Pizza Patate

In my short stint as a baker at Sullivan St. Bakery, I couldn't get enough of this potato pizza. I've been craving it long enough that I finally (somewhat resentfully) caved in and bought Jim Lahey's cookbook. Let's face it, he can cook. I wasn't able to get it as crispy as he does on the top, most likely because I couldn't wait the hours of soaking time to eat it, but I'd suggest following his instructions for soaking the potatoes and try to remove as much water as you can from them in order to get crispy potato topping.

Pizza Patate

INGREDIENTS:
1 quart lukewarm water
4 teaspoons salt
1 ball frozen and thawed pizza dough
6-8 yukon gold potatoes, peeled
1 cup diced yellow onion
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary leaves

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees. In a medium bowl, combine the water and salt, stirring until the salt is dissolved. Use a mandolin or a knife to slice the potatoes very thin (1/16 inch thick) and put the slices directly into the salted water so they don't oxidize and turn brown. Let soak for 1 1/2 hours or refrigerate and soak for up to 12 hours, until slices are wilted and no longer crisp.

Drain the potatoes and use your hands to press out as much water as possible, then pat dry. In a medium bowl, toss together the potato slices, onion, pepper, and olive oil.

Spread teh potato mixture over evenly stretched dough, going all the way to the edges of the pan. Tip: put a little more of the topping around the edges of the pie to prevent the outside from cooking too quickly. Sprinkle evenly with rosemary.

Bake 30 to 35 minutes until the topping is starting to turn golden brown. Serve hot or at room temperature.