Sick of a greasy hot mess of a pizza coming out of your oven, serving as a reminder bite-by-bite that you seriously can't cook a fresh pizza? Wonder what all the hype is about this place? Look no farther. Here I explain how to cook each type of crust so you don't have to suffer through mediocre pizzas. 9 times out of 10 it's user error that makes these pizzas taste less-than-good.
Step 1: Crust.Each crust has different baking instructions. If you wanna bake more than one thing, DO NOT toss 'em in at once UNLESS they can fit on the same oven rack. The pizzas get heat from top and bottom, so having something obstruct that would lead to uneven heat distribution. TL;DR bake PMurph things one at a time or it'll mess up everything edible.
NOTE: all crust with gluten is incidentally vegan. The dough is produced in a factory that also handles eggs though, but as always check with your actual store. Gluten-free crust does have eggs because it needs a binder.
- Mini Murph/bready side items: my mom loves mini murphs. These can bake with other things if they can fit side-to-side. These turn out nearly perfect, just keep an eye out so they don't overcook.
- Thin Crust: I have a love-hate relationship with these. Honestly to make them the best, you would ideally bake the crust for a few minutes before putting toppings on - this is delicious if you can do that. Get it with garlic and olive oil (ask for a light amount, the store I worked at used a lot of it and just added unneeded grease) instead of the sauce for best results (read: a less soggy crust) and, when you can get it to slide off the pizza tray EASILY (don't force it), slide it off and put it directly on the rack for the remaining cooking time, just to get the bottom to be less soggy. Also, make sure it's on the bottom oven rack so the bottom gets exposed to more heat. *Note: if you get TC (thin crust) pizzas multiple times and they burn before they can slide off the tray, your dough is old. Go to the store and politely, nonchalantly ask if a manager is around and explain your situation. Then ask for cooking tips, if you're lucky they'll give you a free pizza coupon for your hassle, if you aren't so lucky at least a higher-up knows that they've been caught having less-than-stellar dough. TC dough is especially prone to this, so use caution but don't abstain unless it's a huge issue. I think it's worth it.
- OC (or Original/Hand Tossed crust for you newbs): These turn out aight. Family (or 16") sized pizzas turn out slightly worse than large (14") or medium (12") because of the quantity of dough, but if you end up with a lot of leftovers that doesn't matter too much.
- Pan: in my location these only come in the 14" large, but hot dang these will always have a place in my heart. This crust is a 16" dough ball stuffed into a 14" pan that is lined with dairy-free "buttery oil" which adds crispiness to the bottom. This crust is built to hold as many toppings your heart desires with one catch - cheese heavily weighs it down. If you eat dairy, ask for less cheese (start with half then tweak it from there) if you decide to get more than 2 toppings, believe me you will not miss it. I like my food on the lesser done side, but these taste great IMO if you cook it a little longer. The crust should be golden brown and if it looks burnt don't worry- this baby is super versatile. Technically you're supposed to slide it on a seperate surface like a cookie sheet so that the oils don't make the crust soggy, but I normally skip this part because I'm lazy. Also, if you can't wait, this tastes best when fresh; if you know you won't get through it, cut it in square pieces so it microwaves better (and it makes GREAT leftovers). Definitely worth the extra buck or two, unless you don't like the taste of "butter". *Note: this should come with a sticker saying not to tilt it so the oil doesn't get uneven, but don't stress too much about that because the oil doesn't effect it as much as the tray does. Try your best to make sure the tray stays relatively unbent.
- Special Mention: Gluten-Free. Only in the 12" medium {at my location}, I have not tried it, but it bakes the same as the other 'zas: center oven rack at 425 degrees. It slides around on its baking tray but I know some people bake it directly on the oven rack. Has eggs. Looks like it can hold a fair amount of toppings.
Step 2 [finally!]: Sauce.Double check at your store, for sure. In my area the original tomato, aka traditional red, sauce is vegan, as are most others besides the white, or Creamy Garlic, sauce, which contains egg. They used to have a 'deLite' sauce which all the employees used, it was fabulous, but they don't have it here anymore. If you're in a place that has it, I recommend it over the traditional red sauce. Otherwise it's up to you what sauce you choose.
Final Step: Toppings.Veggies are always the best bet as far as vegan toppings, some places count cheese as a topping so if you get a 'za with no cheese you can get two free toppings. Check your receipt on this, or if there's no one else in line ask your hopefully knowledgeable cashier.
Quick tip: ask for spinach or pepperoni on top of the pizza, they get crispy and not soggy, as the leafy veggies tend to be if left at the bottom.
If I feel like I want extra flavor, I get the Sweet Chili sauce drizzled on top, but now I have some at home and drizzle that on. Veggies are super over priced, the cheapest to get is green peppers yet you pay one flat rate for any toppings. Few things, some meat has dairy (such as the salami and spicy Italian sausage) so if you're sensitive to that and you eat meat I'd watch out for that.
Also, if your store has it, the zesty herb seasoning is the bomb.com. If it's your first time and you're nice, you may be able to squeeze this out for free but it can make your pizza taste so much better tbh.
A good idea is to add mushrooms to a vegan 'za, if you cut them up in strips they can add some meaty texture to your pizza sans meat.
I personally get one of these with just sauce and a couple of veggies I don't have at home or are too lazy to cut up, such as green peppers and black olives. I then go home, cut up a few veggies (onions, colored peppers, mushrooms, etc), and toss it on the 'za along with spinach or kale on top. Delicious!
In summary, fact check at your store at a non peak time [which varies between stores] and they will probably have an allergen informational binder somewhere in the back, where you can get all your questions answered in one go rather than making the worker go out back to manually check everything. This pizza can be super delicious so you don't have to settle for mediocre pizza, if I feel inclined I'll give you some "secret menu" pizza combinations and ways to veganize it.
