I've been vegetarian for a long time, but even though I'm lactose intolerant I've had a hard time kicking dairy. I don't drink milk or eat eggs, so it's really just cheese that I crave, mainly on delicious pizza.
Growing up in a partially Italian family in the New England, we had plenty of great pizza options and ate it every week without fail. When I moved down to Texas I was shocked at the lack of local pizzaerias, instead people regularly got garbage pizza that tasted and chewed like cardboard.
Eventually I found the good pizza places in Austin, although they are few and far between. On my birthday last week we went to one of them (Buffalina) and had this amazing vegan pizza which was the inspiration for this recipe.
Before I discovered the good places I decided to start making my own pizza, and it was well worth it. I've spent a lot of time perfecting my pizza dough recipe, but it does take a good amount of time and care. Since I happened to be at Trader Joe's the day before, I snagged some of their fresh dough to save on time. It's very good for grocery store dough, but I'd still recommend making your own if you can.
Making your own sauce is the key to this recipe and not very hard. I basically followed this recipe, but I left out the butter and adjusted the seasoning a little bit.
This deliciously chunky sauce is a million times better tasting than jarred pizza sauce. It's so fresh and flavorful, and would also be great on your favorite pasta.
Next came a lot of chopping for this mixture of garlic, red bell pepper, serrano peppers, and black olives. Like the pie I had at Buffalina, there's no need for fake cheese because this stuff has plenty of flavor.
You may also notice the pizza stone in the background. It's not totally necesarry, but it does make it easier and helps the dough cook perfectly.
The sauce spread out on the dough before the topping mixture went on.
And the piping hot pizza fresh out of the oven, totally vegan and cruelty free. I'll definitely be making this again, it was amazingly delicious and didn't last long.
