Shaved Asparagus and Potato Pizza

Ingredients

• 2 1-pound balls pizza dough, homemade or store-bought
• Cornmeal
• Flour, for rolling
• 1 1/2 pounds baby red or yellow potatoes, thinly sliced
• 3 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for drizzling
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 16 thick asparagus stalks
• 6 ounces gouda or fontina cheese, sliced

Directions

1. Set a pizza stone on a lower oven rack, if you use one, and heat the oven to 550F, or simply use the hottest setting your oven allows.
2. On a well-floured counter, set out the dough and divide it into 4 pieces. Handle 1 piece at a time: form it into a ball, then pat it down into a 1-inch-thick disk, pressing little dimples into the surface with your fingertips as you go. This is just the warm-up shape, not the final pizza.
3. Drape a clean dishtowel over the first disk, then shape the remaining dough pieces the same way. Leave the disks to rest for 10 to 15 minutes; use that time to get the vegetables ready. The pause helps the dough loosen up before you stretch it.
4. Pile the sliced potatoes in the center of a baking sheet. Add 1 tablespoon of oil, season with salt and pepper to taste, then toss until coated. Spread the slices out evenly, making sure they are not stacked on top of each other.
5. Bake for 10 minutes, until the potatoes are tender, then let them cool for a short time.
6. Trim about 1/2 inch from the bottoms of the asparagus spears. Using a vegetable peeler, turn the spears into long, thin ribbons: hold near the tip and pull the peeler down the stalk. Rotate each spear as you work, stopping when there is no longer enough stalk to shave. Cut whatever core remains into 1-inch pieces.
7. Toss all of the asparagus in a bowl with the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil, plus salt and pepper. Set it aside.
8. Scatter cornmeal over a pizza peel; a rimless baking sheet or an upside-down baking sheet works, too. If there is no pizza stone in the oven, plan to bake the pizza right on the baking sheet.
9. Lift one piece of dough by the edge and rotate it like a steering wheel, letting its own weight stretch it downward; a rolling pin is fine here, too. Keep going until it is roughly a 10-inch circle or a 12-by-8-inch oval.
10. Move the shaped dough to the prepared peel or pan, then slide the pan gently forward and back to make sure the dough is not stuck. If it catches, sprinkle more cornmeal underneath. Leave the remaining rounds covered.
11. Top the dough with one-fourth each of the potatoes, cheese, and asparagus.
12. Slide the pizza onto the hot stone, or bake it on the baking sheet if you are not using a stone.
13. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until the cheese is bubbling and the crust has turned golden. Use a pizza peel to take the pizza out of the oven, then move it to a cooling rack.
14. Shape, top, and bake the remaining pizzas the same way. If the pizza stone is roomy enough, two pizzas can bake side-by-side.
15. Serve the pizzas hot from the oven. Instead of holding everything until the end, cut and serve each pizza as it comes out. If you would rather bring them to the table together, return any cooled pizzas to the oven briefly, for a minute or two.