Roasted Sweet Potato and Goat Cheese Pizza

Roasted Sweet Potato and Goat Cheese Pizza – This is the most incredibly twist to a classic pizza.

I know it looks like pepperoni on the pizza but they’re sweet potatoes.

Who puts sweet potatoes on pizza? Why I do.

Since I’ve recently discovered the ability to make One Hour Whole Wheat Pizza Dough, we’ve had our share of pizza. I’ve been playing around with ingredients and flavor combinations that are a little different than what Domino’s has to offer.

My husband loves potatoes in any way, shape, or form and since sweet potatoes are on the healthier side than white, and because I happen to love them, I made pizza with them. He also loves bread, and of course cheese, and combining his favorite food groups and putting them on top of a chewy, wholesome slice scored me some brownie points.

To make this pizza, first make the dough. You could use storebought dough like I did here, or you can just make your own in an hour. I recommend making your own because you have to roast a potato anyway and that’s going to take a half hour, so you may as well get the dough going now. It’ll be ready about the same time the potato is done. How convenient.

Make the dough as previously described. In a nutshell, combine flour, yeast, a drizzle of oil, a pinch of sugar, and pour water over the whole thing in a mixing bowl. Let your mixer knead it, or you can knead it, for eight minutes, and that’s the dough. Let it rise for an hour, roll it out, top it with pizza fixings, and bake it. Super simple and goofproof even if you’ve never worked with yeast.

You can also make this dough up to two days in advance; and if you make it now, you can use half now and refrigerate the other half for the next day.

I’ve had many people write saying they’ve tried the dough with great success and it’s going to replace their existing pizza dough recipe or replace their Trader Joe’s frozen pizza crust habit.

Now that the dough is underway and sitting in a bowl rising away, get that potato in the oven. I used one long, cylinder-shaped sweet potato.

Technically speaking, it’s a red garnet yam but I’m calling it a sweet potato since most people don’t properly label sweet potatoes and yams. I used the red one, on the right.

Peel the potato and slice it thinly, about one-eighth of an inch. You could use a mandolin or food processor but that seems like too many dishes and effort for one potato.

Arrange the slices in a single flat layer on a Silpat Non-Stick Baking Mat, drizzle with olive oil, season with salt, pepper, and bake at 425 for about thirty minutes, flipping once midway through. Feel free to roast with coconut oil or season with other herbs and spices based on what you like.

Bake until the potato slices are fork tender, but don’t allow them to really brown or crisp up. They’re going to be pizza toppings and will spend another 15 minutes in the oven, and will have more opportunity to darken so don’t overdo it now.

After about an hour has passed, or if your dough is doing well and has risen nicely, punch it down.

And listen to that sweet sound of air escaping, like helium from a balloon, knowing the yeast worked and created air bubbles and gases in the process.

I divided the dough into two pieces, but there are no rules here. I made two medium pizzas, or you could make one now, and save and refrigerate the other half for the next night. Or make one large or four smaller tortilla-sized pizzas. Even though I say ‘medium’ pizzas, because they are thick and hearty-crusted pizzas, a medium pizza is plenty filling and it’s all our family of three comfortably needs at one time. I made two at once because I have another pizza post coming up.

Roll out the dough fairly thinly because it does rise while baking and unless you like very thick crust, roll it thinner rather than thicker. It’s a springy dough and will try to recoil and snap back on you, but just keep finessing and stretching it into the shape you want.

If you don’t have a pizza stone and are baking on a baking sheet like I am, placing a pinch of corn meal underneath the dough prior to baking will safeguard against the bottom becoming too browned. That’s a trick I learned when I made the vegan Outback Steakhouse Copycat Wheat Bread

I also recommend pricking the dough with a fork in a half dozen places like you’d do with a pie crust so the air and steam can escape while baking, otherwise you may get air bubbles, which could rise up and knock off your precious toppings while baking.

Drizzle a bit of olive oil over the dough; or browned butter, pizza sauce, pesto, or even salsa. Top with the sweet potato slices in a single layer or slightly overlapping layers. I used about half the slices for the pizza and the rest were devoured right off the roasting tray.

