Deathly Scalloped Potato Pizza

By DeBruynC1

Ingredients

• Pizza dough:
• adapted from Lahey’s basic pizza dough
• 500g500 g (3 3/4 cups) of bread flour
• 10g10 g (2 1/2 tsp) of active dry yeast
• 5g5 g (3/4 tsp) of salt
• 3g3 g (3/4 tsp) of sugar
• 300g300 g (1 1/3 cup) of water
• 2tbsp2 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzlig
• Topping:
• 500g500 g of baby potatoes
• 44 tomatoes
• 10cloves10 cloves of garlic
• 22 shallots
• 1small bunch1 small bunch (3 tbsp when chopped) of fresh mints
• 1 1/2tsp1 1/2 tsp of salt
• 1tsp1 tsp of ground cumin
• 1tsp1 tsp of ground coriander
• 1/2tsp1/2 tsp of grated nutmeg
• 1/2tsp1/2 tsp of ground allspice
• 1/2tsp1/2 tsp of ground ginger
• 1/4tsp1/4 tsp of ground cayenne
• 1/4tsp1/4 tsp of ground cinnamon
• 1/4tsp1/4 tsp of ground black pepper

Details

Servings 2
Adapted from ladyandpups.com

Preparation

Step 1

Three hours before it’s needed, start the pizza dough: In a large bowl, whisk together bread flour, yeast, salt and sugar. Measure 300 g of water plus 2 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil in a microwave bowl and heat to 110ºF, approx 40 sec on high. It should be warm, but not hot to the touch. Over 115ºF and the heat might kill the yeast. Add the water/oil mixture to the flour mixture and stir together with a wooden spoon to form a dough. This dough is MUCH drier than the no-knead recipe, and I usually end up adding 1~2 tbsp more of water to help it come together. TRY NOT TO over-work the dough. Stop stirring once the dough forms even if there are lumps and uneven-ness, preferably under 1 min or so.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and put an extra kitchen towel on top. Leave at a warm place to rise until doubled, approx 2 hours.

After the dough has doubled, scrape it out of the bowl onto the working surface. Pull one side of the dough up and fold it over itself, like folding a letter. Turn it 90 degrees and repeat again. Cut the dough into two equal portions. Cover with plastic wrap and let it rest for 1 hour.

Meanwhile, make the toppings: Cut open the tomatoes and remove the stems. Squeeze the tomatoes until all the juice and seeds are forced out. Add tomato, garlic, shallots, mints, salt and all the spices in the food processor. Pulse until the mixture is finely chopped, like a salsa consistency. Set aside in a large bowl. Scrub and clean the baby potatoes (and of course remove any sprouts if any) and slice them very very thinly with a slicer or mandolin. You can do this by hand, too but make sure they are very thin slices to ensure proper cooking. Toss the potato slices with the tomato/spice mixture. Set aside.

Make pizzas: 30 min before baking, set a pizza stone or cast-iron grill pan on the middle rack (if you only have a normal baking sheet, refer to the Bonci post for more details) and preheat the oven on 500ºF/230ºC.

Prepare two pieces of parchment paper larger than the size of the pizza/grill pan. Lay one piece on the working surface and rub extra virgin olive oil LIGHTLY over the parchment. Put one portion of the dough on the parchment, and press/push it gently outward into the shape of the grill pan. The dough may spring back a little, just let it rest for 5 min then keep gently pressing/pushing until it reaches the shape desired. Drizzle extra virgin olive oil on top (especially on the edges) and sprinkle with some fine sea salt. Start laying out the tomato mixture/potato slices on top in ONE SINGLE LAYER, but let the excess liquid/juice strain through your fingers before putting it on the pizza. Once finished, sprinkle with more fine sea salt. Potatoes really need to be seasoned well to taste good.

Take the preheated cast-iron grill pan out of the oven. Slide the pizza over the top by pulling the parchment over the grill pan, and return the grill pan back in the oven. Bake for 10~15 min until the crust is golden brown. Meanwhile, repeat the same steps with the second pizza.

Serve the pizza with chopped fresh mint or arugula, and drizzle with more extra virgin olive oil.