Mashed Potato Pizza
If you are a regular Macheesmo reader or if you follow me on Twitter, you’ll know that I got a new camera this weekend! There is always a period of adjustment with a new piece of tech and I only know what about half of the buttons do. But I know how to take a photo with it so I thought I would make one of my favorite meals to try it out.
Mashed potato pizza is one of those things that you might think is weird or gross when you hear it, but I promise it is really good.
It turns out that mashed potatoes and pizza are made to be together.
This was one of the best pizzas I've ever had.
There is no tomato on this pizza. In its place is a thick layer of garlicky, buttery mashed potatoes. I actually had mashed potato pizza for the first time in New Haven at a place called “Bar,” but I’ve sort of made the recipe my own and I think I might be able to give them a run for their money.
Mashed Potato Pizza
The dough (This makes two pizzas. From Alton Brown’s recipe.)
- 4 Cups bread flour
- 4 Tablespoons sugar
- 2 Tablespoons Kosher salt (I probably used 1 3/4. The original is a bit salty.)
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 2 Teaspoons active dry yeast
- 1 1/2 Cups lukewarm water
- Flour for dusting the pizza peel or baking sheet.
- Olive oil for rising the dough.Pizza
- 4 large potatoes (enough mashed potatoes for 2 pizzas)
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1/2 stick butter
- 1/2 cup milk or cream
- 3 Tablespoons olive oil
- 8 ounces of bacon per pizza
- 10 ounces mozzarella per pizza
- Broccoli
- Anything else that fits your fancy!Helpful Equipment:
- Pizza stone and peel
Let’s make the dough first. Pizza dough is something that really needs to rest for a good amount of time to mature in flavor and get nice and elastic. I typically like to make mine the day before I intend to cook. To start, combine the yeast, salt, sugar, olive oil, and water in a bowl.
Yeast soup.
Add your flour and bring all of the dough into a ball. When it looks like the below you can start kneading it. If you have a fancy mixer you can beat it with the paddle attachment for 10 minutes and save yourself a workout.
Before a 10 minute knead.
If, like me, you rely on pure brute strength to make awesome pizza, then you’ll need to knead this dough for at least ten minutes but probably closer to 15. Eventually it will become very smooth. Then it is time to rise. Pour a bit of olive oil in your bowl and lightly coat your ball of dough. This will make sure it doesn’t dry out.
Let it rise at room temperature for two hours.
This is active dough.
After the rise, you can punch it down and cut it into two balls. If you must, you can use them right away, but they will be much better if you let them chill in the fridge for at least a day. They can keep for a few days though if you coat them in a bit of olive oil. If you do put them in the fridge, let them rise at room temperature for an hour before using them.
Now we need to make the toppings for this guy. I’m assuming you know how to make bacon (crispy is better for this recipe). You also probably know how to make mashed potatoes, but if not, just cut up the potatoes into cubes and boil them in lightly salted water for about 10 minutes until they fall apart when poked with a fork.
Then mash them up with the garlic, cream or milk, and butter. I actually like mine a bit on the chunky side. It gives the pizza a good texture.
Good ingredients.
Next, preheat the oven to 450 degrees with a baking stone in it.
Forming a pizza takes a bit of practice. If it is your first time, go slow and be patient. The dough is very forgiving if you made it correctly. It will be very elastic.
Take a ball and roll it out into a circle. With light pressure start working it from the inside out. Once you feel comfortable feel free to pick it up and stretch it over your knuckles a bit. It shouldn’t rip if you keep it moving by lightly rotating it around your hand.
If you are feeling brave, you can give it a toss!
Had a little photography help on this one.
Once you have a rough circle that is the size you want and the thickness that you want, slap it on a pizza peel that has been dusted with corn meal or flour. If you don’t have a peel, you can use a baking sheet. The sheet just makes it a bit harder to slide it into the oven. I used one for years though before I got a peel.
Feel free to make a decorative crust or just leave it flat. Whatever makes you happy.
No need to do a crust, but they are pretty easy.
Sprinkle a bit of olive oil over your dough. Since we aren’t using a sauce, we need to add a bit of moisture on the bottom.
A sprinkle of oil.
