Pesto Mushroom Pizza and the Best Pizza Crust Ever

I love homemade pizza. I have made many different pizza crust recipes over the years. They are all similar, and they use essentially the same ingredients but somehow they are all different. Some are dry and cracker like, some are moist and doughy.

This recipe is perfect! I don’t know if it is the resting stage or what, but this crust has a ton of flavour, it is light and crispy. It is by far the best pizza crust I have ever made.

I decided to do a quick pesto mushroom pizza to test it out. I am drooling a little just thinking about how good this pizza was.

I loved it!

Any topping you like would be great on this crust. I love that you can make it in advance and then keep it in the fridge for 3 weeks. That way you can have pizza whenever you feel like it.

What you need,

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For the Crust,

1 ¾ cups lukewarm water (about 100̊F)

1 tbsp. extra virgin Olive oil

2 tsp. kosher salt

1 ½ tsp. dry yeast (fast rising or active dry)

1 ½ tsp. granulated sugar

4 ½ cups all-purpose flour

For the pizza,

2 cups mushrooms, I used white button but cremini would be good too

2 cloves garlic

Salt and pepper to taste

1 tsp. olive oil

¼ cup pesto, I used some from the store but if you have homemade use it!

1 cup grated provolone cheese

½ cup grated parmesan cheese

To make the pizza dough, mix the olive oil, salt, yeast and sugar in a large bowl. Add the flour and mix until uniformly moist, the dough will be quite wet; you don’t have to knead the dough at all.

Loosely cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough rise for 2 hours at room temperature. The dough will full expand and may even begin to collapse within this time.

Do not punch down the dough it will collapse on its own and later shrink while it is chilling in the fridge.

Refrigerate the dough loosely covered for at least 3 hours. I let mine go over night. After 2 days tightly cover the bowl with saran wrap. You can keep the dough in the fridge for up to 3 weeks.

To make the pizza start by placing your pizza stone in the oven and heating to 475 degrees for at least 30 minutes. You can use this pizza dough on a regular pan but a pizza stone makes it so nice and crispy.

Remove the pizza dough from the fridge and lightly sprinkle the surface with flour. Pull up a piece of dough about the size of a large orange (8oz) cut it off with a knife. Generously flour the dough pieces and tuck the edges under all around to form a uniform ball.

Let it rest on the counter, covered loosely by saran wrap for at least 30 minutes.

I got 3 balls of dough out of my batch. I used 1 and wrapped the other 2 in plastic and put them back in the fridge for later.

It is time to sauté up your mushrooms. In a large skillet heat the olive oil over medium high heat. Add the mushroom and garlic and cook until softened and slightly browned. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Set aside to cool a little.

Once the dough has rested, carefully stretch it out into a circle. I got mine to about 12 inches across. Place onto your floured pizza peel or greased baking sheet.

Spread the pesto over the crust, then top with sautéed mushrooms. Sprinkle with the grated parmesan and provolone cheese.

Bake for about 12-15 minutes until the crust is crispy and brown and the cheese is melted and bubbly.

After you take the pizza out of the oven wait about 3 minutes before cutting the pizza into wedges.

Stuff in your face!

Man this pizza was GOOD! I can’t wait to make it again.

Jen

Recipe for the pizza crust from Fine Cooking Magazine April/May issue

Recipe for pesto mushroom pizza adapted from The Brown Eyed Baker