Then, add diced bell peppers or top with other favorites including pepperoni, sausage, mushrooms, olives, corn, tomato slices, or mango and pineapple. Or try other roasted root vegetables like beets, carrots, Brussels sprouts or slices of roasted delicata squash.

I think of pizza like a bake-able salad and just keep piling on the vegetables and toppings, using whatever I have that looks interesting from the crisper drawer, freezer, or from a can in the pantry. Any time you call something pizza, the vegetables that top it suddenly don’t become so awful in case you have family members who are veggie-resistant.

Sprinkle cheese over the top. I used goat cheese for it’s tanginess and sharpness, a great contrast to the sweetly flavored sweet potato and sweet bell peppers. I used the cheese sparingly, about two ounces. It’s somewhat expensive, plus my husband doesn’t need 1237 calories of cheese on top of his slab of dough, although he’d like it. Use mozzarella, Parmesan, or your favorite pizza cheese. Or skip the cheese and this becomes a vegetable tarte of sorts.

If desired season with spices or herbs, but I opted for just pinch of salt and pepper. I didn’t want to get too carried away with seasonings that would mask the wheatiness of the dough, the sweetness of the potato, or that worth-its-weight-in-gold goat cheese.

I baked the pizza for about 15 minutes at 425F. Some people prefer to bake their pizzas in very hot ovens, 550F or hotter. I don’t like baking anything over 450F because food tends to just burn before it cooks through in my oven. Baking times could range from eight minutes to nearly 20 minutes, based on how hot the oven is, how loaded up the pizza is, how thin the dough was rolled, oven variances, and personal preferences.

Because I adapted the pizza crust from Soft Buttery One Hour Pretzels and basically just swapped out half the white flour for wheat and rolled it rather than twisting it into a pretzel, the pizza crust is kind of like eating one big mall pretzel, rolled out, and topped. They even sell pizza-flavored pretzels; this is the literal definition. Scott loved that aspect since he simply adores those big, soft mall pretzels.

The pizza was a hit with the family. The crust is chewy, hearty, thick,  and soft with a nicely balanced wheat flavor. And it’s very filling. Between the dough and all the toppings, even Scott said he was stuffed after two pieces.

The roasted sweet potato slices were soft and tender, and the bell pepper pieces stayed quite crunchy and added a pop of gentle, sweet heat and extra flavor.

The goat cheese is an automatic win. It’s not a gooey, stringy, melty cheese like mozzarella. Instead, as it bakes the little nuggets firm up and develop a slightly browned exterior. The saltiness concentrates and the flavor enhances. You can easily keep this pizza vegan by substituting a favorite vegan cheese since the crust is already vegan.

Making homemade pizza from start to finish in just over an hour is possible.

And it’s easy. Too easy.

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Roasted Sweet Potato and Goat Cheese Pizza on One-Hour Whole Wheat Crust

By Averie Sunshine

Roasted sweet potatoes, crunchy bell peppers, and tangy, creamy goat cheese are piled onto a soft, thick and chewy homemade crust. The dough for the crust only takes one hour to make and rise, and it's a now-or-later dough. So you can make a pizza within an hour, or save it for up to 2 days later. While the dough is rising, roast the sweet potato, and then get ready to bake off this hearty, easy, satisfying homemade pizza. It's foolproof, goofproof, and now you can have homemade pizza in no time - 10 minutes to prep the dough, 60 minutes to rise, 10-15 minutes to bake the pizza.

Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes minutes

Inactive Time: 50 minutes minutes

Total Time: 1 hour hour 20 minutes minutes

Servings: 12

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Ingredients  

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• ▢ 1 batch One Hour Whole Wheat Pizza Dough, vegan or a favorite homemade or storebought dough
• ▢ 1 large sweet potato, or red yam; or try butternut squash, peeled and sliced into thin rounds
• ▢ ¼ cup+ olive oil, divided uses - for drizzling
• ▢ salt and pepper, to taste
• ▢ 1 ½ tablespoons cornmeal for dusting baking sheet, optional but recommended
• ▢ ⅓ cup bell peppers, diced small
• ▢ 2 ounces goat cheese, or to taste
• ▢ optional - additional vegetables, cheese, meat or alternate protein, fresh herbs, seasonings, spices - all added to taste

