Butternut squash and dolcelatte pizza

It is definitely ‘fall-like,’ as the weather people put it, this week.

When I think of essential fall flavors I think of baked apples, pumpkin, sage, and butternut squash. Warm, full of color and all those real, comforting scents that popular candles try to ‘bottle’ and recreate. While you’re making this pizza, your home will smell of fresh dough, caramelized onions, and roasted butternut squash.

You’ll need:

• 1/2 medium-sized butternut squash
• 1 red onion
• dolcelatte cheese (a sweeter, milder gorgonzola variety, which you could use as a substitute)
• olive oil
• herb sea salt

Pizza dough (I like this recipe from KAF, rolled really thin):

• 2 teaspoons active dry yeast or instant yeast
• 7/8 to 1 1/8 cups lukewarm water*
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt

1. Prebake your crust about 90% of the way (about 6 minutes at 450F).

2. Reduce oven temperature to 380F. Peel and dice butternut squash – I like having the pieces either in circles or semicircles – and layer on a foil-lined baking sheet. Sprinkle with olive oil and herbed sea salt. Peel the onion and also place in the oven, whole, next to butternut squash.

3. Roast the squash and the onion for about 20 minutes until golden and tender.

4. Wait for the onion to cool slightly, then slice and saute on medium-low heat until just caramelized.

5. Brush partially baked crust with olive oil and layer butternut squash, onion, and slivers of dolcelatte on top. Increase oven temperature and bake for 1-2 minutes (depending on how quickly your oven heats up) until crust is a little more browned and the dolcelatte just slightly melted.