Pizza con patate
When we stop by A stop our local panificio, or bakery, we almost always pick up a piece or two of pizza al taglio along with our loaf of bread. Unlike the round, whole pizzas you order in a pizzeria, pizza al taglio is sold by the slice and can be purchased from street food vendors and in bakeries around town.
Rome is famous for its pizza al taglio. There are shops that sell dozens of varieties of pizza, their glass showcases featuring a spectacular display of options. Panifici, however, typically sell just a few types – usually pizza bianca with no toppings at all except olive oil and sea salt, pizza rossa with just crust and tomato sauce, pizza con le zucchine with grated zucchini and mozzarella, and one of our favorites – pizza con le patate, or pizza with potatoes and rosemary.
One of our favorite spots in Rome to grab a piece of pizza al taglio is Forno Campo de’ Fiori, a historic bakery in the piazza of the same name. Pro tip if you stop by – you can buy pizza al taglio at Forno Campo de’ Fiori and eat it next door at the Drunken Sailor pub, as long as you order beverages.
It’s hard to find good pizza al taglio outside of Rome, so we’ve recreated the recipe and love to make it on a lazy weekend, for family gatherings, or for parties. It is delicious right out of the oven, but it tastes great at room temperature, too, so it can be made ahead of time.
In our version, paper-thin slices of potato and grated fresh mozzarella cheese are layered on top of a thin pizza crust, and the pizza is adorned with fresh rosemary leaves, sea salt, and ground black pepper. A drizzle of olive oil is the final touch.
The potatoes cook along with the crust, the mozzarella melts and turns golden brown on top, and the rosemary releases its fragrant aroma. Gotta run – ours looks and smells done!
Pizza con patate
Paper thin slices of potato and grated fresh mozzarella cheese layer on top of a light and airy pizza crust, adorned with fresh rosemary leaves, sea salt, and ground black pepper. A drizzle of olive oil is the final touch.
Ingredients
For the pizza crust
- 320 grams flour, ideally 00 Italian flour or all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting
- 8 grams salt
- 20 grams active dry yeast
- 250 ml warm water
- Extra-virgin olive oil
Topping
- 1 and 1/2 medium Yukon or yellow potatoes
- 8 oz. fresh mozzarella
- 2 sprigs fresh rosemary
- 1-2 cloves finely minced garlic
- Salt
- Ground black pepper
- Extra-virgin olive oil
Instructions
Mix the flour and salt in a medium mixing bowl.
In a separate container, add the yeast to the warm water. Stir until the yeast is fully dissolved.
Make a well in the center of the flour mixture. Slowly pour the water and yeast in, and stir with a wooden spoon until the flour is well mixed. The dough will probably be sticky.
Turn the dough out onto a smooth, well-floured work surface. Mix the dough by hand, incorporating more flour as needed to keep it from sticking. Knead by hand for 10 minutes, until the dough is smooth and stretchy.
Coat the bottom and sides of a clean bowl with olive oil. Gather the dough into a ball and place it in the bowl, rotating it so that it becomes coated with oil on all sides. Cover with plastic wrap, and set in a warm location to rise for one hour.
While the dough rises, prepare your toppings.
Drain the mozzarella and grate it through the largest holes of a grater, or pass it through a food mill.
Wash the rosemary and pull the leaves off of the stems.
Peel the potatoes and slice them very thinly. We use a vegetable slicer at 1/16th inch to help achieve thin, regular slices.
Place the potatoes in a container and cover them with water until you are ready to use them, to keep them from turning brown.
Rub a thin layer of olive oil on the bottom of a 9×13 inch baking pan. Preheat the oven to 350° F, 180° C.
When the dough is ready, turn it out onto a lightly floured work surface. Punch it down and stretch it into a rectangular shape.
Place it on the baking tray, and using your fingers and the heel of your hand, press it evenly into the baking pan, working it towards the edges and corners while maintaining a consistent thickness.
Layer the potato slices over the entire surface of the pizza, overlapping the slices only slightly at the edges. Sprinkle the mozzarella over the top of the pizza.
Add the finely minced garlic to the pizza.
Salt and pepper liberally, and then toss the rosemary leaves on top.
Complete your pizza with a thin drizzle of olive oil.
Bake at 350° F, 180° C for approximately 20-25 minutes, until the mozzarella browns and the crust turns golden brown.
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PolaM
This is possibly the best focaccia I’ve ever seen! I absolutely have to try it!
duespaghetti
Thanks, Paola! We should actually enjoy a meal together some time – perhaps once our house is rebuilt, so that we can inaugurate our new kitchen together with you.
Lisa
Pizza con patate is one of my daughter’s favorites. My friend Antonello runs a Pizza al Taglio shop near Piazza Bologna, and makes a great version. I would love to try this and surprise my family!
duespaghetti
Pizza al taglio resonates with anyone who has connections to Rome. I’m sure your family would love this! We’ve never tried it with grated potatoes like you sometimes find at a pizza al taglio – we’ll add that to our list. Stefano’s mom also uses finely minced garlic, which is also very good.
Lisa
Antonello uses pieces of potato, that he cooks a bit first with the oil and rosemary. I’m pretty sure his version doesn’t have any mozzarella though. I am really craving it now!
domenicacooks
My aunts lived near a rosticceria in Rome that served pizza al taglio. Potato pizza was my favorite–simple, crunchy yet tender. Yours looks ‘autentico.’ Just found your blog through Kathy’s site, Food Lovers’ Odyssey. Glad to know about it.
duespaghetti
We also found Domenica Cooks the exact same way! How we had missed your great site until now we don’t know. We’ve added it to our blogroll and will be frequent visitors. Hope your hand is healing well, and thanks for the recent mention.
Simona
Lovely pizza! As we know from previous exchanges, we have a lot of food memories in common. Pizza bianca e pizza rossa belong to my vacations in Sabina, while other types of pizza al taglio belong to my childhood in Perugia. In a world where things change fast, it is reassuring to find the pizza al taglio place still there and see students stop by to get their merenda. The smell of rosmarino makes a call that is impossible to resist.
duespaghetti
One of my favorite pizza al taglio memories is when our oldest son was just a toddler, and so frequently whoever was working behind the counter would give him a thin little strip of pizza bianca to snack on while riding in the shopping cart to keep him content as I finished the grocery shopping.
mary bertas
Going out to get the ingredients today…a perfect treat for a cold week-end!
duespaghetti
We hope it turned out well for you, Mary!