Then lump on your mashed potatoes. No need to spread them out evenly or anything. They will flatten out while baking. Also, don’t be stingy. This is the base of the pie.
No need to go light on the potatoes.
Next, add your bacon. Sweet, sweet bacon.
I mean come on.
Then add your grated mozzarella. Feel free to sprinkle on some dried basil, pepper, and salt at this point also.
Ready for an oven.
Carefully slide the pizza into the oven. Bake for 15 minutes. Try not to drool on the oven door.
Longest 15 minutes of my life.
Take out your pizza and the crust should be crispy and great. The cheese should be lightly browned. Wait a few minutes, slice, and eat a piece right away.
A little slice of Heaven.
A made a second pizza with broccoli and some cheddar on top. I think it was even better than the first.
Healthy?
I cannot express how good this recipe is. If you like pizza, you will love this. If you don’t like pizza, then you will probably still like this. If you don’t, then I’m not sure we can be friends.
If you liked this post, I would love it if you used the below links to share it with others. Everyone should try this guy.
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DK - "It's 11:30am and I'm havin one of these and wonderfring whre my life w..."
Camille - "Did you refrigerate immediately after processing?..."
Jayne - "Welcome to Denver. Hope you love the city as much as we do. If you nee..."
Gerry @ Foodness Gracious - "Good luck with the move, It'll be fun finding some new good eats in De..."
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This is a great-looking pizza! Wonderful recipe!
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Wow – this is setting the bar for pizza pretty high, but I think I'll have to try this soon! Who would've thought mashed potato and pizza?
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Great, that's going on the menu tonight!
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That sounds sooooooo good! One of my favorite pizzas in Sicily had roasted potatoes, rosemary, and smoked cheese, but I've never tried mashed potatoes! I want some!!
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Mmmmm, carb-loading. Looks great. Love the photos too
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ok man.
I gotta say, this is a scroll down post. The first photo I saw of it, I was trying to envision the taste- and all I could think of was a pile of pile of mushiness on some bread. But as I scrolled, I really warmed up to the idea. Really. I want to eat this. Maybe tonite.
Especially the bottom one you did w/ broccoli and cheddar. And bacon exites me anyway. Way to go man- this is seriously inventive- and a completely new and exciting concept for me. I will be trying this pronto, and will let you know how awesome it is.
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I expect that the next time I see you, you will make this for me. I LOVE this pizza. Also I think a pizza stone will be among my first purchases when I return to the states. I am hungry for this pizza right now. Why do you do this to me N.?
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Looks pretty darn good. I might add a little sour cream on top of that mashed potato and bacon one! Yum!
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Sweet – this is a great idea – clicked through from http://www.garrettkern.com and I love your blog. I’ll have to be back regularly.
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Excellent! I should try it tonight
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OMG… I love this pizza. I promise to give you credit… but HOT DAMN! I'm making this bad boy!
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What a great idea!! Will have to try a veggie version! Thanks for sharing… :-D
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At the ripe old age of 60, I discovered that all pizza doesn’t have to have a tomato base. I think your potato pizza is fabulous, and I’m going to try it.
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I love that this is the most popular post on your site. Well deserved! :) Soooooooo good (even if I have to pick the broccoli off).
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LOVE THIS POST!!! New Haven Pizza is the best on the planet. I go to bar all the time when I am home. I am up in Ithaca, NY now and there is ZERO good pizza. Little fact about Bar and New Haven pizza in general. All the best pizza places got their skills from Pepe's and Salle's and opened their own joints. I go to Bar because there is usually much less of a wait. Same great pizza. These people up here don't even know what a good crust is.
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I do something similiar but call it pierogie pizza. Mashed potatoes, sauteed onions, and cheddar cheese. And you can add sauerkraut too!
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Looks pretty good. I think I would like it.
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So how as the camera?? What kind? I recently got a new camera (Canon Rebel) and am stumped trying to get the macro lens to work in combination with NO flash! ugh!
We have a place here in town that has mashed potato pizza… totally rocks! Carb binging ftw!
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@ Lea. I got the same camera. The rebel XSi… I haven’t purchased a macro lens yet, but I’m not sure I would be much help… I’m sort of learning as I go.
It sure is a lot of fun though.
