Taleggio Mushroom & Fresh Herb Pizza

Taleggio Mushroom & Fresh Herb Pizza, a great creative collaboration of fresh meets flavorful for a most delightful, mouthwatering experience.

Song of the day: "Shiny Happy People," R.E.M.

You don't need much to make me happy. Just say, "tonight we're having Pizza!" and I'm on cloud nine. Even if it means I have to make the dough from scratch, that doesn't take away from the experience. On the contrary, it adds big time, 'cause I get to play with flour, have my hands in the dough, kneading away...

Let's all get happy and make a beautiful Taleggio, Mushroom & Fresh Herb Pizza!

Being in Italy, or being in Canada, doesn't differ much as for 'Pizza night'. One day of the week is destined to make wonderful homemade pizze (plural for pizza, I know you would say pizzas) and get creative with the toppings. With my family, in Rome, it is usually Saturday night. Since when I'm there I work during the week, on Saturdays I have more time to make the dough and let it rest. My dad would help with the toppings, slicing zucchini, potatoes, onions, dressing the tomato sauce, chopping the mozzarella, sauteeing the greens -if those are the pizza toppings of the night. We always go with what we have in the house, no running out to get ingredients, that's our choice. Our usual pizze are zucchini and mozzarella (white); onion and mozzarella (white); potatoes/rosemary (white); broccoletti and mozzarella (white); Margherita (red). A preference for white, vegetarian, pizze, can you tell? 😉 As for making the dough, prepping the pizze, cooking them, is all on me. When they're ready, my dad helps to cut them with the Ikea scissors (he loves them 😉 ) and then we all sit down to eat: me, my mom, my dad, my brother, and usually my brother's girlfriend, that when she knows we're having pizza is right there, ready to feast! 🙂 . In the end, I'm tired but happy!

When I'm in Canada, I do not have a day job, other than the blog (which keeps me very busy, by the way) and few translation jobs here and there. So I have more time to make the dough in the early afternoon in order to be ready when Loreto comes back from work. Then, we can have fun together dressing the pizza as we most like. We are more adventurous and creative than my Italian family. Our pizza dough and pizza toppings are so delicious that when sometimes we go out for pizza we're so disappointed we wished we stayed home and made it ourselves. Most of our Pizza nights were on Fridays, but when the 'pizza craving' hits, there's no getting away, so lately we switched Pizza night to Thursdays (and sometimes even on Wednesdays, shh, don't tell anybody 😉 ).

On Saturday mornings, during our market shopping, we buy produce that we want to use during the week. We love mushrooms and more often than not, they end up in our bag, with thoughts of recipes we could make with them. Saturday is also the day we fill our pantry and fridge with products from the Italian Centre Shop: cheese, extra virgin olive oil (we go through tons of that 'God's liquid' 😉 ), herbs, flour, bread, tomato cans, olives, and charcuterie. For us, Saturday is a day of rituals, always starting with a breakfast outing. It's all about food, as we are definitely foodies!

I love the mushroom combinations in the package from Mona Foods at the Old Strathcona Farmers Market: portobellini, crimini, oyster, shitake. They are so delicious and especially the way we have prepared them for the pizza. All sauteed in e.v.o. oil and garlic with fresh herbs such as thyme, rosemary, parsley, and sage. And a little splash of white wine which adds a real depth to the flavor of these mushrooms.

I am so excited to get this pizza together and watch as it cooks in the oven. There is nothing like seeing that crust bubble and those pockets of olive oil make their way to that smooth creamy melted mozzarella. The aroma is heavenly. I love herbs, and rosemary is one of my favorites. In Italy, it grows wild and you can see people running their hands through it and smelling that wonderful spicy scent! I lift the crust a bit to check the bottom and you can hear that crispness resonating on the spatula. This baby is ready. Let's take it out!

Those mushrooms have broiled nicely and have caramelized beautifully. I love how those nice herb notes spark some color and their aroma is always so enticing. At my request, Loreto pops open a nice cold beer (nothing like pizza and beer, for me), and we're ready to taste.

The Taleggio and mozzarella balance each other really well as the Taleggio has a more pungent and acidic profile, while the fior di latte mozzarella has a nice milky creamy buttery profile. Together, they're unstoppable in flavor and texture.

I cannot say this enough, I love pizza night and look at our array! Added to our Taleggio Mushroom & Fresh Herb Pizza, there is a Margherita with fresh basil, and one of Loreto's latest creations, a Salamino, Onion, and Arugula Pizza. Nice display of colors on these pizze.

