Recipe: Caramelized onion, ricotta and olive pizza

I cook for one most weeknights because Lane can get home from work any time between 7:30 and midnight. To take the sad out of my lonely dinners, I've been cooking for myself more instead of ordering saag paneer every night from the place where they know my name and the delivery guy/owner always closes my front door for me when he leaves. I make pizzas a lot. I finally got a pizza stone a few months ago, but promptly cracked it making cinnamon toast one freezing Saturday morning. I still use it and it's now easier to store! Making pizza dough was really challenging at first, mostly because I had no idea what I was doing, but after doing a little reading and getting some tips from Lane, pizza dough is no big deal anymore. The dough hook on our KitchenAid is also a huge help.

Quick Pizza Dough
1 c. warm water, between 110 and 115 degrees Fahrenheit
1 t. active dry yeast (I always just eyeball it)
1 t. sugar
2 1/2 c. flour
2 T. olive oil
1 T. salt

Proof the yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer with the warm water and the sugar. Let stand for 10 minutes. Add the flour, olive oil and salt and mix on low, with the dough hook, until the dough forms a loose ball. Jack the mixer speed up to medium and let the dough hook do the kneading for you -- about two minutes. Remove bowl from mixer and cover with a tea towel and let rest for 30 minutes. Remove the dough from the bowl and divide into three equal pieces. Flour your hands and each piece and stretch the dough to develop the gluten. Place one floured piece in the palm of your hand and pinch the dough, stretch it over and reform the ball. Repeat until the dough ball is smooth. Cover the three balls with a tea towel and let rest for 15 minutes. Stretch one piece to form a thin crust, about 10"x8". Place on a floured or cornmeal-ed cutting board (I use those really thin plastic ones from Ikea) and you're ready to add your toppings. It can get a little tricky when you're sliding the dough with all the toppings onto the stone. I still have not mastered this -- the transfer usually re-shapes my pizza into an abstract art piece and jostles around the toppings. It still tastes the same, though.

Caramelized Onion, Ricotta and Olive Topping
1 medium yellow onion, thinly sliced
1-2 T. olive oil
salt
3/4 c. fresh ricotta cheese
1/2 c. chopped Kalamata olives
1 T. fresh rosemary, chopped

Place the onions and olive oil in a sautee pan over medium-low heat. Add a healthy pinch (or two) of salt and cook until translucent and soft -- make sure not to burn! A few brown edges are fine, but keep an eye on those puppies once they get going. The whole process should take between 15-20 minutes. Drizzle the prepared pizza crust with olive oil and spread the onions evenly over the surface, leaving room for crust. Add dollops of ricotta and sprinkle on the chopped olives. Season with a little more olive oil and salt to taste, then add the rosemary.

To cook, place a baking stone in a cold oven and heat to the highest setting. Slide the topped pizza onto the heated stone as best you can and bake for 5-10 minutes. Remove, slice and eat (and maybe add a little drizzle of olive oil).