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Wow…that last picture looks exactly like one I got at a local pizza place a while back. Definitly going to try this recipe, ’cause that was the best pizza I’ve ever had!
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In Turkey, they sell rolls and stuff on the street every day, and you can get rolls with cheese inside, or olives, or mashed potatoes. It was such a revelation to realize how wonderful a combination potatoes and bread is. I salute you.
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add grilled onions to your mashed potatoes, and top with shredded cheddar cheese…bam, pierogie pizza!
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A wonderful idea indeed, it would make an excellent addition to my menu. i think i would add some pepers however
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My mouth is watering !!
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My very own mashed potato pizza is baking in the oven as we speak! I cannot wait to try it! Ill let everyone know how it turned out.
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That looks and sounds great, thanks for sharing!
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My family loves this pizza so much that we go to Bar in New Haven once a week to have this pizza. We add broccoli and fresh basil to the pizza and it tastes fantastic.
The Bar version has parmesan cheese in its base, but the recipe above doesn’t. Don’t know how much difference parmesan cheese makes to this pizza.
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Wow! I grew up near New Haven and am a great fan of Pepe’s white clam pie (never got a chance to go to Sallie’s). I make pizza every Sunday and just read about a restaurant in Salt Lake (near where I live now) that makes a pizza with mashed potatoes, bacon and asparagus pieces. They call it “The New Haven”. You’ve given me the base, so all I need to add is the asparagus. I’ll let you know how it turns out on Sunday night!
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Ive been looking for a good crust recipe for the pizza stone yours works well.THANKS. But seriously give BAR a run for their money come on have some respect!
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Just browsing your page… this recipe looks awesome! I love me some pizza and I will defintely be giving this a try. Sure I will get some weird looks from the fam, but I'm getting used to it with everything else I am making them try out!
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Did you cook the broccoli before you baked the pizza? I want to make this for my husband and want to get it right. Thanks!
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Nick replied: — August 1st, 2010 @ 3:35 pm
I don't really ever cook the broccoli before I add it to the pizza. It usually gets nice and charred but not soggy at all which is the problem if you overcook it.
Theoretically, you could blanch it for a few seconds and then add it, but I just cut up the florets into pretty small pieces and that works like a charm.
Good luck with it. It's one of my favorite pizzas!
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Allison replied: — August 1st, 2010 @ 5:09 pm
Thanks for the tip. I made it for dinner tonight and it was excellent! I'm thinking of trying a different spin on it next time and doing a sort of potato skin version.
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Hi
Thanks for the recipe. I found it after eating at Bar in new haven and loving their mashed potato and broccoli pizza. I made yours last night and it came out pretty good. Mine got all big and puffy though? It did not look like yours. I don't have a pizza stone and I cooked it after two hours rising? Do you have any ideas as to why mine came out puffy? I rolled it out pretty thin maybe not ting enough though.
Either way it was very good and I intend on having the leftovers for breakfast. Thanks for the great recipe and the handy pictures, I love pictures while I am cooking!
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Luc replied: — March 17th, 2011 @ 8:47 pm
I had the same thing happen to me tonight! Mine was extra puffy, but it was ultra delicious! Nonetheless, we stepped up the bacon game.
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I love mashed potatoes, well potatoes of any kind. Although I didn't do it, I wanted to have a mashed potato bar with a gravy fountain at my 50th bday party. didn't have a party, went on vacation instead. keep it up love to read your blog. Your method of pizza in a cast iron skillet has kept me making pizza at home, I was ready to give up.
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We ate the Garlic Mashed Potato Pizza at Bar, too! My cousin worked there. Could not believe how incredible it tasted. Decided to recreate it at home, but I’ve made mine with a garlicky white sauce as the base. Thought it might be good with a bit of smoked gouda too. Thanks for sharing your version.
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We made up a “bar-like” mashed potato pizza recipe too… we sautee minced garlic in the olive oil before sprinkling it on, and add plain mashed potatoes. Something about the crunchy little garlic pieces makes me happy. We also use Parmesan instead of mozzarella, but the bacon doesn’t always stick so well.
SO YUMMY!
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oh my god i can’t wait until i’m done with this diet!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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i will try today!! so great!! http://www.ccchinachic.com
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I almost cried after reading. bravo good sir.
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