Mushroom Pizza

FROM MARIA:

I get terrible heartburn with pregnancy that is often sparked by red sauce, and pizza happens to be one of my favorite things. So I decided to create a white sauce pizza that would be equally delicious, and it happened to be a winner even with my 4 year old. My pizza dough recipe came from my mother-in-law Connie and the sauce for the mushrooms came from part of a Rachael Ray's recipe.

Pizza dough:

This makes 1 1/2 pizza so I like to double it.

2 tsp. Instant Dry Yeast*

2 1/2 to 3 cups flour

1 tsp. sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup warm milk

2 Tablespoons canola oil

Mix 2 cups of flour, yeast, sugar and salt together either by hand or in a standing mixer that is able to knead dough. Add milk and oil to bowl mix till combined, slowly add flour until it pulls away from bowl and makes a non-sticky dough. I may use more or less flour than the recipe calls for.

-If using a standing mixer use a dough hook and turn on medium speed knead for 5 or so minutes, if sticking to sides of bowl add a little flour.

-If you are kneading by hand sprinkle flour on your counter, put dough on counter and knead about 5 minutes. You may have to add a little flour if it gets to sticky.

Oil a mixing bowl, put dough in and cover with saran wrap. Let rise about a hour.

Turn on oven to 425*

Once oven is pre-heated spread 2 tablespoons of oil on rimmed pizza pans, heat in oven 2 minutes.

Take dough out of bowl and divide into the number of pizzas you are baking. You can use a sharp knife to divide dough.

Pull pans out of oven. For a thinner crust roll out dough and then put on pan. For a thicker dough I just shape dough right on pan, don't worry too much about shape.

Bake till lightly brown on bottom, less than 5 minutes. Pull out pans and put sauce, cheese and toppings on. Put back in oven till done.

*Fleischmann's Yeast from Sam's, comes in two 1 lb. packs for under $5.00. This must be refrigerated after opening, I put in a Tupperware and one pack lasts me over 6 months. This yeast is something that makes all yeast recipes super easy.

Mushroom Pizza

You can use the pizza dough recipe above or a store bought crust.

Mushroom mixture:

4-6 oz. of a darker mushroom I used Crimimi

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon butter

1 crushed bay leaf

4 cloves of minced garlic

1/3 cup white wine

1/2 tsp dry thyme

White sauce:

1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon flour

1 cup or less of milk or cream

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

Rinse mushrooms and slice. Heat olive oil and butter in skillet over medium heat. When butter melts add mushrooms, bay leaves and garlic. Cook until the mushrooms are dark and tender about 7-10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and add wine and thyme, stirring the skillet with wooden spoon to deglaze. Set skillet aside.

In small sauce pan melt 1 tablespoon of butter, whisk in 1 tablespoon flour add a little salt and pepper. Add cream or milk to the sauce to create the consistency you want. Add 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese to sauce, remove from heat.

Spread white sauce on pizza crust, spread the mushrooms on and top with remaining Parmesan cheese. Bake until golden brown.