Andy’s Potato Pizza

Pete & Elda’s in Neptune, NJ
I’m really excited to try this pizza. When Andy described his crust, I remembered a place my friend Holly Subhan took me to, while I was visiting her in New Jersey last year. If you remember, she is the one who also introduced me to Mossuto’s where we found the Fat Lip Pizza. *Link She’s batting a thousand. The pressure is mounting!
There’s always a debate when I’m around regarding what the best pizza place is. She had been dying to take me to this Jersey Shore favorite called Pete and Elda’s in Neptune, NJ for some time. They make a crust very similar to what Andy describes below. It’s a very thin cracker like crust. It is light, crisp, and doesn’t fill you up. This is really, I believe, the quality that Holly loves about the pizza! I also think she loves the atmosphere of the place. The main part of the pizzeria is a huge winding bar that wanders through the large dining room.

I pulled this off the Pete & Elda’s site. It looks like a sausage and pepper pizza and is making me hungry!
Now onto the Andy’s Potato Pizza…I can’t wait to try it!

Andy’s starter pizza. The family likes to start a pizza night with this and only this!
How great is that?! I have a similar story and the birth of Pizza Quest does too. I too found Peter’s book American Pie and then contacted him and a while later Pizza Quest was born.
Here is his recipe for Pizza Romana or, as his family knows it, Potato Pizza. Here on Pizza Quest, we’ll be calling it The Andy Trottier!
The Dough

A rolled and smooth dough…
The pizza in the photos is a 14″ X 16″ crust made from a 275g dough ball using KA Unbleached AP flour. I always roll the dough; if I leave CO2 in the dough the family does not like it. They prefer the crisp crackle and the flavor without CO2. I make the dough for 5 pizzas. I used to ferment it in bulk in the fridge, but after Stan Ginsburg’s Tale of Two Flours, in which he outlined the VPN and fermenting dough balls separately, I am experimenting and find the individual doughs ferment better…. so far.
For five pizza doughs I use, 6.25 c flour, 2.25 t salt, 1.25 t yeast, 2.125 c water.
The Recipe

I like the simplicity of this pizza.
1 Pizza Crust
2T Olive Oil
1 large Red Potato (sliced 1/32″ thin — max)
12 Chopped Calamata Black Olives *Soaked in water for 2-3 Hours
1/4 c fresh Rosemary, chopped
2 T Olive Oil (in addition to above)
Salt to taste

A nice, crispy – light crust…
Slice the potato on the finest setting (1/32″ thick max), on a Benriner (Japanese mandolin), arrange in concentric circles on the crust.
Top with chopped olives, rosemary, the additional 2 T olive oil, and salt.
Bake at 550F Convection (I have a GE Profile electric oven, 1/2″King Arthur stone on the bottom shelf) for approx 5 minutes.

You can’t see through too many pizzas.
Serve immediately.
Hope you enjoy it as much as we do!
Andy Trottier
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
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Comments
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Hi Brad,
I was wondering how this pizza would cook in my Pompeii WFO? At 750 to 800 degrees, do you think it would just cook faster or would I end up with “potato chip” pizza?
Thanks, and please keep posting those photos!
Rick M.
Rick
I usually cook this at 550F convection (electric) and it takes 5 minutes. The crust ia always the crispiest of the night because there is no cheese to slow the evaporation in the crust.
At 750-800F you would have a much shorter cooking time, 1-2 minutes max. It will just cook that much faster but should turn out good. I think at 750-800 for 5 minutes you would have a burnt cracker.
Let me know if you try it and how long it takes to look like the final photo.
Regards
Andy
Andy
I’ll try it soon! A cheese pizza takes from 2 to 4 mins. in my oven (picasaweb.google.com/xharleyguy) so I think you’re right on time.
Thanks so much for your response!
Rick
Rick,
Definitely send us some pics, or info on how this turns out in your WFO!
Brad