Dairy and yeast free pizza - it's tasty, honest!!

Having a dairy and yeast intolerance, I've got used to not eating my favourite foods, often just admiring them from afar. There is one though, that tortures me - pizza! I love it - that crunch of a crisp base, the fantastic combinations of toppings that may your tongue tingle in appreciation and the beautiful soft, gooey cheese on top that just brings all three elements together. But for me, no matter how much I may love it, it does not love me - devil food!!!
All the vegan cheese I have tried in the past just doesn't do it for me, there's always a strange tang which puts me off. And over here in India, I've never seen it on the supermarket shelves in Bangalore. So I was delighted at the last cooking demo I attended that one of the things they made was a soft 'cheese' that had a flavour similar to strong cheese - ie: stinky sock flavour! When it was passed round the room, I was not convinced as to be honest, it smelt and tasted like off cream gunge, but later on when they made pizza, the flavour and texture just worked, and it browned slightly on top.  I couldn't eat the pizza, but they cooked some for me separately on some vegetables, so it was half way to a pizza but not quite there!

I had a few attempts at making this cheese myself; the first was too dry and took a long time to ferment and just wasn't quite right. The second, my hand slipped when adding water, so was too runny. Thankfully, in the tradition of the 3 bears, the third attempt was just right! I wasn't sure how to make a non-yeast pizza base from scratch, so cheated and used Orgran pizza base mix. This is a gluten free, dairy free, yeast free, everything you can think of free product which is has a pretty reasonable taste and easy to make up. As it's the gluten that gives dough it's elasticity and mouldability, gluten free flours can be dry and crumbly, but this Orgran mix didn't have that problem.
I made the 'cheese' 2 days before making the pizza so it was suitably stinky! After making up the base according to the packet instructions, I rolled out the dough, smothered it with tomato puree and chopped herbs, sprinkled crisp red pepper, onion, mushroom, sliced tomato and basil, then spooned on a few dollops of the 'cheese', then left it to the oven gods to do some magic!
For the pizza aficionado, it probably wouldn't taste so good, but to me it was delicious and I enjoyed every mouth-watering bite. One to make again that's for sure!
Raw sour cheese
1 cup cashew nuts (I only used 1/2 cup as only making for 1)
1/3 tsp salt.
Soak the cashew nuts in water for a minimum of 2 hours. Drain out the water and blitz in the food processor to a smooth paste.  You may need to add a little water. Place in a bowl or container, cover with a close and leave to ferment for 24-72 hours (it depends on how warm the room is). Once it starts to smell sour, and the texture changes, add a little salt to taste and it's ready. It will keep in the fridge for up to 10 days.