Corned Beef & Cabbage Potato Pizza

Until I sank my teeth into this pizza, I had never tasted corned beef. We never ate it growing up, and I survived 30 years without it. To be honest, it always sounded gross to me. Corned beef. Who are you and why should I crave you? Are you animal? Vegetable? Mineral? I scoured the Internet for answers. Corned beef is just a brined beef brisket? I love pickled stuff! I relented; pickled beef can't be all that bad.






In true wacky BMK style, we made our St.Patrick's corned beef and cabbage into potato dough pizza! A quick search revealed what we thought would be the perfect dough recipe. Simple enough: bake potato, rice potato, mix with water, yeast, and flour. No big deal, right? Ninety minutes later we checked our dough and found science-project-gone-wrong Goozilla had doubled in size and become a fascinating new life-form. I tried to slide the flour-yeast-potato amoeba from the bowl to knead it on the counter and it glommed onto everything in a two-foot radius. Dinner was ruined!






While I was busy choreographing my impending tantrum (pouting and stomping feet), Adam stepped in to do battle with Goozilla. Adam doesn't bake, but he has a knack for rescuing my failed baking attempts. I think the Chicagoan in him just innately understands pizza, because as he hucked flour at the beast, it began to resemble dough.

The Luck'o'the Irish was with us (we both have lots of Irish blood) because despite the mishap, this pizza came out beautifully! The cheese melted into the mustard and formed a funky, gooey sauce that complimented the salty cabbage and beef. We rejoiced in our defeat of Goozilla, who had changed from drive-in B-movie nightmare to a delicious and unique pizza crust, with texture the perfect blend of airy and chewy. The recipe below is what actually happened. If you don't think you have what it takes to tackle Goozilla, use a regular pizza dough, or try another potato dough recipe. This combination of flavors is not to be missed! Go forth and conquer this Irish pizza!






INGREDIENTS:

• 8 oz potatoes (we used russet)
• 1 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
• 1 1/2 cups warm water (105-115'F)
• 4 cups + 2 cups all purpose flour, separated
• 2 tsp salt
• 6 oz thinly sliced Corned Beef
• Half of a head of cabbage, thickly sliced
• Big pinch of : allspice, coriander seeds, peppercorns
• 2 pinches of salt, 1 bay leaf
• water
• high quality Horseradish mustard with seeds
• Irish stout cheddar, shredded (we found some at Trader Joe's)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 375'. Poke a few holes in your potato(s) with a fork or knife. Wrap it in foil. Place in oven and bake 1 hour.
   
2. Remove from foil, allow to cool enough to handle. Slice open and scoop out flesh into a potato ricer. If you don't have one, thoroughly mash potato flesh.
3. In large bowl, mix warm water and yeast gently, until all the yeast is absorbed. Mix potatoes into yeast/water mix. Add salt. Begin adding flour 1 cup at a time. It will take about 4 cups and still be slightly wet. Form a ball and place in a large, lightly oiled bowl. Cover with saran wrap and set aside for 90 minutes.
4. Now it will look really gooey and hideous. Begin kneading flour into it, 1/2 cup at a time just to the point that it is a cohesive, solid dough. 
5. Preheat oven to 425'
6. Stretch evenly by hand. Oil a large rimmed baking sheet. Stretch dough into baking sheet. Cover with damp towel while you do the following:
7. Fill pan with 2-3 inches of water. Tie spices in a piece of cheesecloth or cotton, add to water and bring to a boil. Add cabbage and quickly boil for 1-2 minutes. Drain in colander.
8. Bake pizza dough in oven until golden on the bottom (use a pizza spatula to check) about 15 minutes total, turning once halfway.
9. Remove from oven.
10. Spread mustard on dough. Top with cheese.
11. Top with cabbage.
12. Spread meat evenly over pizza. It will shrink so use a lot!!!
13. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until crisp and golden.