Wild Mushroom Pizza with Taleggio and Thyme
Substitute any mushroom for the porcini on this recipe. If you cannot find taleggio cheese, try brie or for a milder flavor, fontina.
Ingredients
- 1 16oz pizza dough
- 2 tbs olive oil
- 6 oz Taleggio cheese
- 3 oz mozzarella cheese, shredded
- 3 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
- salt and pepper to taste
- semolina flour or all-purpose flour
Instructions
- For a thin-crust pizza, cut 16oz pre-made dough into two equal pieces. For a thicker crust, use the full crust for one pizza. Roll or tuck dough in to shape into a ball. Place onto a lightly-floured baking sheet and cover with a clean kitchen towel. Allow to rest and slightly rise at room temperature until until soft and surface looks smooth.
- Preheat an oven to 500 degrees. Place a pizza stone on the lowest rack to also preheat in the oven. Remove any racks above the stone.
- Clean your mushrooms using your preferred method. Quickly rinsing mushrooms in water and then using a paper towel to remove dirt is perfectly acceptable. Some more heavily soiled wild mushrooms might need the outer layer of their stem peeled off. Slice mushrooms to about 1/4" thickness.
- Using your fingers, begin to flatten and push the dough evenly out from the center until it measures about 7 to 8 inches in diameter. Sprinkle semolina flour all over the surface of a pizza peel, and set aside. Lift the dough off the surface, and center it on top of your fists. Hold your fists about 1 to 2 inches apart. Begin to rotate and stretch the dough, moving your fists until they are 6 to 8 inches apart and the dough is several inches larger. Then place your fists under the inside of the outer edge, and continue to stretch the dough a little at a time until it reaches about 12 inches in diameter. At this stage, it is important to keep your fists along the inside of the outer edge and watch that the dough does not get too thin or tear in the center. At the same time, make sure to maintain the slightly raised border on the edges. The dough is surprisingly resilient and will not tear if this step is done carefully and slowly. Place gently back down onto floured pizza peel. You can arrange it into a neat circle at this point.
- Brush dough top with olive oil. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Top dough with mozzarella cheese and taleggio cheese. You can choose to cut the rind off of your taleggio cheese or not--it's a matter of taste. Either way, break the cheese into small chunks and spread evenly over the dough.
- Place mushrooms evenly over pizza, tucking a few edges into the cheese, then sprinkle with thyme leaves. Season lightly again with salt and pepper.
- Slide pizza from the peel onto the preheated stone in your oven. Use a quick back-and-forth motion to loosen the pizza onto the center of the stone. Bake until the crust is golden brown and crisp on the edges and the bottom, 10 to 12 minutes, turning the pizza halfway through baking. Watch your pizza carefully---cooking time will vary based on the thickness of your crust and the strength of your oven.
- Using tongs, lift the edge of the first pizza, and slide the peel all the way under to remove it from the oven. Using a pizza wheel, slice the pizza into eight pieces, and serve immediately.