Mushrooms have to be one of my favourite foods. Sure you get some tasteless little button ones which just act as filler in a lasagne but get some decent mushrooms and you have a tonne of interesting flavours and textures. I love to cook with mushrooms- from garlicky piles of them on toast, to biryani to this mushroom pizza. 
This pizza was the result of a couple of random purchases. A fantastic lunch in Lunya a few weeks ago, resulted in us buying the La Chianta mushroom infused olive oil which we had enjoyed with bread at the start of our meal. Then, in Lidl I spotted a jar of mushroom and truffle pesto and a plan started to form…
This mushroom pizza is a tomato free zone, but of course you could use a tomato sauce or a tomato pesto if a mushroom pesto isn’t available. I reckon a mascarpone pesto could work quite well. I used a blend of small Portobello mushrooms and a mixed pack of ‘exotic’ mushrooms so there were lots of different shapes and textures to keep it interesting. 
Because mushrooms, mushroom oil and mushroom pesto wasn’t quite enough fungi for me, I sprinkled with Halon Mon’s umami blend as well. This is sea salt, seaweed and dried shitake mushroom and it is a blast of savoury flavour. A little goes a long way.
Cor look at the size of that!
Teeny tiny enoki
This mushroom pizza is possibly the most meaty, non-meat dish I have ever made! And it is as addictive – you’ve been warned! 
One last note about my dough. I have no idea where this recipe came from – I don’t know if it is my own doing or if someone gave it to me- I have it on a note on the inside of my cupboard door which is faded with time. So if it was you, thank you!
Four layers of mushroom give this pizza a massive flavour but without any meat. Easy to make and very addictive!
Ingredients
- 250g strong plain flour (I use 1/3 wholemeal but that’s entirely up to you)
- 1 tsp dried yeast
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 120-150ml water
- 3 tbsp olive or rapeseed oil
- 2/3 jar mushroom pesto
- 400g mixed mushrooms
- Mushroom infused olive oil
- Halon Mon umami blend
- Grated percorino cheese
Instructions
- Firstly, make your dough
- In a stand mixer with a dough hook, give the flour, yeast and salt a blend.
- With the mixer still turning add water slowly until the mix all starts to come together. You may not need it all, you may need a touch more, especially if you are using wholemeal flour. Then add the oil.
- Leave to mix for five minutes. If you are kneading by hand I think you would need ten minutes.
- Bring the dough out of the bowl, split into two and form into two balls Place them on a mat or tray, cover with a clean tea towel and leave to rise for approx.. 45 mins – 1 hour until it doubles in size.
- While the dough rises, clean and thinly slice the mushrooms.
- Heat the oven to 220c.
- When your dough has risen, knock it back gently (push the air out using your fingers) and shape into two circles to fit your baking trays (mine are never actually circles as I am rubbish with a rolling pin!). I like mine very thin and crispy so mine are approx. 30cm across but you can of course make them smaller and thicker.
- Prick the dough all over with a fork then cover with mushroom pesto. Leave approx. 1cm at the edge so you can pick it up when cooked without getting mucky fingers!
- Next scatter the mushrooms over, followed by a good drizzle of mushroom oil, a sprinkle of umami mix and a generous amount of black pepper.
- Finely grate over a handful of the cheese and cook for 10 minutes. I swap shelves half way through to ensure both get crispy tops.
- When cooked, grate over a little more cheese before serving.
Notes
Percorino is a lovely silky sheeps milk cheese which I adore. Feel free to swap for parmasan if you wish.
