Potato Pizza

Add the salt, olive oil and yeast to the 1/2 cup of warm water and stir. Mix in 1 cup of flour. Gradually add in 1/8 cup more flour, until the dough comes together enough for you to put in on the counter and start kneading it. Add enough additional flour to make a nice dough that is not too sticky, but not too dry. You want it to feel a little moist, but you don’t want it to stick to your hands. Knead for a couple of minutes and put it in a bowl with a drizzle of olive oil. Turn the dough to coat it in the olive, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set it in a warm place for a couple of hours. (If making the night before, stick it in the fridge and then bring it out a couple of hours before you need to use it and put it in a warm place so it can rise).

Meanwhile, with a mandoline, slice the potato as thin as you can, about 1/16th of a inch thick. Place potato slices in a bowl with the salt and cover with cold water for about an hour (or you can refrigerate it for several hours). Drain potatoes and pat dry. Toss the potatoes with rosemary, onion and olive oil. Sprinkle generously with coarse salt and freshly ground pepper.

Place a pizza stone on the bottom rack of your oven. Preheat the oven to the highest temperature it will go (450 – 500 degrees F) for 30 minutes.

Sprinkle a pizza peel with some coarse polenta (corn grits) or flour. I think coarse polenta works best to keep the dough from sticking to the peel. If you don’t have a pizza peel, just use a rimless cookie sheet or an upside down baking pan. Roll out the pizza dough, using flour so it doesn’t stick to the rolling pin. If the dough snaps back as you roll it, let it sit for just a couple of minutes and it will roll out effortlessly. Roll out the dough until it is the size/thickness you like. Place on the pizza peel. Brush the dough with the 1/4 cup olive oil (or however much you like), top the pizza with the potato slices. Make sure you get all the onion and rosemary out of the bowl and place on top of the pizza. If using the cheese, sprinkle on top.

Slide the pizza onto the baking stone that’s been heating in your oven and bake for about 8-10 minutes, until the crust is crisp and golden. Sprinkle with additional salt, if you like.