Lesson 1: The Bounty Of Fall

The Bounty of Fall- Wood Fired Pizza with Roasted Butternut Squash, Caramelized Onions, Gorgonzola Cheese and Sage.

Sprinkle some flour on your work surface- season high so when the flour comes in contact with the work surface it will be distributed evenly. Toss your dough in flour, place your dough back onto the working area and start pressing on the center of your dough with your fingers and work your way out to the edges of the dough. Continue to do this until you have an even surface.

Lightly coat your hands with flour, use one hand to push the dough forward (12 o’clock), while the other hands is pulling the dough backwards (6 o’clock) then turn. Continue to do so until you have a nice round shape. Then proceed by dipping your fingers lightly in the flour and make a claw with both hands. Pick up the dough and proceed by opening your claw like a flower. Stretch and stretch and let gravity bring the dough down until you go all the way around the pizza until you have a round pizza dough.

Season your pizza peel with some flour. Remember to season high- so as the coat the flour evenly. Place your pizza dough on the peel.

Add the fire roasted butternut squash to the dough. Spread the puree forward and backwards very evenly on the dough.

Add the caramelized onions towards the outside circumference, as when the pizza cools all the ingredients will be forced towards the center of the pie.

Evenly disperse the crumbled Gorgonzola onto the pie.

Season the pizza with salt and pepper. Again season high to as to even coat the pizza.

Slice your sage and place them on top of the pie. See the Chief’s tip on how to slice the sage.

Pile few leafs and then use the tip of your knife to cut even slices. This will prevent the herb from bruising and keeps the fragrance.

Bake each pizza for 90 seconds with the door open, keep on turning the pie evenly until your pizza becomes golden and bubbling.

Sprinkle some olive oil on your pie while it is hot then slice and serve.

Caramelized Onions- use a cast iron skillet. Place the skillet on top of the coals in your  wood fired pizza oven. Add 2-3 tablespoons of butter. Add the onions and keep on stirring them until they become dark and caramelized.

The Butternut squash can be roasted in advance when using your oven for something else. Place the Butternut squash in a cast iron skillet. Place in the your wood fired oven and let it roast until tender at 350F. When it coals down, pull of the skin and seeds, season with salt and pepper then mesh it. You can store the puree in the fridge or in the freezer for future use.