Fall pizza with pumpkin

Step 1

Mix the flour, salt and yeast in a large mixing bowl.

Step 2

Pour in the lukewarm water and olive oil. Stir everything together with a large wooden spoon.

Step 3

When the mixture has mostly stuck together turn the mixture out on to a work surface or bread board.

Step 4

Knead the mixture by holding one end of the dough in one hand and stretching it out with the other hand (see photo below). Reform the dough, turn it 90 degrees and start again. Repeat this for 10 minutes .

Step 5

When the dough is shiny and smooth, put it in a large mixing bowl, coat it in a thin layer of olive oil and cover the bowl with a tea towel.

Step 6

Leave this in a warm place (but not too warm - ie not next to an open fire!) for between one and two hours (until it has doubled in size). You can use this time to start on caramelised onions and make the pesto.

Step 7

Set the oven to 200° C / 390° F. Brush sliced pumpkin in a bit of olive oil and place on a lined baking tray. Roast the pumpkin until soft (about 25-30 mins) but before it starts to get coloured. After pumpkin has been in the oven for 20 mins, add courgette slices to the baking tray to soften them a little.

Step 8

Warm up 2 tbsp of olive oil in a large pan. Peel the onions and slice them into 3 mm slices - if you slice them too finely, they will dry out rather than caramelise.

Step 9

Add sliced onions to the pan, stir them well to coat them in the olive oil. Cook the onions on a very low heat (I used setting 2 out of to soften them - to get them nice and caramelised, you mustn't rush the process.

Step 10

Once soft, add salt, sugar and balsamic vinegar and cook some more. Finally add a splash of water to deglaze the pan and gather all the sweet oniony goodness stuck to the pan. Continue cooking until the water cooks out.

Step 11

Toast walnuts for the pesto in a dry pan on a low heat. Stir them very frequently as they burn easily.

Step 12

Using a hand blender with a chopping attachment, chop rocket finley, add sliced garlic and walnuts.

Step 13

Add in olive oil to emulsify the mixture. Season to taste with more salt, pepper and a dash of lemon juice.

Step 14

Once your pumpkin and courgette has been pre-roasted, put the oven temperature up to 250° C or 480° F and enable the fan if your oven has one.

Step 15

Empty the dough out on to a work surface and push the air out with your fingertips.

Step 16

Roll out 2-3 small pizzas. Put each on a well-oiled baking tray. Spread a thin layer of pesto on each pizza. Arrange pre-roasted pumpkin, courgette, olive halves and a few raw walnuts on the pesto layer. Sprinkle with a bit of chilli, salt and pepper and bake for about 8-10 min (until the crust is nice and golden).

Step 17

Once you remove pizza from the oven, scatter a few caramelised onions on top.