Make Spring Onions and Gruyere Pizza from Scratch

Spring onions (the uncured bulbs of mature onions, not scallions) are a marvelous seasonal treat that show up in markets in late spring and early summer. Milder and sweeter than cured yellow onions, they have higher moisture content which makes them tender as well. Because of their more delicate flavor they're great in simple preparations such as in salads or just roasted.

Spring onions also make a fantastic topping on pizza and bread. I've paired here with Gruyere cheese, which melts and then crisps in parts, imparting a marvelous nutty flavor. The extra moisture in the onions keeps them from drying out, allowing them to caramelize, providing sweet bursts of flavor layered into the salty cheese.

I use a no-knead dough for this pizza, and Aube Giroux recently did a great video on making no-knead dough at Kitchen Vignettes. The great thing about this dough is its versatility. Depending on how much you let it rise, and the temperature of your oven, you can make two totally different breads from the same dough and toppings. To illustrate, I've included instructions below for making both a pizza and rolls.

While making no-knead dough is no longer a revolutionary idea, I have a few tips for you that may be helpful.

1. Use a scale. I've written before about the 5 reasons you should use a scale, and making dough is the perfect example of when you should use one. Not only will it give you more consistent results, it's also much easier as you can just dump the ingredients straight into a bowl rather than measuring out each one separately.
2. Use bread flour - bread flour has a higher gluten content than regular flour. In the case of breads, you want the extra gluten, which gives the bread structure making it rise better and contributes to the toothsome texture of a good bread.
3. Use long chopsticks to stir the dough. Because they have such little surface area, the dough doesn't really stick to them, and the little dough that does stick is easily scraped off, making it much easier to clean up.
4. Store the dough in a lightly oiled freezer bag. While there's no harm in keeping the dough in a bowl or tub, the dough needs to be refrigerated after its initial rise. I don't know about you, but I don't exactly have a ton of open space in my fridge, which is why I like to store the dough in a freezer bag. Just add a 1/2 teaspoon of olive oil to the bag, spread it all over the bag and into every nook and cranny so the dough doesn't stick, then put the dough in. When the dough is rising, be sure you don't completely seal the bag, or the gasses from the rising dough can make the bag burst.

For the pizza, a preheated pizza stone works the best, but if you don't have one, you can use a cast iron skillet as shown in my Pizza Margherita recipe.