If you live in a Japanese apartment like me, you probably don’t have much space for cooking. One electric IH burner, one gas portable, a microwave, and a toaster oven are all I’ve got to work with. No worries! We can still make an awesome vegan calzone from scratch with mochi cheese that stretches just like real mozzarella.
INGREDIENTS:
For the crust you’ll need:
- 3 cups flour
- 1 cup water
- 6 grams yeast (around 2 tsp)
- 1 tbsp sugar (or some kind of natural sweetener to proof the yeast. I had agave syrup and it worked fine)
- 1/4 cup olive oil (or oil of your choice, I used avocado oil once and it was the same)
- finely chopped garlic and olives (optional)
- 1/2 tsp salt
For my sauce: (alternatively you can just use your favorite pasta sauce)
- 1 can/box crushed tomatoes
- 2-3 tbsp oregano or Italian seasoning
- black pepper to taste
- 2 cloves crushed/minced garlic
- salt to taste
- something to kick up the spice (cayenne, crushed red pepper, chili powder, etc)
Topping suggestions: (get creative!)
- sliced mushrooms
- thinly sliced garlic
- sliced red onions
- diced bell peppers
- spinach
- thin mochi (rice cakes) for shabu-shabu
- frozen corn (Japanese style!)
- zucchini
Dough preparation:
First, proof some yeast. You’ll need about half a cup of warm (not hot) water, sugar, and yeast. Yeast can be found in any Japanese supermarket in the baking section near the flour. The one I bought has 10x3g packages, and I used two of them. To proof the yeast, just add it and the sugar to the warm water in a cup or small bowl, mix, and wait 5-10 minutes. If it bubbles up, the yeast is good and you can add it with all of the other dough ingredients into a large bowl for mixing.
Time to get messy! Knead the dough for about 10 minutes until it’s nice and smooth. You can put flour on your hands to keep the dough ball from sticking so much.
Now you need to let the dough rise for about an hour. Leave the dough in a bowl and cover with a moist towel or some plastic wrap. The wrap might stick to the dough but you can brush a light coating of oil over the top to prevent that from happening. While you’re waiting, make your sauce and prep your veggies.
Above you can see the dough has risen quite a bit and is ready for one last knead to prepare it for rolling. By now it should have a bouncy, elastic feel. I decided to add some diced garlic and olives just for fun.
Ok! Time to make a pizza! This recipe makes 4 calzones, so quarter your dough and get a cutting board for rolling. Coat your rolling surface with flour to prevent the dough from sticking. Be generous and put some flour on your hands too. I didn’t have a rolling pin, and I’m not confident in my dough-tossing, so I just used my hands. That’s why my crust shape is a little…rustic. Anyway, roll it out and make sure the diameter is the same as the length of your baking tray. Add the sauce (not too thick or it’ll be messy if you’re gonna fold it into a calzone) and your favorite toppings!
Good luck finding vegan cheese in Japan, but I saw these thin strips of mochi normally used for shabu-shabu (hot pot) and thought I’d give it a try. If you’re making pizza, you can put it in your oven like this, but my toaster oven is too small for that. Fold it in half, close the ends, and slide it into your toaster oven. Be sure to use the metal tray or it might burn the bottom.
This “oven toaster” that came with my apartment looks like a piece of junk, but works just fine! Cook for about 7 or 8 minutes (just keep a close eye on it so it doesn’t burn) and voila! Better than Domino’s for sure! And in Japan it’s way, way cheaper than takeout.
This was my first time making bread/dough from scratch and if you have never tried it yourself what are you waiting for! It was pretty easy and the taste of freshly baked bread with this calzone is on another level from takeout. The best part is you can customize it to make it just how you want it and it won’t cost you 3,000 yen. The mochi really made me feel like I was eating a cheesy pizza and it was so easy and cheaper than vegan cheese (which would be impossible to get here anyway). I’ve been making this every weekend. Give it a try and make it your own!
kansai veg 