Vegan Smashed Redskin Potato Pizza: ♡

SMASHED REDSKIN POTATO PIZZA:

Serves 2-4 (depending on how hungry you are)
Total cook time: a little over an hour

If you've never made your own pizza dough before, this recipe is a little ambitious. Feel free to prepare the dough the night before to save time. You can also use premade dough or pizza shells, but  making the dough from scratch is most definitely worth it.

For the dough:

1/3 cup warm water + 1 tsp sugar + 1 tsp yeast
3/4 cup lukewarm water
1 1/2 cups bread flour, plus more for dusting
1/2 cup rice flour (or just use 2 cups bread flour)
3 tbsp olive or canola oil, plus a little more for coating
garlic salt, to taste
Pepper, to taste
Parsley, basil, or any other herbs (optional)

Instructions:

1.      Stir yeast, 1/3 cup water, and sugar until dissolved. Let sit at least 10 minutes until activated and frothy.

2.       Add flour, oil, and yeast mixture. Stir until well combined.

3.      Add 3/4 cup cold water, garlic salt, and pepper. I also added a little bit a parsley and basil.

4.      Knead at least 5 minutes. Add more flour if the dough is sticky.

5.      Coat the bowl with olive oil, form the dough into a ball, cover with a damp cloth, and let the dough rise for 30 minutes.

For the potatoes:

4 medium redskin potatoes, diced
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 medium red onion, diced
1/3 cup almond milk
3 tbsp earth balance buttery spread (non-dairy)
1 tbsp. olive oil (for brushing over the dough)
Spinach
Garlic salt
1 tsp paprika
Dash of pepper
1 tsp parsley
Leeks (optional)

Instructions:

1.      Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Boil the potato and chopped garlic ten minutes or until tender, add spinach and leeks 2 minutes before done boiling.

2.      When bringing potatoes to a boil, add the diced red onions to a pan coated with olive oil. Saute on medium to medium high heat until caramelized.

3.      Drain potatoes, stir in earth balance, salt, pepper, paprika, parsley, and almond milk. Smash the potato mixture with a potato masher. Make sure you do not over mash them.

4.      When the potatoes have about 5 minutes left, spread the pizza dough evenly in the cast iron skillet and bake on bottom rack for about 5 minutes.

5.      Take the dough out and spread the potato mixture evenly over the dough. Spread the onions on top. Add more parsley/ salt to taste. Coat the crust with olive oil.

6.      Bake for 25 minutes on middle rack of oven, move to bottom rack for the last 5 minutes (make sure to check it periodically though, as ovens vary).

NOTE: if you are not using a cast iron skillet, bake at 425 for 25-30 minutes.

PS: The potatoes are also really delicious on their own!