Potato caramelized onions pizza

Name: Potato caramelized onion pizza
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 35 min
Total time: 60 min
Ingredients: 3/4 cup all purpose flour/ maida; 3/4 cup whole wheat flour; 1 tsp instant dry yeast; 1 tsp salt; 1.5 tsp sugar; 1/8 cup olive oil; 1/2 cup + 1/8 cup warm water; 1 large potato; 1/4 cup caramelized balsamic onion (check recipe notes for link to this recipe); 3/4 tsp dried italian herbs; 3/4 tsp dried red chilli flakes; a pinch salt; 1/4 cup pizza/ pasta sauce; 3/4 cup mozarella cheese; 2 tsp olive

April 11, 2019

Adya is back & I couldn’t be happier about it. My baby bop, mil & fil had stayed an extra week in chennai while D & I got back earlier on thanks to our work. I have left Adya multiple times in the past with my in-laws in chennai & I have left him a few times & gone to chennai as well and all those times, I actually had fun. Primarily cos they were guiltless. However, this time was totally different. I hated him being away from us & missed him terribly. He has become this mega cute tiny human who talks, has a lot of opinions, cries, laughs/ smiles (uberly uberly cute this one) and I am realising he has become a constant company to me in my everyday life. I am increasingly realising how much I need him in my life for my selfish happiness :D. I had this super plan of using the ‘me/D’ time to cook/ watch TV a lot & I did no justice to that at all. I was mostly sulking at him not being around in the house, called my mil a lot (atleast 6-7 times a day :D) to understand what Adya was upto or listen to his cute voice. I am a mother who’s hopelessly in love with her child. Yes, that’s exactly who & what I am & I am very very very happy and proud of that fact.

However, in all of this sulking mode, I cooked my heart away one day when D’s friends decided to come over for dinner one night. I have hung out with these friends a bit but I had no clue of their liking for food & I was lazy to get their numbers from D to check with them :). So I figured I will make pizzas for sure since generally kids like pizzas. Now.. I have been experimenting with pizzas quite a bit off late to see if there are versions I/ my family likes better. I think I have mentioned this before. I generally avoid using apf/ maida in my cooking. However, mil had bought some maida for making gulab jamun & I wanted to give it a try in the pizza. While everyone at home loved my pizzas, my fil always had a complaint that mine wasn’t as soft as some freshly baked pizzas we had eaten out. So just to see what maida/ apf brings to the dish, I used a half & half of apf/ maida & regular whole wheat flour/ chapati atta while making the dough. And wow, there was quite a bit of a difference. Well, I also did quite a few changes in terms of my pizza making process which could have contributed as well & I plan to dissect this part & see. But for now I knew I had to document this asap for my future benefit and ofcourse, for all the lovely people who are reading this right now :D.

Also, this potato & onions are like peas & carrots. Totally go well together. The caramelized onions adds a slight sweet taste to the whole pizza and a density that can’t be really explained. It’s plain awesome.

Potato caramelized onion pizza

Prep Time

10 mins

Cook Time

35 mins

Passive Time

1 hr

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Italian

Servings: 1 large pizza

Ingredients

Dry Ingredients

3/4 cup all purpose flour/ maida
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp instant dry yeast
1 tsp salt
1.5 tsp sugar

Wet Ingredients

1/8 cup olive oil
1/2 cup + 1/8 cup warm water

For the toppings

1 large potato
1/4 cup caramelized balsamic onion check recipe notes for link to this recipe
3/4 tsp dried italian herbs
3/4 tsp dried red chilli flakes
a pinch salt
1/4 cup pizza/ pasta sauce
3/4 cup mozarella cheese
2 tsp olive

Instructions

Method of get the potato topping ready

Peel the potato & chop it into discs. Blanch the potato discs in hot water for 5 minutes. Drain the potatoes.
Heat a skillet with a tsp of olive oil & throw in the potato discs. Leave each side of the disc on high flame for 2 minutes & flip. You will notice the potato browning around the edges.
Leave it on the flipped side for another 2 minutes, turn off the heat & take the potatoes off the heat. Set it aside.

Pizzaaaaaaaa

In a large bowl, mix together all the dry ingredients using a fork - all purpose flour/ maida, whole wheat flour, instant dry yeast, sugar & salt.
Make a tiny well in between & add the wet ingredients - olive oil & warm water.
Combine & knead the mixture with your hand. The consistency of the dough at the end will resemble that of a slightly loose chapati dough.
Coat the top surface of the dough with some oil/ water (to prevent from drying), close the bowl with a lid & let the dough rest for atleast 1 hour. I place my dough in my microwave during this time.
After an hour, the dough would've risen to double its quantity.
Punch the dough to release the air bubbles.
Flatten the pizza dough on a baking tray/ pizza tray (dust/ oil the tray before that).
Punch some holes on the pizza base using a fork.
Spread some pizza sauce on top of the base, sprinkle shredded cheese on top of the base.
Add the potato discs/ slices & roughly sprinkle the caramelized balsamic onion on top.
Finally sprinkle some salt, dried/ fresh italian herbs & some red chilli flakes.
Drizzle some olive oil on top & bake in a preheated oven of 180c for 30-35 minutes or till the edges brown.
Take the pizza out of the oven & let it cool for a few minutes.
Slice, dice & enjoy the gooeey goodness!!! For those of you who didn't know how well potatoes go on pizzas, you are most welcome 😀

Recipe Notes

Pizza sauce recipe can be found here. I diluted it before using it on the pizza.
Caramelized balsamic onion recipe can be found here.
You can use your choice of toppings here of course. My idea of this post is a) to document this half/ half apf/ whole wheat flour combo which is currently working for us and b) not many people would realise potatoes go really well on pizzas.
You can use just apf or wwf for this recipe. Adjust the water accordingly. Start with 1/2 cup water & then increase the quantity if required.
I was following some different steps of pizza (baked the base separately & each layer separately basically) making till a while back (refer to this recipe if interested in that).

Stepwise pictures

Method to get the potato ready as a topping

Peel & slice the potatoes & blanch them in hot water for 5 minutes.

Pizaaaaaaa

In a large bowl, add all the dry ingredients – all purpose flour/ maida, whole wheat flour, instant dry yeast, sugar & salt. Mix everything together using a fork.

Make a small well in between & add the wet ingredients – warm water & olive oil.

Knead everything together with your hand. The mixture consistency should be slightly more loose than that of chapati atta.

Finally rub some oil/ water all over the top (exposed) part of the pizza dough & set it aside to rest for atleast an hour. Cover the bowl with a lid & place it in a warm place (I just place it in our microwave).

After an hour, you’ll see the dough rise to double in its quantity. Your dough is ready to be used now.

Punch down the dough so as to remove the air bubbles from it & then spread it on a pizza pan/ regular baking tray after lining it with some oil or dusting with some flour.

Prick holes on the pizza with a fork & spread the pizza sauce evenly all over the pizza.

Layer the cheese on top of the pizza sauce & place the toppings (potato & caramelized balsamic onions in this case). Finally top with some dried or fresh italian herbs, a sprinkle of salt & some red chilli flakes. Drizzle a bit of olive oil on top & bake in a preheated oven of 180c for 30-35minutes (watch out for the edges to turn golden brown).