Potato and Pork Belly Pizza

Oh, pizza. Pizza, pizza, pizza. We could eat pizza every meal every day of the week and be very happy for eternity. There are so many ways to make pizza into a unique meal! We have tried a lot of them and will share all of them at some point here, with you all.

Today we are focusing on an easy pizza that comes together rather quickly using store bought pizza dough. We have tried all kinds of pizza crust tricks. We have made it from Pillsbury pizza dough, bought those Bolboli-type prebaked pizza crusts, used naan bread, tried French bread – and they were all good. But, let’s be honest, made-from-scratch pizza dough is by far the best if you have the time and the will.  Usually we have neither, ha! Lucky for us, most grocery stores make and sell pre-made pizza dough and that cuts our pizza-making time by a third.

Trader Joe’s has all the ingredients for our pizza today, including the dough, so it’s one-stop-shopping. We love that!

This is a white pizza recipe, meaning no red sauce here. You can take the crust-preparation method in this recipe and make any kind of pizza you’d like, though.

We highly recommend you use a pizza stone for baking pizza (like this one). You don’t have to but the crust comes out so beautifully. It’s crispy on the bottom and edges but still a nice chew. If you don’t have a pizza stone, you can use a metal pizza pan or a baking pan.

We par-bake our pizza crusts, then top them and put them back in the oven to finish cooking. This keeps the crust from getting too soggy and is a great method if you’re making a lot of pizzas…you can par bake the crusts ahead of time and let them sit at room temperature until ready to make your pizza (up to 8 hours).

Buon Appetito!

Potato & Pork Belly Pizza

• 16 oz pre-made pizza dough
• 2-3 small yellow potatoes, sliced very thin
• 4 oz (a heaping 1 cup) Fontina cheese, coarsely grated
• 2 tbsp Grana Padano, finely grated
• 3 oz pork belly, sliced ¼” thick (or 3 slices thick cut bacon)
• 4 stems fresh oregano, leaves removed and chopped
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)

Place the pizza stone (if using) on a rack in the bottom third of oven. Preheat the oven to 450. Let the oven get really good and hot, about 45 minutes.

Meanwhile, place a large piece of parchment on the counter (a little bigger than you’d like your pizza). Put a tablespoon of EVOO in the middle and spread it around into a circle as big as the pizza dough with your hands. Remove the pizza dough from the refrigerator and place the dough onto the oiled parchment. Let the dough rest at room temperature for 20 to 30 minutes.

While the dough is resting, fry the pork belly in a medium frying pan over medium heat until golden and a bit crispy, about 3 minutes per side.  Remove from pan and drain on paper towels. When cool enough to handle, chop roughly.

Oil your hands with the EVOO and gently stretch the pizza dough  from the center outward into a circle. You may need to do this a little at a time – stretch a little and then let the dough rest a little, then stretch again. It’s ready to go in the oven when it stays the size you desire.  It should adhere a little to the parchment but not be completely stuck to it. You can make your crust thick or thin depending on how much your stretch it – just note that it will cook faster the thinner it is.

When the dough is the shape and thickness you desire, invert the parchment (dough side down) onto the hot pizza stone and peel away the parchment, taking care not to burn yourself. We find this is the best way to keep the shape of the dough. If you pick it up with your hands and try to place it on the pizza stone, it tends to stretch out every which way and ends up kind of wonky.

Par-bake the pizza crust for 3-4 minutes until just starting to turn golden brown on the top and bubbles at the edges. Remove from oven using a pizza peel or very large spatula.

Spread about ¾ of the Fontina cheese over the crust. Place the potatoes in a single layer on top of the Fontina. Top the potatoes with the remaining Fontina cheese and evenly distribute the pieces of pork belly. Sprinkle the Grana Padano on top and place back into the oven. Cook for 5-7 minutes until cheese is bubbly and potatoes are starting to curl a bit. The edges of the pizza will be deep golden brown but not burnt.

Remove from oven and sprinkle with oregano.

Makes one 14″ pizza.