Back to the Taleggio Mushroom & Herb Pizza, the crust is light, crispy and oh so flavorful. The mushrooms are earthy, plump, and a bit caramelized giving us some nice broiled notes. The herbs, little explosions of herbaceousness and so welcoming to the profile of the mushroom. We drizzled a bit of the white truffle oil on top just before it went into the oven and its flavor is wonderful. Deep mysterious and so luxurious. A perfect compliment to the mushrooms and crust!

Why not make one night a week Pizza Night? Try this Taleggio Mushroom & Herb Pizza. Its flavor will definitely wow you!

Enjoy!

Taleggio Mushroom & Fresh Herb Pizza

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Taleggio Mushroom & Fresh Herb Pizza, a great creative collaboration of fresh meets flavorful for a most delightful, mouthwatering experience.

• Total Time: 3 hours 45 minutes
• Yield: 3 pizze 1x

Ingredients

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Pizza dough (makes 3 large pizze):

• 500 g farina 00 (or all-purpose, or better, a mix of the two)
• 300 ml water, at room temperature
• 5 g fresh yeast (2 g dried yeast)
• pinch of sugar
• 35 g extra virgin olive oil
• 10 g sea salt

Taleggio Mushroom & Fresh Herb Topping:

• 200 g mixed organic mushrooms (portobellini, shitake, oyster, crimini)
• 1 clove garlic
• 2 sprigs fresh thyme
• 1 sprig fresh rosemary
• 1-2 sage leaves
• 1 Tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
• a splash of white wine
• 2 Tbsp e.v.o. oil
• salt and pepper to taste
• 80 g mozzarella fior di latte
• 50 g Taleggio
• truffle oil, to drizzle on top

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Instructions

Pizza dough:

1. In a small bowl, add half of the water, the fresh yeast, and a pinch of sugar. Let dissolve.
2. In the bowl of a food processor, add the flour, the water/yeast mixture and start mixing on low. Add the salt, then slowly add the rest of the water, and keep mixing. Lastly, slowly, add the oil and mix until the dough pulls away from the sides of the food processor and starts to form a ball.
3. Take it out of the food processor and put it onto a floured work surface. Knead it for a few minutes until smooth and elastic. Form it into a ball, cover it with a bowl and let it rest for 10 minutes.
4. Once rested, give the dough a small fold: stretch the ends to form a rectangle, take the outer ends and fold into the center, turn it 90 degrees and do the same. Then, form it back into a ball. Transfer the ball of dough into a bowl, cover with cling wrap (better if you oil the plastic so it doesn't stick to the dough when it rises).
5. Transfer the bowl to the oven (turned off) with the light on and let it rest for a few hours (2-3) until doubled in size.
6. When the dough is ready, divide into 3 even pieces and take each piece and shape into a circle using your hands. Oil a 12-inch round pizza pan and stretch dough until it fills the pan with a nice border. Repeat this with the other dough and set pizza crusts aside.
7. Preheat the oven to 425° F.

Mushroom & Fresh Herbs:

1. In a medium saute pan heat up olive oil and garlic then toss in washed and cut up mushrooms. Add freshly broken thyme, rosemary, parsley, and sage. Season with salt and pepper. Saute for about 5 minutes on medium heat. Splash in some white wine and finish cooking for about 2 minutes or until wine has evaporated. Take off heat and set aside.

Assemble:

1. Drizzle some olive oil on pizza dough in the pan, spread it evenly throughout.
2. Place the mozzarella and the Taleggio on the pizza dough distributing it evenly on the surface of the dough.
3. Place the mushrooms on top, distributing them evenly. Finish with a nice drizzling of truffle oil and some more chopped parsley.
4. Ready for the oven. Bake in preheated oven for about 10-12 minutes or until you see the cheeses melt and the border and underside turn golden brown.

Notes

If you want to use just one ball of dough, you can wrap the other two, separately, in plastic and put them in a freezer bag. When you're ready to use them, take them out of the freezer, unwrap, put in a bowl, cover and let thaw and rise again. Then proceed to stretch and make the pizza of your choice.

• Author: Loreto and Nicoletta
• Prep Time: 3 hours 30 minutes
• Cook Time: 15 minutes
• Category: Pizza
• Method: Baking
• Cuisine: Italian

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Nicoletta

I love baking and kneading dough because it takes me to a happy place in my soul.