Delicious and vibrantly red cherry tomatoes and sliced bell pepper atop a thick crust that has been coated in a garlicky tomato sauce and covered in yummy mozzarella and goat cheese. This is sure to be a meatless pizza favorite!

THE INGREDIENTS:

Instant Yeast: Having smaller grains than active dry yeast, instant yeast adds more rise in your dough with less time. Traditionally, baked goods rise twice. Instant yeast requires only one rise! This takes you from dough to finished dinner in less time! 

Sugar: When we write only “sugar” we mean white, granulated sugar. Think of sugar as food for yeast-it gives the yeast the energy it needs to work. For this recipe, there is only a little sugar because we’re aiming for savory here! If you omit the sugar, your dough may get less rise. 

Salt: A basic, necessary ingredient! It adds that savory aspect to the crust. 

Warm Water: Just like sugar is yeast’s food, think of water as a drink for the yeast! The water “activates” the yeast and gets it ready to start rising your flour. However, the “warm” part is also very important! Cold or room temperature water won’t activate your yeast as much, which risks less of a rise. Very hot or even boiling water, however, might be too overwhelming for your yeast and cause it to die. 

Bread Flour: Although bread flour looks the same as all purpose flour, it has different concentrations! Bread flour is a blend with more protein in it than regular all purpose flour. Since more protein is present, that means more gluten is present, too! Bread flour is our secret to better rising and chewy pizza crust. However, all purpose flour is still an acceptable substitute. 

Canned Tomato Sauce: On its own, canned tomato sauce is good but not great. It’s exactly what you think it would be: simmered tomatoes that were then canned. Although some varieties do have spices added, it’s still lacking in flavor. Since it is not overly seasoned, it’s a perfect base for our quick sauce since we will be adding so much flavor to it! It also saves a lot of time since making your own tomato sauce from scratch just isn’t always possible. Feel free to replace this with canned pizza sauce, if that is what you have on hand. 

Garlic: This seasoning barely needs an explanation! A key component in a lot of pizza or tomato-sauce based recipes, going heavy handed is welcomed for this sauce! Although we recommend 6 cloves of garlic, the amount can be changed for your preferences. 

Yellow Onions: Although yellow onions can be used in this recipe, they can easily be substituted for white onions if that is what you have on hand. 

Olive Oil: We use olive oil instead of other oils in this recipe because olive oil is more classic in Italian cooking. 

Fresh Basil: If you do not have fresh basil on hand, feel free to go heavier handed with the Italian seasoning. Although Italian seasoning also has basil in it, we like to add basil so that the heavy flavor of the tomato sauce also has a nice, herby twist. Don’t want to buy a pack of fresh basil just for this? Consider basil paste, which has a longer life in the fridge. We’ve also left it out plenty of times before and the pizza was still delicious! 

Italian Seasoning: Italian seasoning adds a little bit of basil, oregano, thyme, rosemary, sage, and other seasonings to the mix! It helps to give a variety of flavors without having to individually add each of these spices-after all, we want this to be quick!

Black Pepper: Another basic ingredient! It gives a mild, but peppery bite to our sauce and toppings. Feel free to adjust to your preferences. 

Fennel Seed: Make sure fennel seed is in your spice cabinet! It is definitely worth it! Fennel’s sweet, unique flavor stands out in this upgraded pizza sauce recipe. 

Cherry Tomatoes: Cherry tomatoes are perfect on pizza as they provide a “pop” of cherry tomato flavor that is a lot different from the tomato pizza sauce we have in this recipe. 

Red Bell Pepper: Bell peppers and tomatoes are two vegetables that pair incredibly well together. Since we are able to buy red bell peppers, we are also able to visually have a stunning pizza full of red vegetables. 

Shredded Mozzarella Cheese: Mozzarella cheese is the cheese that tops most pizzas, and we wanted to keep it classic. 

Goat Cheese: Unlike mozzarella cheese, goat cheese does not melt well. Instead, it remains as gooey “bubbles” of cheese that make it a third topping that pairs well with the vegetables. The richness of the cheese makes up for how light the vegetable toppings may seem.  

KEY INFORMATION:

How to ensure the best rise: The secret to getting dough that rises well is to keep it somewhere warm (but not hot!). Our favorite way to do this is to turn on the oven and set the bowl of dough on top of the stove. As the oven is on, some of the heat moves upwards and makes the stovetop a bit warmer to the touch. We have found that this is the perfect condition for our dough to rise. 

What is proofing yeast? Proofing yeast is when you add your yeast, warm water, and sugar to a bowl and let it sit for 5-10 minutes. If your mixture looks the same as it did 10 minutes ago, that means that your yeast is no longer active and will not successfully raise the dough. So, when that happens, you have to start over with new yeast, water, and sugar. What you’re looking for is a bubbly or frothy appearance to show that the yeast is ready to go.

Do I need to knead? Kneading your dough helps the gluten strengthen and develop. Thanks to this gluten caused by our kneading, the dough will rise more and have a lighter, chewy texture. 

Sticky dough: This dough feels a little sticky and wet, but don’t feel tempted to add more flour. If more flour is added to this recipe, it becomes very dense. To handle it better, lightly dust the dough with a little extra flour when you are about to shape it in the pan. If you handle it lightly, you won’t have a sticky mess! 

Why wait to add the garlic? Why mince it? Minced garlic and sliced onions have different cooking times. Overcooking garlic weakens its flavor. You know your garlic is at its best stage during cooking when you smell the mixture and the garlic is really pronounced and strong. If you overcook it, the smell will be weaker. Mincing takes us back to math class and when we first learned about surface area. One clove of garlic has a set surface area. Everything we can see on the outside is the surface area. When we cut the garlic into smaller and smaller pieces, less is hidden inside each piece. So, we increase the surface area and get more garlic flavor!

Why are we adding the fennel seed before the other seasonings? By adding the fennel seeds to our oil mixture before everything else, we are able to toast them. They release their flavor when toasted in oil and pack more of a punch than if we added them after the tomato sauce has already made its way into the pan. 

Why the fresh basil during the last few minutes? Fresh herbs lose their impact with time. To get the strongest basil flavor, add during the last few minutes of cooking so the flavor does not get lost in the sauce. Does the order matter for topping the pizza? Yes! First, spread the sauce over the pizza dough. From there, we want to add around 75% of the mozzarella cheese. Next, the vegetables are added. After that, the remaining mozzarella cheese. Finally, the goat cheese. By adding a lot of the cheese on the bottom at first, we are able to easily see the vegetable toppings and get a much prettier pizza. If you forget and add all the cheese on top, it still tastes the same, though!