Spelt pizza with sweet potato, kale and ricotta

I have a basic pizza dough recipe that I usually use, but in keeping with the healthy eating plan I adapted a new recipe that I found in the Women's Weekly Eating Well cookbook, which uses spelt flour instead of plain white flour. It was a total success and the wonderful flavour that the spelt lends to the dough, I will definitely be making this from now on!

While the original recipe uses Kumara, Pepitas and Goats Cheese, I changed it to utilise ingredients I had at hand- you can always do the same!

You will need.. (makes 2, medium crust pizzas)
For the base;
2 tsp (7gr) dried yeast
2 cups plain spelt flour (I used organic wholemeal)
1 cup warm water
2 Tbs olive oil
1/4 tsp honey (I used Manuka, but you can use whatever you have at hand)
1/4 tsp of ground Himalayan rock salt

For the topping;
2 large brown onions
2 Tbs of red wine or balsamic vinegar
1 tsp brown sugar
1/4 large sweet potato
100gr low-fat ricotta cheese
1-2 large kale leaves, washed
paprika
salt and pepper
100ml tomato paste
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tsp oregano
olive oil, extra for drizzling

Method..
1. Place the yeast, warm water and honey in a plastic or glass bowl. Stir and set aside until mixture starts to become frothy.
2. Combine the flour and salt in a large bowl, make a well in the centre and add the water with the yeast and the olive oil, and mix to combine well. Knead for 5 minutes, if you have a stand mixer with a dough hook attachment use this if you wish. The dough should be stretchy and slightly sticky when finished. Flour a large bowl (again, don't use metal as it can inhibit the yeast growth), and place the dough in the bottom, cover tightly with plastic wrap and put in a warm place to prove* for 1 hour.

3. Once dough has proved for 30 minutes, uncover and lightly punch out some of the air. Recover and leave to prove for the remaining 30 minutes, the dough should double in size.

4. Prepare the toppings by peeling and thinly slicing the onion. Cook in a hot pan with a little bit of olive oil until it has softened and begun to brown, then add the vinegar and sugar and cook on low, covered for 20 minutes until nice and caramelised.
5. Slice the sweet potato it as thin as you can get it. I microwaved mine for 1 minute to par-cook it, but if you want you can pour some boiling water over it and let it stand for 3 minutes, then drain and dry well.
5. Mix the tomato paste, garlic and oregano together, cut the kale up into small pieces.
6. Cut the dough in half and roll into two balls, use your hands to flatten out each ball with a little extra flour into thin discs, do this on baking paper if it makes your life easier! Transfer to a pizza tray.

7. Spread the tomato paste over the pizza bases then top with a scattering of onion. Lay on the sweet potato in a nice even layer, then crumble the ricotta over the top. Spread the kale around the top, then dust with paprika, salt and pepper. Drizzle with olive oil and then place in a hot oven at about 220 degrees celsius for 15 minutes or until crust is crisp and golden. Cut and serve!

*I usually put a load in the drier and sit it in the laundry as this makes perfect proving conditions on cooler days!