Caramalized Onion Goat Cheese Pizza

Those of you who follow me on instagram might have seen me post a couple of pizza photos a few weeks back. I literally had nothing in my fridge but onions and some random bits of cheese. I hadn't made pizza in years but I had recently bought a huge bag of yeast which had been sitting unopened. Pizza! What a great idea. So I set out to use these leftover ingredients and it turned out REALLY really well! I have made it a few times since then. Making pizza with any leftover bits in the fridge is a wonderful idea and you dont even need any tomato sauce! I thought the pizza needed a few green bits so I grabbed a handful of basil from my herb garden and I had a pizza that was way better than delivery and even better than a fancy pizza place in about an hour!

Ingredients

For the dough:

2 packets of active dry yeast (or 4 tsp)

1.5 c warm water

2 Tbsp sugar

1/4 c olive oil

2 tsp sea salt

4 c flour

For the toppings:

caramelized onions

mozzarella cheese

goat cheese

fresh basil

To make the dough, warm up your 1.5 c of water so its lukewarm, not too hot or it will kill the yeast. Add the yeast and sugar and let it sit for 5 min until the yeast becomes foamy. Add the oil & salt into the yeast mixture. In the bowl of a stand mixer add the flour and slowly pour in the wet ingredients. Use a dough hook attachment to kneed the dough. When the dough begins to come together, kneed the dough on medium speed for about 6-8 minutes. Cover your bowl with plastic wrap or a moist tea towel and leave in a warm place for an hour or until the dough has doubled in size.

Once it has risen to double the size, punch the dough down and move it onto a floured work surface. I found that I could make about 3-4 medium sized pizzas with this recipe. Knead the dough for about another minute with your hands. Cut the dough into as many pieces as you would like and roll it out until its about 1/4 inch thick. Grate your cheese, sprinkle it on, and add some big chunks of goat cheese. Caramelize your onions ahead of time and sprinkle some on top too. ( If you have never made caramelized onions before I will add the recipe at the end!)

Bake your pizza at 450 degrees. If you have a pizza stone even better! I happen to have one that just sits in the oven and every time I bake something I have to pull it out before it gets hot. ( I used to be lazy and would just put my cookie sheets or baking dish right on top of the stone). But now that I am making my own pizza on a more regular basis it comes in handy! A pizza stone helps distribute the heat on the bottom of the dough so you get a more uniform crust. I like my pizza extra crispy! A pizza board is also a handy tool to have so you can slide it from the board right on to your stone without messing up your pizza or dropping it. Bake the pizza until the edges start to become nice and brown and the cheese completely melts and starts to brown around the perimeter. This takes approximately 12 minutes.

After a minute or two, add your basil on top. You can julienne it or just rip it apart with your hands and sprinkle it across your whole pizza. Slice up your pizza and enjoy! (and you will). This is so so good. Let me know if you decide to make it and how it turned out! And I will be posting a cold brew coffee recipe up on my youtube channel on Monday!

Caramelized Onions

1 yellow onion

1 Tbsp butter

2-3 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

Heat a saucepan on medium heat and add your butter. White the saucepan heats up slice your onions about 1/8 of an inch thick. Throw your onions in the pan and get ready to keep a close eye on your onions for about 30-40 minutes. Continuously stir not leaving the onions alone for more than a minute. This all about a slow even cooking time. After about 20 minutes your onions will be half the size and beginning to brown. Be careful not to burn your onions but just to slowly heat them. At about 30 or 35 minutes you should be ready to deglaze. Add about 2-3 Tbsp of your balsamic vinegar and scrape the bottom of the pan to deglaze it. Let it cook off until all the liquid is gone and you are done! Delicious caramel-y goodness!