with a spoon, not a clock.

FAQ: your questions about raw pizza and vegan mozzarella