My pizza dough + a chanterelle feast!

Anyone who knows me is well aware that pizza is one of my favorite foods. Not the cheesy, stuffed crust, over-the-top American pizza, but the thin, crispy, blistered Italian pizza with minimal toppings and maximum taste. I try to make pizza every week, and do my best to replicate the wood-fired pizzas I crave with my pizza stone and my oven turned up to 550°F. After trying dozens of recipes in high school and tweaking them over the years, I’ve found a dough recipe that works consistently well and has become my staple.

As far as toppings go, I tend to be more creative. While I love a traditional pizza margherita, lately I have been inspired by one of my favorite restaurants, Pizzeria Mozza, to create more unusual pizzas, such as this pizza with chanterelles, leeks and prosciutto. Chanterelles are my favorite mushrooms (I’m part Finnish, what can I say?) and it is very hard to find good ones in Southern California. I was shocked the other day when I found a package of the gorgeous orange mushrooms at a Costco of all places! Intrigued, I had to take a box home with me. The mushrooms were delicious—not quite as good as what they have in Finland and Sweden, but definitely the best chanterelles I’ve had in the states. If you find chanterelles the next time you’re at Costco, I’d recommend taking a box home with you!



Basic Pizza Dough

Makes 2-4 pizzas, enough for 4 servings

Note: I use a pizza stone to get the best results, but you could also use a regular baking sheet. If you use the latter, set it on the middle rack of the oven so that the bottom of the pizza doesn’t burn. You could also complete steps 1-4 and freeze the dough for later use. Just thaw the dough the day you want to use it and proceed from step 5 on.

Ingredients:

• 2 ¼ teaspoons active dry yeast (1 package)
• 1 cup water, divided
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• ½ cup whole wheat flour, barley flour, or rye flour
• 2 - 2 ½ cups all purpose or bread flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

Steps:

1. Heat 1/3 cup of the water until just warmer than body temperature (I use the microwave). Mix in the sugar and stir to dissolve. Stir in the yeast and let sit until foamy, about 5-10 minutes.
2. Mix the ½ cup of whole wheat flour, 2 cups of the white flour, and salt in the mixing bowl of a KitchenAid or in a large bowl. Add the remaining 2/3 cup water, olive oil, and yeast mixture to the bowl. Mix using the dough hook of a KitchenAid or knead by hand until the dough comes together, adding a little bit of flour at a time if needed. Knead the dough until it is smooth and elastic. Cover the bowl with a towel and set the dough aside to rise in a warm place for 1 hour, until doubled in size. (Note: In cooler weather, I like to turn on the oven briefly just to warm it up a bit, turn it off and stick the dough in there to rise for the first 20-30 minutes. The warmth helps the dough rise. Make sure to take out the dough before preheating the oven though!)
3. Stick a pizza stone (if you have one) on the lowest rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 550°F or as hot as it will go. It will take at least 30 minutes for the oven to heat up, so plan accordingly.
4. Once the dough has risen, punch it down and put it on a floured surface. Divide the dough into 2-4 pieces, depending on how large you want your pizza to be, and leave to rest for 10 minutes, covered with the towel.
5. Make sure all of your toppings are ready and accessible. Pour about 2 tablespoons of olive oil into a small bowl and get out a pastry brush or a small spoon.
6. Roll out one pizza dough at a time to about ¼ inch thickness. Take the pizza stone out of the oven and place the pizza dough directly on it. Working quickly, brush the edges with olive oil (or drizzle the oil over with a spoon) and sprinkle with coarse or flaky salt. Place the toppings on the pizza and stick the stone back in the oven. Bake the pizza for 6-10 minutes, until the cheese is browned and the crust is crispy.
7. Just before the pizza is finished, roll out the next pizza dough. Then when you pull out the finished pizza and the stone, you can quickly transfer the cooked pizza to a cutting board and place the pizza dough on the stone and repeat the process until all of the pizzas are finished.

To make the topping, I sautéed 1 pound of chanterelles (after cleaning them and slicing the large pieces in half lengthwise) in butter over medium heat until all the liquid they released was gone and they were soft and browned, about 10 minutes. I sautéed sliced leeks in a separate pan until softened, and seasoned both the leeks and the chanterelles with salt and pepper. I scattered the leeks, chanterelles, prosciutto and fresh mozzarella over the pizza. If you can’t find chanterelles, any mushroom would work for this dish, such as crimini, oyster, portabella, or even simple button mushrooms. The mushrooms and leeks would also be good over pasta or in risotto with parmesan or truffled cheese.