Create an incredible seasonal treat that uses a sweet potato spread as both the pizza sauce and topping! In this video, Chef John makes his own fall recipe for sweet potato and bacon pizza with a from-scratch pizza dough. With Chef John’s helpful pizza making tips, this delicious dish has the perfect balance of savory, sweet, and herby flavors.
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00:00Hello, this is Chef John from FoodWishes.com with Sweet Potato and Bacon Pizza!
00:09That's right, I was blown away by how well sweet potato worked as a pizza topping.
00:14Or to be more accurate, how well it worked as a pizza sauce.
00:17And along with a whole bunch of bacon, cheese, and jalapeno, this really did make for an
00:22incredible seasonal treat.
00:24And to get started, we're going to need to roast some sweet potatoes, which I do like
00:28to prick with the tip of a knife before they go in the oven, which is going to help vent
00:31some of the moisture from the inside.
00:34And by the way, I highly recommend you use the orange flesh variety, as they are superior
00:38nutritionally and in appearance, I think.
00:41And after giving those a proper pricking all over, we will roast those in a 400 degree
00:45oven for about an hour, or until they're very soft.
00:49And you know you're close when we can see what we call in the business, the tears of
00:53joy, which are those sweet juices coming out of the holes we poked.
00:57But we definitely still want to test it with a knife, which should slide in with no effort.
01:01And then what we'll do is let those sit until they're cool enough to handle, at which point
01:05we will handle them by cutting them open with a knife, and then scooping all that gorgeous
01:10orange flesh into a bowl.
01:13And of course, sweet potatoes vary in size, so it's hard to tell you exactly how much
01:17to roast, but ultimately we want to end up with about two, two and a half cups after
01:21we scoop.
01:22And then what we'll do is season this up with a little bit of kosher salt, as well as some
01:26freshly ground black pepper, and of course a few shakes of cayenne, which brings good
01:31luck and probably longer life.
01:34And then we'll also want to add a generous amount of olive oil, and then we'll follow
01:38that with some minced rosemary, which is a very sweet potato and bacon friendly herb.
01:43And then we will definitely want to add the inside and outside of one lemon, but not in
01:47that order.
01:49Always zest first before you juice.
01:51And while the lemon flavor from the zest is going to be really nice in this, what we are
01:55really needing here is the acidity from the juice, which is going to balance the earthy
01:59sweetness of our sweet potato perfectly.
02:02And then once we have all that together, we'll take a potato masher, and we will mash and
02:06smash this until it's relatively smooth, at which point we'll stop and add the last ingredient,
02:11a very generous amount of freshly grated Parmesan cheese, oh yeah, the real stuff, Parmigiano
02:17Reggiano.
02:18And we will take a spoon and mix that in.
02:21And yes, don't worry, I'm going to pick up that one piece of cheese between shots.
02:26But anyway, we'll stir all that together, after which we should probably give it a quick
02:29taste, and I could have used the spoon, but for some reason things like this taste better
02:34off a finger.
02:36And once we decide that's perfect, and mine was, we'll simply set that aside until we're
02:40ready to spread it over our dough.
02:43And once that's set, we can move on to the co-star of the show, which would be 12 ounces
02:47of bacon I cut up into 1-inch pieces that we'll add to a dry, cold pan that we placed
02:52over medium-high heat.
02:54And what we'll do is separate all those pieces as best we can while it comes up to temperature
02:58and starts sizzling.
03:00And then if I've said it once, I've probably said it a couple hundred times, when your
03:04bacon starts to look foamy, it's almost done, homie.
03:07And that's because it doesn't look like this until most of the fat's rendered out.
03:11Which is the point I think we want to get this to.
03:14Okay, some people like to undercook it because it's going to go in the oven, but I don't.
03:18I want this pretty much cooked all the way through and getting crisp before I stop.
03:22And that's it.
03:23Once it does get to this point, we'll pull it off the heat and simply transfer that onto
03:27some paper towels and reserve it until we need it.
03:31And once that's set, we can move on to the pizza dough, which I did make from scratch.
03:36And if you also want to, let me quickly show you how to do that.
03:39Okay, all we need is some warm water with a teaspoon of active dry yeast sprinkled over.
03:44And after letting that sit for about 10 minutes, we will add our flour and our salt.
03:49And then we'll take a wooden spoon and mix this for about 2 minutes, since I decided
03:53to use an overnight no-knead method.
03:56Which is not just easy, it also makes for a delicious dough, since the longer the fermentation
04:01time generally, the better tasting dough you get.
04:04And I recommend doing this late at night and then leaving it out in a cool spot until the
04:08next morning, at which point it should hopefully look something like this.
04:13And what we'll do is wet our hand, and we'll give that a couple turns and folds to knock
04:17out the air.
04:19At which point we'll cover this up and pop it in the fridge until we need it.
04:23So yes, it really is that simple.
04:25And then what we'll do once we're ready to build our pizza, is drizzle 2 or 3 tablespoons
04:29of olive oil onto a sheet pan, and we'll spread that all over with our hands.
04:34But do not, under any circumstances, wipe your hands off.
