My friend Rolf had foraged many morel mushrooms and was generous enough to share with me, and I made this pizza, intending to have a 'real' photographer shoot it so I could more proudly blog about it, but I made the pizza, shot it with my humble camera, and enjoyed it, and it is now nothing but a fond, delicious memory! I really enjoy making pizzas of all kinds, and my kids are fans of the particular crust recipe I use, a tried and true favorite from the 'Joy of Cooking' (new additions!) for Grilled Pizza. I don't usually grill it, but bake it in a hot oven on my well seasoned pizza stone, and we love the results every time. We love to experiment with different toppings, and those postings will follow....Morel Mushroom Pizza (Thanks, Rolf!!!)
Pizza dough....(from the "Joy of Cooking")
1 teaspoon active dry yeast
2 Tablespoons warm water (105-115 degrees)
2/3 cup cool water
2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons coarse (Kosher) salt
Olive oil
fine cornmeal
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Combine the yeast and warm water in a mixing bowl and mix until dissolved and the mixture is foamy, about 5 minutes. Add remaining water, and salt and mix in flour, using a dough hook, if you have a stand mixer, or a wooden spoon until smooth. Knead by hand or with the dough hook until the dough is smooth and elastic. I sometimes add a tablespoon of olive oil with the cool water for flavor, and it seems to make the dough less sticky, also. Brush a large bowl with olive oil and cover lightly and allow the dough to rise until double in volume. This will take about 2 hours. Punch the dough down, and shape dough into a smooth ball. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rest for 45 minutes before shaping. This will make one 10-12" pizza. You can also shape it into two smaller pizzas, if you want more of a personal sized pie.
Morel Mushroom and Chorizo Topping:
1/2 yellow onion, julienne
4 cloves garlic, sliced thin
4 slices Smoked Spanish Chorizo, minced
6 morel mushrooms, rinsed and sliced
1 Tablespoons olive oil
freshly ground black pepper
Maldon's flake salt
sprig fresh thyme
Handful of fresh arrugala or baby spinach
6 thin slices of Basque Sheeps milk cheese
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Prehead oven to 450 degrees to bake pizza. Make sure the pizza stone is on the center rack. Saute the onions and garlic and olive oil and caramelize slightly. Ad the chorizo and the mushrooms and continue cooking until mushrooms are softened and chorizo has colored the onions and mushrooms. Add salt to taste and some cracked fresh pepper and thyme.
Roll pizza dough out flat on a board liberally dusted with cornmeal, and shake the rolled crust onto the hot pizza stone. Add the mushroom topping, and top with sliced sheeps milk cheese and a handful of baby arrugala. Bake for about 10-15 minutes until cheese is bubbly. Enjoy!
