You're really hungry... A giant plate of food has been sat in front of you. What's the first thing you dig into?? The bake potato of course! Admit it, the bake potato has us HOOKED. And I can't think of anything more comforting than a delicious warm bake potato on my plate... ...Except to have a delicious warm bake potato on top of a PIZZA!

Pizza is by far one of my favorite foods! I am proud to fuse pizza and the bake potato together into something amazing! One of the great joys of pizza is having the flexibility to put whatever you'd like on top of it. So, why not put everything we love about bake potatoes on a pizza?? It works, and believe me, it is GOOD. Let me show you how to make one!

Step 1: Basic Ingredients!

The ingredients you will use for this pizza are very basic. You will probably have most of it them your fridge right now! What a time saver.

A dough ball 16oz (mine was from Publix, already made. You can make your own from scratch.)

Toppings

These will beabout measurements. It truly depends on how large your pizza is. Mine turned out to be about 14 inches.

2 medium cooked and unpeeled baked potatoes, diced
6 slices crumbled cooked bacon of your choice. (I went Boars Head. yummm)
2 cups graded mozzarella cheese
2 cups graded sharp cheddar cheese (I choose a mixed bag of sharp white and yellow mixed)
1/2 cup chopped green onions
anything else you want to add on a bake potato!!

Sauce and crust spreads

1 1/2 cup low fat sour cream (does not need to be low fat)
2 tablespoons of melted low fat butter (or regular butter)
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon Italian Seasoning
1 teaspoon garlic powder

cookware

pizza pan for cooking (mine has holes in the bottom for crispier crust)
small bowls for holding toppings
pizza cutter
chopping knife
oven (duh)

Step 2: Preparation-it Must Be Done!

Ok, so everyone knows that to have bake potatoes, they must to be cooked first. This can take a long time. To speed up the process, I diced my potatoes raw, sprinkled them with salt and pepper and cooked them on 400 degrees for about 20 minutes.

When they are lightly brown on the outside and pretty much fork tender, take them out and let them cool.

Meanwhile as the potatoes are cooling, start cooking the bacon. This should take a quick 10 minutes or so. Make sure your burner is on medium high. Bacon is done when they are crispy smell amazing! Take them out of the pan, use a good knife (or your hands if they are cool enough, yay fun!!) and crumble the bacon and set aside.

Now, you could simply by-pass all the prep work for buying already cooked bake potatoes and packaged crumbled bacon. It's up to you! For me, I wanted to go a little fresher. But hey, you can be American and buy already made stuff!! hehe

Step 3: Crisp the Crust

I LOVE crispy crust! To do this, you need to crisp the crust separately before you add toppings. The pan can also help. I bought a pizza cooking pan with small holes to assist in the crisping process.

It's pizza dough tossin' time! Flour your hands and toss the dough around in the air. Or you can simply dangle it to stretch out the dough to the desired size of your pizza. We had some fun, almost dropped it... you know the deal. Do this until the dough is your desired size. Then with your hands try and mold out the edges. This is what will be the crust. If you want a thicker edge crust, then mold it that way. It doesn't need to be perfect. Pop it in the oven at 400 degrees for about 5 minutes. This makes the dough rise and crisp up. ~ Yum Crispyyyy

IT'S WORTH IT. Don't cut this step out!

Step 4: Add Sauce..weee

Using a spatula, take your light sour cream and spread it all over the pizza to the crust. This is the base sauce for this pizza. It's also kind of fun to do!

Step 5: Topping Time!!

Once your sour cream is spread, begin adding your toppings....

Add all your cheese. Go overboard if you want to!!

Add crumbled bacon

By now your potatoes are cooled and ready to go on the pizza.

Add the potatoes...

there 's no rhyme or reason to the toppings. Just add them!! If you find you need more of something, then add it!! Oh the flexibility of pizza!

Step 6: Making Butter Seasoning

This is the good stuff

Melt the butter in the microwave in a medium bowl. In no particular order add the oregano, Italian seasoning, garlic powder and stir. When ready, take a baster or a spoon and drizzle the butter on top of the pizza mainly where the baked potatoes are. Then take any remaining butter and spread it on the crust. The smell is phenomenal!!

Again, if you need more butter, then make another batch. We didn't need to but I know some people are butter lovers!

Then add the chopped green onions and any extra spices you want as a final touch!

Step 7: Cook, Hold the Excitement

Your oven still should be at 400 degrees. If you turned it off, shame on you!

set your timer to about 18-20 minutes. At the half way point of cooking process, get down in there and turn the pizza 180 to make sure it's all cooked evenly. Hold your breath because the smell might be too much torture!

Step 8: Cut and Serve!!

Yay, it's done! Pull out your pizza and make sure the crust has gotten lightly golden and the toppings are bubbling their delicious bake potato-ness in your face.

Give it a minute to cool and use a pizza cutter and slice as even as you can! Serve to eager hungry guests! Don't forget, you can always top your pizza with red pepper flakes and Parmesan cheese if you wish. Pair with your favorite beer and you got a dinner for CHAMPIONS.

I have never had a pizza like this before and let me tell you it TRULY tastes like a warm crispy bake potato!! With the fusion of some Italtian seasonings I feel like we paired a match in heaven. You've gotta try it!

Note: I even used lighter calorie ingredients such as half calorie butter, light sour cream, not a crazy amount of cheese, and it turned out amazing! You could even substitute turkey bacon and use red potatoes to make it healthier for you!