October 8th: potato pizza take 1

Verdict:
Toss: potato, carmelized onion, etc. pizza

Friday night family pizza night! Tonight I made pizza dough from Crazy Plates, which won out over the Chatelaine pizza dough I cooked last week. This is in large part due to the Crazy Plates dough giving the impression of being healthier. The pizza proper was from October 2010's Chatelaine: Potato pizza with carmelized onions and rosemary. I had some serious doubts about potatoes on pizza, but forged ahead. This recipe is hitting the toss pile, but not because of the potatoes, which were pretty tasty. The carmelized onions didn't really carmelize, which I attribute to not enough sugar in the pan; when I've made carmelized onions in the past, they've called for 8 times the amount of sugar in the sugar:onion ratio than this recipe calls for. Other than that, the pizza was just on the boring side. I ended up scraping the topping off the leftover pizza, and throwing it into an omelet on Sunday morning; that was quite tasty.

I have another potato-topped pizza recipe from Epicurious I plan to try on an as-yet-undefined  future family pizza night.

Here's the Crazy Plates pizza dough recipe:

No Business Like Dough Business

1 pkg active dry yeast (or 2-1/4 tsp)
1 cup warm water (105° to 115°)
1 tbsp honey
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1-1/2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt
1 tsp olive oil
2 tbsp cornmeal (optional)

Pour yeast into a large bowl. Combine warm water and honey. Pour over yeast. Let sit for 5 to 10 minutes, until mixture is foamy. Meanwhile, combine all-purpose and whole wheat flours. Set aside.

Add 1-1/2 tbsp olive oil and salt to yeast mixture. Mix well. Add 1 cup flour mixture. Using a wooden spoon, stir until smooth. Add a second cup of flour mixture and continue to stir until dough forms a soft and sticky mass and comes away from the sides of the bowl.

Flour the work surface and your hands with some of the remaining flour mixture. Turn dough out of bowl onto floured surface and knead in more flour until dough is smooth and elastic. Don't worry if you don't use up all of the flour. Shape dough into a ball. Pour 1 tsp olive oil into a large bowl. Add dough and roll it around so the whole surface gets lightly oiled. Cover and let rise in a warm place for 45 to 60 minutes, until double in size.

Lightly oil two 12-inch pizza pans and sprinkle lightly with cornmeal, if using. Punch down dough and return to work surface. Divide dough into 2 balls. Using a rolling pin, roll out each ball to a 12-inch circle. Place dough on pizza pan. Brush lightly with oil. Add your favourite toppings and bake at 450° for 13 to 14 minutes.