Six-Onion Pizza

By CheeseDiva

Ingredients

• FOR THE DOUGH:
• 1 tsp. honey
• 1 (1/4-oz.) package active dry yeast
• 3/4 cup warm beer
• 2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
• 3 cups bread flour, plus more as needed
• 1 tsp. kosher salt
• FOR THE ONION PUREE AND COMPOTE:
• 5 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
• 12 sprigs thyme
• 2 large white onions, very thinly sliced lengthwise
• 1 bay leaf
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 8 oz. leeks, white part only, halved lengthwise, cut into 1/4"-thick slices
• 8 oz. shallots, very thinly sliced lengthwise
• 8 oz. red onions, very thinly sliced lengthwise
• 8 oz. finely grated pecorino
• 5 scallions, very thinly sliced
• 1 bunch chives, thinly sliced

Details

Servings 1
Adapted from saveur.com

Preparation

Step 1

MAKES FOUR 12-INCH PIZZAS

1. In a large bowl, stir together honey, yeast, and ¼ cup water, heated to 115°; let sit until foamy, about 10 minutes. Stir in beer and oil until smooth. Add flour and salt; stir with a wooden spoon until dough forms. Transfer to a lightly floured work surface and knead until smooth, about 8 minutes. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit in a warm spot until doubled in size, about 1½–2 hours.

2. Meanwhile, make the onion puree: Heat 2 tbsp. oil, thyme, white onions, bay leaf, and salt and pepper in a 12″ skillet over medium-low heat, and cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are very soft but not browned, about 30 minutes. Remove and discard thyme stems and bay leaf. Transfer onions to a food processor or blender and puree until smooth; set aside.

3. Make the onion compote: Heat 1 tbsp. oil in a 12" skillet over medium heat; add leeks, season with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally, until very soft but not browned, about 15 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and set aside. Heat remaining oil in skillet, add shallots and red onions, and season with salt and pepper; cook, stirring occasionally, until very tender and lightly browned, about 18 minutes. Transfer to bowl with leeks, and stir to combine; set aside.

4. Uncover dough and cut into quarters; shape each quarter into a smooth ball. Lightly flour dough balls and transfer to a floured 9" × 13" baking pan; cover with plastic wrap. Let sit in a warm spot until doubled in size, about 1½–2 hours. Heat oven to 500°.

5. Place 1 piece dough on a lightly floured work surface and flatten with your fingertips. Pick up dough circle and gently feed edges of dough between your thumbs and forefingers, letting the weight of the dough stretch edges until the circle of dough is 12″ in diameter. Place dough circle on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet, and working quickly, spread about 2 tbsp. onion puree over dough, leaving a ¾″ border around edge; sprinkle evenly with about ¼ cup onion compote. Sprinkle one-quarter of the pecorino over onions, and transfer to oven. Bake until browned and crisp at the edges, about 12 minutes. Repeat with remaining dough balls, puree, compote, and pecorino. Sprinkle each pizza with one-quarter each of the scallions and chives before serving.

lots of prep to make puree, then cook more onions for compote, no mention of cooking time?

I haven't tried a six onion pizza, I generally like pizza with stuff on it. But I had to comment on the question about honey in the dough. I have been making pizza dough with honey for about 10 years now. It does impart a different background flavor than sugar. It pairs nicely with the spicey sauce and toppings. Another way to bump up the flavor is to make the dough on the weekend. Spray the inside of a large storage bag with Pam or some such spray and put your dough ball in side, seal and put in the fridge. Leave it in the fridge for about 2 - 3 days, punching down as needed to keep the bag from bursting open. Then you can make pizza after work with no problem. Just let the dough come to room temp and make into a crust. This will ferment the dough and give it an almost sour dough like flavor. It goes well with strong flavors, spicy pepperoni or hot italian sausage. I think the beer in this recipe would give it the same flavor notes. But it is a time consuming process

Unlike all the other posters, I actually tried this recipe and have comments on it. It was good. Very good. Not very onion-y, since all the onions got cooked down. If you're a meat eater, I would suggest adding bacon, the famous seasoning that goes with anything. Not a lot of it, just cook the leeks and shallots with a slice or two. Or I imagine that Italian sausage would go as well. But it's fine as is. I did leave out the bay leaves from the onion puree, no big loss imo. Also, my wife imagines this would go very well as a lasagne recipe - probably replacing some or all the ricotta with the onion puree.

Speaking of dough, yes, that does look a bit intense for dough. However, they do sell pre-made pizza dough in stores. Alternatively, check out bread in five minutes a day by Francois and Hertzberg. It's very easy to make, and the basic bread recipe makes perfect pizza dough. I own the book (including the healthy bread version with whole wheat flour, which is what we usually use for our dough), but am not related to the authors.

Well I made this pizza dough and felt that it was great. I didn't make the onion compote, as I was just interested in the dough. I was a little skeptical of the amount of yeast required (1.25oz), but I trusted the recipe as written and it worked out well. It's a good recipe for the time it takes to make - as opposed to others that probably have more flavor, but probably needs day(s) to develop. I would say this recipe makes enough for 4 personal sized pizzas maybe 9-10 inches (the picture above is a little deceiving. I tried stretching the dough similar to the size above in the picture and it was very thin….) All in all, I will keep this recipe as my go-to for quick rise pizza dough, and will find another recipe for one that will have a little more flavor from a longer development period.

Great looking Pizza. For easy pizza making at home I have been using the unique pizza paddles from pizzadailydotorg for years

Sugar DOES help yeast to rise It produces gases that make those bubbles in the dough. Yeast is ALIVE! It feeds on sugar. Salt will retard the process. This is science 101, folks. Don't believe it? GOOGLE it. That being said, this recipe is no cavalier undertaking, and certainly not for a weeknight. So few people posting here have actually made this because it just looks like a lot of time-consuming bother. Makes you ask yourself, "Do I really NEED six different onions on my pizza?"