I promised Bobby the Builder that I’d post instructions for potato pizza, but this is the basic method we use for all our pizzas. The night they were over for dinner, we also had homemade passata, pancetta flat, Kalamata olives and anchovies on one, and Stilton, finely sliced onion and nodini on another. We make thin pizzas with sparse but carefully considered toppings – we’ve never been fans of the deep-dish, cheese-filled crust Super Supreme.
Step 1: Make the basic bread dough following the tutorial here. You’ll need to use a high protein flour – bakers or bread flour is great. If you can find pizza flour (we buy it in 12.5kg bags), all the better.
Step 2: After the first rise (step 5 of the basic bread tutorial), divide the dough into four equal portions of @ 220g each. Shape each portion into a round ball and place in an oiled plastic container to rise. Cover with a lid and allow to prove for about 30 minutes. Put a pizza stone into the oven and preheat to 250C.
Step 3: Turn one ball of dough out onto a sheet of parchment paper. Dip your fingertips into flour and gently work the dough into a flat round circle. Work carefully to ensure you don’t tear the dough and don’t use more flour than you need to, or the dough will lose its elasticity.
Step 4: Peel two potatoes and slice them finely on a mandoline. Lay the potato slices over the pizza base, overlapping just a tiny bit.
Step 5: Pour a small amount of garlic oil over the potatoes and spread it out with the back of a spoon.
Step 6: Sprinkle with salt and a generous amount of dried herbs – we use Herbie’s Italian Spice mix, but any mix of oregano, thyme and basil would work well. Note that you need lots more than the bottom picture – Pete took the photo before we were finished!
Step 7: Slide the pizza with its parchment sheet onto the hot pizza stone. If you don’t have a stone, you can bake the pizza on an oven tray (although you might need to lower the heat slightly to ensure your parchment doesn’t scorch). If you are using a stone, let the pizza cook for a few minutes, then carefully slide it off and remove the parchment paper, to allow the base to brown. Bake until crisp and golden (which doesn’t take long – so don’t go wondering off). If you’re not baking all the pizzas at once, make sure the oven reheats before you put the next one in. Enjoy!
