Potatoes on pizza, who would’ve thought?

Pizza is one of my favorite things to eat and make, but mostly to eat. On a particularly sinful day I would pick a Pizza Hut pepperoni pan pizza. For instance, after I walked the Portland Marathon in 2006, my walking buddy and I sat on the couch and ate pizza for most of the evening, mostly because we could not move after walking for nine hours. When I want a super delicious pizza and am feeling like money is no object I call up Flying Pie Pizzeria at 7804 SE Stark Street in Portland and order the Presto, with pesto, spinach, artichoke hearts, black olives, roasted red peppers, and feta cheese. Lately I have been interested in making pizza at home, one reason is that my son has a tomato allergy that I am hoping will go away with age, but until then I modify the things we like to eat to be tomato free, hence homemade pizza with no tomato sauce. I know for some out there there is a strong love for pizza sauce and you might not be able to envision a pizza without tomato sauce, but hear me out, it's not so bad. There are other options; a white sauce for example or pesto is a popular one but my go to option is garlic infused olive oil. So keeping this in mind I searched my favorite recipe website (epicurious.com) for some new pizza topping ideas. What did I find you ask? Potato, sage, and rosemary pizza. Delicious. The only addition I made was to add some cooked bacon to the top since I had some in my refrigerator I needed to use up.

The dough that Dr. Crystal referred to in her last post is a recipe I have made many times from a cookbook called Cooking (Chic Simple). It is as follows:

Simple Pizza Dough

       1 package active dry yeast

       2/3 cups warm water (110°-115° F)

       Pinch of sugar

       2 cups all purpose flour (can substitute 1 cup with whole wheat flour)

       ¼ cup cornmeal

       1 teaspoon salt

       1 ½ Tablespoon olive oil

              Stir water, yeast, and sugar together in a small bowl, let sit for 10 minutes.

              Combine flour, cornmeal, and salt in a separate bowl.

              Stir together oil, wet ingredients, and dry ingredients (by hand, stand mixer with dough hook, or food processor).

              If using a stand mixer turn up to medium/high and let go for about 5 minutes.

              If you are doing it by hand remove the dough from the bowl and knead by hand vigorously for 5 minutes.

              Divide the dough (I usually just do two, Dr. Crystal did four).

              Lightly oil a baking sheet, transfer dough onto sheet and lightly brush each ball with olive oil.

Cover baking sheet with plastic wrap and let sit in a warm place till the dough has doubled in size (about 1 ½ hours).

Preheat oven to 475°.

After doubled, flatten dough with the heel of your hand on a lightly floured surface. Lift and pinch each disk from the center outward until the dough is thin. (don't worry about the shape or occasional hole)

              Place dough on an oiled baking sheet and top it!

              Bake for 7-15 minutes, until the crust is golden brown.

A caution about topping pizzas: the tendency is to load it up with sauce, cheese, and toppings, go a little lighter than you think and you will have a nice balance of toppings and crust.

We made two pizzas, the first one I mentioned above and the second one had garlic olive oil, mozzarella, spinach, rep peppers, and feta cheese. My husband likes it, my two year old likes it, and I like it. That is what makes life feel like a success.

Enjoy!