04:38Okay, we want to use those oily hands to transfer the dough onto the pan, since our next step
04:43here is to push and press the dough out until it covers the pan.
04:47The problem is, however, most pizza doughs, especially ones you've let rise slowly overnight,
04:52are going to be very, very elastic.
04:55So at a certain point, it's just not going to want to stretch out anymore.
04:59So what we'll do once that happens is simply stop, and we'll just let it sit and relax
05:03there for about 5 minutes, during which time I suggest you simply look out the window and
05:08try not to think of anything, and what's going to happen is that dough is going to relax,
05:12and when we come back about 5 minutes later, we'll be able to push it out a little further.
05:17And depending on your dough, we might only need to let it rest once, but maybe it will
05:22take 2 resting periods, or maybe even 3.
05:25Alright, that's going to be up to you.
05:27I mean, you are after all the basement jacks of how many times to let your dough relax.
05:32But eventually, somehow, someway, you'll be able to stretch it out almost all the way
05:35to the corners, and it's fine if it pulls back a little bit.
05:39Alright, just get it close.
05:41That's all we ever ask.
05:42And once our pan's been doughed, we will sweet potato the top.
05:46And what I like to do is place some dollops on first, before we start spreading it out,
05:51since I think that helps us achieve a nice even layer.
05:54And by the way, as we're spreading this out, we can actually use a spoon to help press
05:58that dough back into the corners, if it's pulled back a little bit, which it most likely
06:02has.
06:03Oh, and don't feel like you have to apply all the sweet potato spread you made.
06:07Okay, we just want to do a nice thin layer here.
06:10So when you feel like you've spread over the perfect amount, just stop, and put the rest
06:14away and enjoy it with a nice pork chop or something.
06:17And then what we'll do at this point, is spread over 6 ounces of mozzarella cheese.
06:21And the one I had was a little too soft and sticky to grate, so I simply cubed it up and
06:26placed it on like that.
06:28And that's it.
06:29Once our mozzarella's on, we can scatter over our reserved bacon, which I will admit, next
06:34to that light cheese, looks a little bit overcooked, but it's not.
06:37Okay, you gotta trust me on this one.
06:39I really do think we want to cook this crisp, since the last thing we want on our sweet
06:43potato pizza is flabby bacon.
06:46And even though this is going to go in the oven, and the bacon's going to cook a little
06:49more, we're going to be topping this with a little more cheese, to insulate it, sort
06:53of.
06:54And you'll see, everything's going to be fine.
06:57And once my bacon was down, I topped that with a couple ounces of fontina cheese, which
07:02could also be provolone, or Monterey Jack, or even a mild cheddar would pair nicely.
07:07And once that was down, for a little heat, and to help all the other flavors pop a little
07:12more, I placed over some seeded fresh jalapeno rings, which ended up being kind of the secret
07:17ingredient here, and I thought really helped tie everything together.
07:22And that's it.
07:23We will finish with one last dusting of parmesan cheese, for flavor, appearance, and, again,
07:28to sort of insulate that bacon a bit.
07:30Especially that one really dark piece, I should have ate before I started putting it on.
07:35And once we have that grated over, this is ready to transfer into the center, or the
07:40lower center, of a 450 degree oven, for about 30 to 35 minutes, or until our crust is cooked,
07:47our cheese is browned, and it looks like this.
07:50And we'll get to how delicious this was in a minute, but this, my friends, is one of
07:54the most beautiful pizzas I've seen in a long time, and it's just one of those things that's
07:58going to make anyone who looks at it happier than they were before they saw it.
08:02And then what we'll do is let it sit on the pan for about five minutes, at which point
08:06we'll carefully remove it to a rack, and let it cool for another couple minutes before
08:10we cut it.
08:11So that's exactly what I did, before transferring it to a cutting board, and then I grabbed
08:16my trusty pizza wheel, and I cut in so I could grab a piece to go in for the official taste.
08:23And I had a feeling, based on the combination of ingredients, that this was going to be
08:26very, very good, but I was absolutely blown away by how amazingly delicious it was.
08:33Okay, my main fear always when working with sweet potatoes is that the final product's
08:37going to be too sweet, but thanks to the sharpness of the lemon, and the savoriness of the bacon
08:42and the cheese, and the heat from the jalapeno, and that little herbaceous kiss from the rosemary,
08:47I thought this was perfectly balanced, and I just could not wait for the next bite.
08:52And if you do have friends visiting for the holiday, I can't think of a more beautiful,
08:57more delicious, more interesting thing to serve.
09:00And after finishing that piece, I cut this up, and took some pictures, and then definitely
09:05ate a few more slices.
09:07And by the way, thanks to that nice hot oven, and all that olive oil we had on the pan,
09:11you should get some decent golden browning on the bottom.
09:14But if you don't, you can always put the pan over a flame, and sort of brown the bottom
09:18like that.
09:19And I'll put a note in the written recipe to remind you of that trick.
09:22But anyway, whether you serve this during the holidays, or any other time of the year,
09:27I really did think this was an incredible pizza, which is why I really do hope you give
09:31it a try soon.
09:33So please follow the links below for the ingredient amounts, a printable written recipe, and much
09:38more info as usual.
09:39And as always, enjoy!