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!
More posts from Joni Marie Ressinger Newman
