This recipe kind of came up randomly. I meant to do something completely different with the sweet potatoes, but time escaped from me, and I felt like something different. Originally, I was going to make loaded sweet potatoes, but it felt like a little too much work for what energy I had.
I had 4 mega sweet potatoes and I didn’t want them to go bad. I didn’t want something quite as boring as mashed sweet potato and I really wanted to make a main course out of them. Of course, Josh loves pizza so I thought I’d go down that route. You’d be surprised at how easy it is to make good pizza dough! No eggs needed!
I’m a huge minimalist, so if I can get away with minimal, basic ingredients you probably already have at home, I will. I used a combination of whole wheat flour and white flour. I get a lot of questions of how to make me recipes gluten-free. Often times, I recommend coconut flour. I find almond meal/flour to be too grainy for most baked things and coconut flour best mimics the refined part of regular flour.
And, of course, you’re more than welcome to use only whole wheat flour or only white flour. A word of advice for each, however: if you use only whole wheat flour, use a little less (it tends to be drier) and if you’re using white flour, use a little more (the fineness may leave your dough too sticky if you don’t use enough).
Anyway, hop to it! I was able to get dinner on the table in 45 min. and it’s easily one of the best pizzas I’ve made!
INGREDIENTS:
Pizza Dough:
- 2 sweet potatoes, skinned and chopped into small cubes
- 1 c. whole wheat flour, plus more for kneading
- 1 c. white flour, plus more for kneading
- 2 tsp. dried oregano
- 2 cloves of fresh garlic
- 1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
- salt and pepper for seasoning
Salsa Bianca:
- 3 tbsp. butter
- 2 tbsp. white flour
- 1 clove of fresh garlic, minced
- 3/4 c. milk
- 1/4 tsp. fresh ground pepper
- 1/2 tsp. sea salt
Pizza Toppings:
- 2 steak tomatoes, sliced
- 5-6 fresh basil leaves
- 5 oz. fresh mozzarella (I used Ciliegine Fresh Mozzarella from Trader Joe’s, it’s a small balled mozzarella)
DIRECTIONS:
Pizza Dough
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Steam the sweet potatoes for 10-15 minutes, or until a they are fork-tender and break apart easily.
- Add sweet potatoes, garlic, oregano, extra virgin olive oil, and salt and pepper to food processor or high-speed blender. Blend until smooth.
- Pour sweet potato mix into a large bowl. Mix in both cups of flour. The dough will be very sticky and pliable.
- Turn dough out onto heavily floured surface. Knead dough, adding flour as you knead, until dough is no longer sticky.
- Flatten dough onto pizza stone (or oiled baking sheet) with the palms of your hands until it’s about 1/2″ thick.
- Bake dough for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and continue with recipe.
Salsa Bianca
- In a small saucepan, melt butter over medium-low heat.
- Stir in garlic and allow to simmer for 1-2 minutes, or until golden. Do not burn the garlic.
- Add flour and stir until a thick paste forms.
- Slowly pour in milk. Stir until paste has melted into the milk. Allow to simmer over low heat for 10 minutes.
- Add salt and pepper. Sauce should be thick.
Completing the Pizza
- Spread Salsa Bianca over the top of the pre-cooked pizza, leaving a 1″ edge.
- Stack the basil leaves on top of each other and roll along the shorter edge. Chop across the top horizontally basil so that you end with strips of basil.
- Add tomatoes and basil evenly across the sauce-covered part of the pizza. If using cherry mozzarella, slice the small balls in half and scatter evenly with the flat sides down. If using a regular/large ball of mozzarella, cut slices 1/4″ thick and spread evenly across pizza, leaving the 1″ crust.
- Bake in the oven (425 degrees Fahrenheit) for 25-30 minutes, or until the crust has browned and the tops of the mozzarella has turned golden.
- Allow pizza to sit for 5 minutes before slicing. Serve hot.
