Review: Blaze Pizza - Vegan Cheesy Bread

Blaze Pizza recently launched Cheesy Bread made with whole milk mozzarella, oregano, and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. The chain carries vegan cheese as a regular menu option and you can order Vegan Cheesy Bread by swapping the whole milk mozzarella for their vegan cheese instead and asking them to use a vegan cutter when slicing the cheesy bread after baking.

Usually vegan cheese carries an upcharge at chains that offer it, but that's not the case at Blaze Pizza. The Vegan Cheesy Bread cost me the same $4.99 at my local chain as the original Cheesy Bread.

Blaze's pizza dough lends itself well to this thicker application and bakes up with a nice, crispy crust that is almost crackly on the edges and bottom while being chewy in the center.

Visually, the Vegan Cheesy Bread does not have the same brown spots from the Maillard reaction that you normally see on whole milk mozzarella. It does look melted and you can see individual strands that made up the unmelted vegan cheese. They definitely do not skimp on the vegan cheese and I got a very healthy covering on the majority of my Vegan Cheese Bread.

The vegan cheese lacks any of the stretch of regular cheese but melts fairly well. Unfortunately, as the cheese cools, the texture moves away from melty and somewhat gooey to become a little more gummy and slightly waxy instead.

In terms of taste, the vegan cheese has an almost slightly nutty flavor to it that tries to mimic some of the cultured taste of traditional cheese. It does leave a bit of an aftertaste, which is slightly funky and may be what I tasted as nuttiness initially. It's saltier and has more flavor overall than plain whole milk mozzarella, but it was still quite mild. Combined with the unseasoned pizza dough, the Vegan Cheesy Bread ended up on the plainer side of Blaze Pizza's offerings.

The red sauce just appears to be their standard pizza sauce, which has a fresh tomato taste and is not as sweet. While great on their pizzas, I found it lower on the salt content and wanted a little more flavor to help the Vegan Cheesy Bread along.

Overall, the Vegan Cheesy Bread made by custom ordering the new Cheesy Bread is a solid option for those with milk-type allergies or who are following a plant-based diet. It is a little on the plainer side, but it does satisfy that comfort-food craving. I think that some seasoned salt would have done wonders for the flavor profile in general.

By Renee.