Goat Cheese, Caramelized Onion, & Pancetta Pizza

My husband's favorite food is pizza (well, according to him anyways - I just so happen to believe that his favorite food is hot dogs). Since this is his 'favorite' food, I'm constantly trying to come up with new pizza ideas so we can have pizza often and not get sick of it.  Also, it  just so happens that one of my favorite things to buy from Fresh & Easy is their ready-to-use pizza dough.  They have regular, whole wheat, and garlic & herb all packed and ready to go in the refrigerator section (next to the cheeses in my store).  In my opinion, this is one of THE BEST products they sell. Last night we took F&E whole wheat dough and concocted a delicious goat cheese, caramelized onion, and pancetta pizza.

Here's the ingredient line up: whole wheat pizza dough, mozzarella cheese, diced pancetta, goat cheese, yellow onion, thyme (fresh from my 'garden' - woot woot!).
Also used minced garlic, olive oil, cayenne pepper but they didn't make it in to the picture.  

The first and most important step is to let your dough sit out for 20 minutes until it is at room temperature.  It is almost impossible to work otherwise. So, while that is happening, prepare your other ingredients.

Fry up that pancetta! It's basically like diced up bacon - if you have bacon, you could easily use that as a substitute.  

You want to cook that until it is nice and golden.  Remove from pan with a slotted spoon and transfer to paper towels to drain.

DON'T TOUCH THAT PAN WITH ALL THAT PANCETTA GREASE! WE'RE GONNA USE IT.... to caramelize the onion that you have sliced into thin rings, of course!

These bad boys might take a bit (20 mins or so...) to get nice and golden. You will want to stir them occasionally but in the in between time - go work your dough.  

You can use a pizza stone or a pizza pan - I chose a pan because I forgot to preheat my stone with the oven -  oops! Anyway, work your dough. Remember to stir those onions every once in a while...

I drizzled olive oil on my crust and then sprinkled with minced garlic and cayenne pepper to give it a little heat.

Once your onions are done and cooled (I'm so sorry I didn't get a picture of mine), arrange them on your dough. Cover with mozzarella cheese. 

Add pancetta and top with goat cheese.  Bake at 450 degrees for 12-15 minutes. Sprinkle with chopped thyme leaves before serving. 

Goat Cheese, Caramelized Onion, & Pancetta Pizza
Ingredients

• 1 pkg. pre-made pizza dough or make your own from scratch
• 1 5 oz. package pancetta
• 1 yellow onion, sliced into thin rings
• 1 tsp cayenne
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1-2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese
• 1/3 cup crumbled goat cheese
• couple sprigs fresh thyme leaves, chopped

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 450
2. Let dough sit at room temperature about 20 minutes
3. Cook pancetta in a pan over medium heat.  Cook until golden and crispy. Remove with a slotted spoon to a paper towel to drain. 
4. Place onions in pan with pancetta drippings to caramelize onions over medium heat.  Stir onions occasionally until a golden color is achieved. Remove and cool.
5. Work dough into pizza pan and sprinkle with cayenne pepper
6. Drizzle olive oil and garlic evenly onto dough.
7. Top with caramelized onions, pancetta, mozzarella cheese, and goat cheese.
8. Cook for 12-15 minutes until edges of crust are golden brown.
9. Remove from oven and sprinkle with thyme leaves. Serve & enjoy.

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