Pizza Two Ways: Grilled & With Potatoes

Since all artisan pizza is made in wood or coal fired ovens nowadays, grilling pizza is probably the best means to mimic that flavor and texture at home with what you've probably got. The grill doesn't have the ability to envelope the pizza in radiant heat from all sides like the oven does, but the concentration from bottom up means in little time you get a very crunchy vehicle for a conservative amount of toppings.

I think almost all good pizza is about moderation, and even more so on the grill. Because the bottom is going to cook really quickly, the top isn't going to have all that much time for cheese to melt, sauce to thicken, or vegetables to soften. So I suggest less is more. Doing pizza this way is really it's own invention, so I think of it as a flat bread best suited to a smattering of pesto, a very light touch of tomato sauce, or some melty cheese cut or shredded small enough to liquefy in five minutes or less.

It goes like this; throw your stretched dough on grill, sear to crisp the bottom, remove, turn over and put toppings on the seared side, return to grill with uncooked side down (obviously), and let the toppings heat through and melt before the bottom gets too done. Start to finish in 5-10 minutes. If your grill is big enough and has multiple burners you can put one section on lower heat so that in the topping cooking phase you can have more time for them to properly set before the bottom really burns.

And while I was prepping to grill some pizza recently, I portioned off some of the dough for regular oven cooking. This was to make something I first tried in Rome and achieved an instant appreciation for--pizza with potatoes.

Roman pizza is usually made in large rectangular pans, cut into squares and sold by the gram (or hand gestures). It makes for an easy walking meal since it's not too thin and more rigid than a wedge. My favorites are pizza with zucchini blossoms, and certainly this one.

Carbs on carbs might be counter-intuitive to some, but they are cheap and life-sustaining, so it's what's for dinner sometimes. The textural contrast of the crisp, thin crust and the soft buttery potatoes will make you toss aside any reservations of a glycemic index nightmare. And there's no cheese to boot if that allays some of your fears. Another great thing about this is that it's a pan pizza, spread on a baking sheet and thrown in a relatively moderate oven. An easy crowd pleaser.

Adapted from The Bread Baker's Apprentice

The Dough:

(Yields 6 6oz. pizzas)

4 1/2 cups bread flour (can us some or all italian 00 flour if it's rated for pizza)

3 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon instant yeast

1/4 cup olive oil

1 3/4 cups ice cold water

Stir together the dry ingredients in a bowl, then add the water and oil and bring together into a solid mass. Continue to knead the dough (with the same technique as italian bread), either in an electric mixer with a dough hook or by hand in a large bowl using a dough scraper, repeatedly dipped in water, pulling and stretching the dough while turning the bowl in the opposite direction. Do this 5-10 minutes, after which the dough will be sticky and elastic.

Get a large non reactive bowl and drizzle a teaspoon or so of oil into it and spread it around. Transfer the dough to a floured surface, flour your hands and form the dough by stretching the top and rounding it into a ball, folding underneath. Transfer the dough to the bowl and roll it around to coat it with oil. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

Remove the dough from the fridge 2 hours before you plan on making the pizza. Flour a surface and cut the dough into pieces of 6 oz. each (if you plan on making a potato pizza, cut off one portion of about 12 oz). Form each one into a ball, then press down on the surface into a disk about 1/2 inch thick. Sprinkle the dough with flour and cover them with plastic wrap. Let them rest for 2 hours.

For the grilled variety

Equipment:

A grill

A pizza peel or large portable cutting board

Preheat your grill. Flour a working surface, and using your hands or a rolling pin spread the dough out into something resembling a circle, but don't be worried if it's not as long as it's somewhat symmetrical. It's hard, but don't let the pizza get too thin in the middle while the edges are still thick. For grilled pizza it's especially important not to let the middle get paper thin, lest it break on the grill and make a mess of burnt cheese (happened to me).

Transfer the dough to a floured peel or board, then bring to the grill and throw it on carefully so you don't fold it or anything. Let it cook uncovered until the areas touching the grill harden and free themselves. This should only take about 2 minutes.

Remove from the grill and flip over on your floured board; this cooked side is where your toppings will go. It'll smell and look good enough to eat like that, but you're not quite done. Although you could just flip it and put the other side on the grill, cook it, and then spread some pesto or olive oil on it and serve like that. Otherwise, take the dough to your mise en place or wherever you're doing the toppings, and put them on. Back to the grill, cooler section of it if you have one, and let cook, covered, until the toppings are heated/melted, and the bottom is cooked. This should be another 3-5 minutes.

Remove and let cool 5 minutes, then slice and serve. Unlike a typical oven, with a multi burner grill you can rifle off a bunch of these in no time...with a good sous chef of course.

Now for the pizza con patate

Ingredients:

2 medium Yukon Gold Potatoes, skin removed

1/2 medium onion, sliced thin

2 sprigs rosemary

olive oil

Sea Salt and pepper (coarse salt if you have it)

Equipment:

11x17 inch sheet pan

Mandoline

Preheat the oven to 425º. Using the mandoline, slice the potatoes thin; not paper thin because you want to feel the slight resistance of potato as you bite into it, but about 1/16th of an inch. Put them in a bowl and toss with some olive oil, some rosemary needles, and a few pinches of salt.

Take the dough and flour the counter, then roll it out into a rectangle, more or less the size of the pan. Spray the pan with cooking spray or brush it on all sides with oil. Place the dough on the sheet and spread it to the edges of the pan, but don't let the center get too thin. If you can't get it to stretch to the exact dimensions of the pan don't worry.

Drizzle and spread a teaspoon or so of olive oil on the dough, then begin layering the potatoes. Overlap each piece to cover about a quarter of the one before, but no need to be too fussy. Get one good layer on the pizza, leaving a border of about half an inch around the edges. Drizzle some more oil on, then some salt and pepper, the onions, and some more torn rosemary needles.

Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes until the edges of the crust are browned. Remove and let cool 5 minutes. Cut into squares and serve.