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Instructions 

• For the Dough - Get the dough to the point of rising for 1 hour from the One Hour Whole Wheat Pizza Dough recipe. Place covered bowl of dough in a warm, draft-free place to rise for about 1 hour. (I’ve let this dough rise for as long as 2 hours due to distractions and timing issues, and nothing bad happens. Actually, the crust turns out fluffier. But the recipe does and will work with just a 1 hour rise). Set bowl aside.
• For the Sweet Potato - Peheat oven to 425F and line a baking sheet with a Silpat, parchment, or spray with cooking spray; set aside.Tip: A nice place for the pizza dough to rise is on top of the oven while the potato bakes because the residual heat is beneficial for rising.
• Peel sweet potato and slice into thin rounds, about one-eighth-inch thick. I do this with a knife, you can use a mandolin. Slices should be thin, not paper thin. Arrange slices in an even flat layer on prepared baking sheet (they'll take up the whole tray if potato was large; use 2 trays if necessary), drizzle with about 2 tablespoons olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, to taste. Bake for about 25 to 30 minutes, flipping once midway though. Potatoes should be fork tender and cooked through, but don't cook them to the point of becoming browned or crispy because they're going back into the oven for about 15 minutes as pizza toppings and will crisp up more then. Allow potato slices to cool and remain on baking tray until it's time to assemble pizza; set tray aside.
• After 1 hour (or longer), or until dough has doubled or nearly doubled in size, punch down the dough. Choose to either refrigerate dough in a covered bowl for up to 2 days for later use; or use it now. You may be able to use some now, some later, depending on desired size of pizzas. If using it later, when ready to bake, simply remove it from fridge, and follow the directions below, jumping in now.
• For the Pizza Assembly - Preheat oven to 425 (or up to 550F +). Divide dough into two pieces (refrigerate the other half and use it the next day) or make it all now, in whatever size and shape you desire. Turn dough out onto floured or lightly oiled work surface or Silpat, and roll it into the size and shaped desired. I suggest rolling it on the thinner side since the dough will rise and puff while baking, and I prefer starting out with thinner dough so the finished crust isn't too thick. The dough is springy and will try to snap back and recoil, but just keep on stretching or rolling it into shape.
• Place dough onto Silpat- or parchment-lined or cooking sprayed baking sheet, or bake on a pizza stone if you have one. If baking on a baking sheet, sprinkling 1 to 2 tablespoons cornmeal on baking sheet before placing dough on top of it will prevent bottom from browning too fast and is recommended. Prick dough with the tines of a fork in about 1 dozen places, like pricking a pie crust, to ensure air and steam can escape and that air bubbles won't form.
• Drizzle 1 tablespoon olive oil over the dough; or use browned butter, pizza sauce, pesto or salsa. Top with sweet potatoes in an even flat layer, or in slightly overlapping layers (I used about half of the slice). Sprinkle the bell peppers and the goat cheese over the top. Optionally, top with additional vegetables, meat, cheese, seasonings, spices, extra pinch of salt and pepper. Drizzle 1 tablespoon oil over the top, if desired.
• Baking temps can vary from from 425 to 550F+, and from about 8 to 20 minutes, depending on toppings, how many were used, how thick the crust is, oven variances, and personal preference. I baked at 425 for about 16 minutes, rotating once midway through. Serve immediately. Leftovers can be wrapped, refrigerated, and kept for up to 4 days. Reheat gently in the microwave prior to serving.
• Recipe is easily kept vegan by replacing the goat cheese with a favorite vegan cheese, since the crust is already vegan.

Nutrition

Serving: 1, Calories: 241kcal, Carbohydrates: 29g, Protein: 11g, Fat: 9g, Saturated Fat: 4g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 5g, Cholesterol: 15mg, Sodium: 213mg, Fiber: 4g, Sugar: 2g

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

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What do you top your pizza with? Do you make your own dough?

I’d love to hear about your favorites and fave recipes. Please feel free to leave links.