Copycat Recipe for Fong's Pizza's Loaded Potato Pizza

If we are going out for pizza one of our favorite places to go is Fong's Pizza in Des Moines or Ankeny. We like it here because we prefer local restaurants and they also have many unique specialty pizzas including loaded baked potato, egg roll, crab rangoon, and fongolian beef. We have tried each of these at different times and enjoyed them. We have enjoyed them enough to try and recreate them ourselves at home since we do have to drive a bit to get to either location.

One note going forward, I do not like potatoes! I have never liked potatoes and Hubby thinks this is a bit of a character flaw since he enjoys potatoes quite a bit. We have worked out baked potato night since we have discovered that I do like sweet potatoes. So he enjoyed the loaded potato pizza when we had it with my brother and sister-in-law a few years ago, enough that he wanted to recreate the pizza.

This week we made this for him and a supreme pizza for the rest of the family. When we try to recreate something we've had before we look at the menu for the description of the dish and think about what we remember how it tasted. In this case, the Fong's menu is very descriptive for what is included on their pizza, and this is very helpful for us.

I started with our normal crust recipe that I put in our bread maker until it is ready to shape and bake. Then I rolled it out very thinly with a rolling pin because the crust at Fong's is a crisp, cracker-like crust. Then baked it in a 425-degree oven for about 10 minutes. This helps to keep the crust crisp after the toppings are added. I had previously made the garlic butter sauce to brush on the partially baked crust. I added the taco meat, baked potato pieces, bacon, jalapenos, cheddar, and mozzarella cheeses. Then I baked it again until the cheeses were melted and bubbly. I sprinkled green onions over the top of the pizza and served it with sour cream to top it.

It was very reminiscent of the pizza at Fong's. Hubby decided that in the future he did not want to have the taco meat on it since he does not usually include this on his baked potatoes. He also wanted to have the jalapenos seeded because he did not like the seeds on his pizza. Otherwise, he thought it was great and was glad to have an alternative to the standard pizza we make at home.

Crust Recipe

            1 1/4 cups room temperature water                                       2 1/4 tsp yeast

            2 T olive oil                                                                           1 tsp salt

            1 1/2 cups whole-wheat flour                                                1 1/2 cups white flour 

Place all ingredients into a bread machine and set it on the dough cycle. When the cycle is done baked the dough in thickness desired for about 10 minutes at 425-degrees to set dough for topping.

While the dough for the crust was working in the bread maker I prepared to sauce and toppings.

Garlic Butter Sauce 

              1/2 cup or 1 stick butter                                                          4 cloves garlic

Melt the butter in a small saucepan over low heat. I used a micro plane to grate the garlic, if you do not have a micro plane then the garlic can be finely chopped instead. Then add the garlic to the butter and allow the flavors to combine over the heat for about 10 minutes.

For the taco meat, I use Alton Brown's Taco Potion #19 and prepared this while the dough was working as well. I baked 3 potatoes in the oven at 425-degrees until they had a little give the touch. It took about half an hour. Then let the potatoes cool and chop them into 1/2" squares.

Also, cook about 4 pieces of bacon until they are nice and crispy in your preferred way. I use a microwave bacon cooker to do it quickly and let some of the fat drip off.

When the dough is done with it's first baking time then it's time to top the pizza:

            partially baked crust                                                                  garlic butter sauce
            taco meat                                                                                   baked potato cubes
            cooked bacon                                                                             jalapeno slices
            grated cheddar cheese                                                               grated mozzarella cheese
            chopped green onion                                                                 sour cream


Brush the garlic butter sauce onto the crust. Sprinkle the taco meat and potato cubes over the sauce. Lay the jalapeno slices over the meat and potatoes. Sprinkle the cheeses evenly over everything to your liking. Crumble the cooked bacon as it is sprinkled on top of the pizza. Then bake it all in the warm oven until everything is heated and the cheese gets melted and bubbly. Take it out and sprinkle with green onions. Then serve it with sour cream on the side.

Something different and delicious to try the next time you want pizza, as long as you like potatoes!