Olive pizza with blue cheese and walnuts

I was craving some gourmet pizza and since I had some delicious vegan blue cheese (Blue Style Sheese from Scotland), fresh thyme and olive tapenade in the fridge I though that I could combine them to create a unique pizza. Until today I never made my own pizza dough from scratch. I was always afraid to make it from scratch and I didn't want to make a mess in the kitchen. I would buy a pre-made pizza crust or a frozen pizza dough from Whole Foods since they have vegan pizza dough and pizza crust in stock most of the time. Unfortunately when I was going to buy a pizza dough or pizza crust this time, they were out. They only had cheese pizza crust and gluten-free frozen pizza dough (I don't mess around with gluten-free stuff). So I went to Publix and they didn't even have a frozen pizza dough, just some pre-made stuff that was hanging next to the freezer. They had about four varieties, even whole wheat crust. I flipped the package to see the ingredients and big bald letters with whey and mozzarella were laughing in my face. All varieties had the same unwanted ingredients. Why the heck do they have to put cheese in all of their crusts? Don't people put cheese on top? That made me so angry so I left the store without buying anything. When I got home I decided to make my very own pizza dough. I was pleased with the results and I must say I might even open a pizzeria soon :-) Here is my creation. Feel free to use any vegan cheese, but this one is the best blue cheese that I found. It truly mimics the taste of blue cheese like no other vegan cheese. I have been buying it for about two years now.

My dough before rising

For pizza dough:

2 1/2 cups flour

2 Tbs olive oil

1 tsp. salt

1 Tbs instant yeast

1 cup water

1 Tbs fresh thyme, chopped (optional)

In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients together. Beat with an electric mixer (with dough hooks) on medium speed for about 5 minutes. Transfer the dough into a medium size bowl that was coated with cooking spray. Cover and let rise for about 30 minutes. Prepare the toppings while the dough is rising.

Part of the toppings

For topping:

1 Tbs olive oil

1 large red onion, peeled and cut into circles

1/3 cup walnuts, chopped

5-6 Tbs kalamata or black olive tapenade (I used a mixture of both, plus green olives)

1/4 package of Blue Style Sheese (about 2 oz), grated

1 tsp. dried thyme

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-low heat. Add the onion and cook 5 minutes, or until soft, stirring occasionally. Add the dried thyme and cook 1 more minute.

Preheat oven to 450 F.

Coat a round baking sheet with cooking spray, or brush with olive oil. Place the dough in the middle of the baking sheet and punch it down to create a pizza crust that is about 1/2-inch thick. Prick the crust with a fork several times.

Spread the tapenade over the crust, scatter onions evenly over the tapenade and sprinkle with walnuts.

Bake 10 minutes. Sprinkle the grated Sheese over the pizza and bake 10 more minutes.

Pizza before baking

Pizza after baking