Fire & Slice published by Ryland Peters & Small (£9.99) Photography © Ryland Peters & Small
Garlic Mushroom Pizza
This makes a change from the normal scattering of token sliced mushrooms: here we have fresh mushrooms in all their glory, under a crispy garlicky topping of breadcrumbs and Parmesan
Don’t use white mushrooms for this – they often have little or no taste at all. Chestnut/cremini or other large, dark open mushrooms are ideal.
Makes
1 MEDIUM-CRUST PIZZA, 25 CM/10 INCHES
Ingredients
- 1⁄2 recipe Basic Pizza Dough, making just 1 ball of dough
- 50–75g buffalo mozzarella cheese or cow’s milk mozzarella cheese (fior di latte)
- 50g fresh breadcrumbs
- 30g freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 4 tbsp chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
- 30g butter, melted
- about 12 medium chestnut mushrooms
- extra virgin olive oil, to drizzle
- salt and freshly ground black pepper, to season
- a pizza peel
Method
- Preheat your pizza oven to 350C (662F). Liberally dust your pizza peel with flour.
- Lightly squeeze any excess moisture out of the mozzarella, then slice or chop into cubes. Mix the breadcrumbs with the Parmesan cheese, garlic and parsley, then stir in the melted butter. Lightly fill the cavities of the mushrooms with the breadcrumb mixture.
- Uncover the dough, punch out the air and roll or pull into a 25cm/10inch circle directly onto a lightly floured surface. Place the stretched dough base on the pizza peel. Arrange the mozzarella over the pizza base leaving a two centimetre / one inch rim around the edge. Make indents for each mushroom in the pizza. Drizzle with olive oil and season.
- Working quickly, open the oven door and slide in the pizza peel. Bake for 30 seconds, just enough to set the base slightly. Remove from the oven and place the stuffed mushrooms in the indents, sprinkling any remaining breadcrumbs over the finished pizza. Bake for a further 60 seconds or so, rotating halfway through, until the crust is golden, the cheese melted and the mushrooms tender and bubbling. Remove from the oven and drizzle with olive oil. Eat immediately.
