When my crazy work schedule made it impossible for me to be Host Kitchen for the Bread Baking Babes this month, Tanna stepped right up and led us to the pizza parlor to make Maggie Glezer's Sullivan Street Potato Pizza.
Ironically, this recipe is from the same book, Artisan Baking, that Karen selected the Royal Crown Tortano and plunged us all back in the wet end of the dough pool as well with a 109% hydration dough. The plus of this was we would get a really crisp crust, which as far as I am concerned is the way pizza should be. The only problem was I never got the dough to come together the way the recipe said it should.
After forty full minutes of kneading with Isabelle all I had was soup. I wasn't feeling Babe-like at all. I pressed on and tried to bake it with the potatoes, onions, and rosemary and ended up with a black mess that set off the smoke detector and made LB run from the room to hide under the bed, not to be seen the rest of the night. Running out the back door into the wet Connecticut night with a smoking mass of potato pizza, I tossed it into my compost pile with plans to take funny pictures the next morning.
But when I went out the next morning to take a picture of the mess all that was left was one lone mass of potato.
I guess the neighborhood cats and squirrels must have had a pizza party in my backyard over night.
Across the country, Tanna, our queen of pushing recipes to their max, was also struggling with Maggie's pizza dough. Actually a cry was heard from across the Atlantic as well as one of our sisters in crime, Gorel, showed us her ocean of dough running down and across her pan. I think she was contemplating getting the surf board out as it truly was soup with waves.
After much chatter on our private blog, Queen Tanna came back with another pizza dough option, Daniel Leader's Genzano Potato Pizza. This dough promised to be a bit more solid with only 80% hydration. Taking my water wings off, I dove right in. This dough came together very nicely after about 15 minutes had it clearing the bowl. Two hour and a half rising times later I had pizza dough that was ready to go.
Because it was just me, I divided the dough into two balls and threw one into the freezer for later use. The other half I got ready to roll out
OK, confession time here. Once I got the dough rolled out I just couldn't bring myself to put potatoes on top of pizza. I'm sorry Tanna. I don't blame you and the girls if you run me out of town on a rail and revoke my special BBB panties for not using potatoes (hangs my head low with shame). But, every time I thought about this pizza as I was waiting for the dough to rise all I saw was the pizza I have grown to love from Amerigo Pizza, my local pizza place; a delightful combination of a crispy crust pizza topped with fresh tomato, basil, and capers.
Once I got this lovely dough rolled out I just couldn't bring myself to top it with potatoes when I could top it with this
See! Isn't it lovely? Doesn't look fresh and inviting? It was like looking at spring on dough.
The Leader dough baked super crisp but had a nice chewy inside. I do admit, I left it in a bit longer than the recipe called for because I like really crisp crust. But, when the pizza came out of the oven, it was as if Amerigo had delivered a hot pie to my house.
I'll definitely be making this crust again and I'm excited I have a ball of dough in the freezer to use very soon.
To check out all my Bread Baking Babes, A Fridge Full of Food (Glenna), Bake My Day (Karen), Cookie Baker Lynn (Lynn), I Like to Cook (Sara), Living on Bread and Water (Monique), Lucullian Delights (Ilva), My Kitchen in Half Cups (Tanna), Grain Doe (Gorel), Notitie van Lien (Lien), Thyme of Cooking (Katie), and What Did You Eat (Sher) to check out how the pizza should have looked with the potato on top. Now that I'm looking at all those pizzas maybe I'll be able to put potatoes on top.
Also, if you want to join us as a Bread Baking Buddy for this pizza party, go visit our Host Kitchen, Tanna and bake either Maggie's or Daniel's pizza some time this week. Send her a note with a link to your post if you have a blog or drop her an email with picture of you pizza and she'll send you a nifty badge for your blog and include you our monthly round-up!
