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Recipe
6 min read
Sourdough Pizza with Roasted Mushrooms, Taleggio & Truffle Oil: The Autumn Bake That Feels Like a Proper Treat
A deeply savoury sourdough pizza with roasted autumn mushrooms, melted Taleggio and a finish of truffle oil. Step-by-step recipe for home bakers.
Photo by veda kiran on UnsplashThe smell of roasting mushrooms on a Sunday afternoon in late September is one of those things that makes you genuinely glad to be indoors. There is something about the way they concentrate in a hot oven, going from pale and damp to deep, golden and almost meaty, that feels entirely appropriate for the season. Pair that with a sourdough pizza base that has had time to develop proper flavour, a layer of Taleggio that melts into the crevices, and a final drizzle of truffle oil straight from the oven, and you have got a pizza that earns its place on a Friday night.
This one sits at the more indulgent end of my autumn pizza rotation. It is not complicated, but it does reward a bit of patience, especially if you let your dough balls rest properly before stretching. The 67% hydration dough is manageable and forgiving, giving you a base with some chew and real crust character without being a nightmare to handle. The mushrooms do the heavy lifting on flavour, so it is worth taking the time to roast them properly rather than chucking them on raw and hoping for the best.
Dough
- 300g strong white bread flour
- 201g water, lukewarm
- 60g active sourdough starter
- 7g (1¼ tsp) fine sea salt
- 10g (2 tsp) extra virgin olive oil
Roasted Mushrooms
- 300g mixed mushrooms (chestnut, oyster, shiitake), torn into pieces
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
- 1 tsp fresh thyme leaves
- Flaky sea salt and black pepper
Toppings
- 150g Taleggio, rind removed, torn into rough chunks
- 40g Parmesan, finely grated
- 1–2 tsp truffle oil, to finish
- Small handful of flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
Baker's Tips
- Do not skip roasting the mushrooms separately. Raw mushrooms on pizza release too much water and steam the base from underneath rather than letting it crisp up. Get them golden and a little collapsed before they go anywhere near the dough.
- Taleggio melts unevenly in the best possible way. Tear it rather than slice it so you get little pockets of molten cheese across the whole pizza rather than a uniform layer.
- If you find your dough springs back stubbornly during stretching, it just needs more time. Leave it covered on the counter for another 10 to 15 minutes and come back to it. Rushing that stage is the single most common reason a homemade pizza ends up too thick. If you keep running into issues like this at different stages of the bake, the DoughRise Coach is good for talking through exactly what is happening and getting a plan that fits around your setup.
METHOD
- Mix the dough. Combine the flour, water, active sourdough starter, salt and olive oil in a large bowl. Mix until no dry flour remains, then cover and leave to rest for 30 minutes at room temperature.
- Develop the dough. Over the next two hours, perform four sets of coil folds, spaced roughly 30 minutes apart. The dough should feel noticeably smoother and more elastic with each set. After the final fold, leave the dough covered and undisturbed.
- Bulk ferment. Allow the dough to ferment at room temperature (ideally around 21–23°C) for a further 3 to 4 hours until it has grown by around 50 to 60 percent and looks airy and domed. Use the fermentation timing calculator if your kitchen is running warmer or cooler than usual this time of year.
- Divide and ball. Turn the dough onto an unfloured surface and divide it into two equal pieces, roughly 289g each. Shape each piece into a tight ball using your hands, pulling the surface taut underneath. Place into a lightly oiled container, cover, and refrigerate overnight or for at least 8 hours.
- Roast the mushrooms. Preheat your oven to 220°C (fan 200°C). Toss the torn mushrooms with olive oil, sliced garlic, thyme, salt and pepper on a large baking tray, spreading them in a single layer. Roast for 18 to 20 minutes until deeply golden and starting to crisp at the edges. Set aside to cool slightly.
- Bring dough to room temperature. Remove the dough balls from the fridge at least 60 to 90 minutes before you plan to bake. Leave them covered on the counter. This is not optional. Cold dough tears during stretching, and autumn kitchens can be cool enough that the dough needs the full 90 minutes to relax properly.
- Heat the oven high. With a pizza stone or heavy baking steel on the top shelf, crank your oven up to its maximum temperature, at least 250°C (fan 230°C). Give it a full 45 minutes to heat through properly. A steel or stone that has not had enough time will give you a pale, soft base rather than the blistered, crispy one you are after.
- Stretch the dough. On a lightly floured surface, press one dough ball flat from the centre outward using your fingertips, leaving a slightly thicker border for the crust. Lift it and work it gently over the back of your hands, letting gravity do the stretching rather than forcing it. Aim for roughly 28 to 30 centimetres across.
- Top and bake. Lay the stretched base on a well-floured pizza peel or a sheet of baking paper. Scatter half the roasted mushrooms evenly across the base, leaving a border. Distribute half the Taleggio chunks and half the grated Parmesan across the top. Slide onto the hot stone and bake for 10 to 12 minutes until the crust is deep golden and blistered, and the cheese has melted and bubbled.
- Finish and serve. Remove from the oven and immediately drizzle with truffle oil. Scatter over the chopped parsley and eat straight away. Repeat with the second dough ball.
Why this works
Shaping dough balls on an unfloured surface gives you the friction you need to build surface tension. That tension holds the structure during the cold rest and makes the dough far easier to stretch evenly later. A floured surface lets the dough slide rather than grip, which means you end up with slack, uneven balls that tear when you try to open them out.
INTO THE OVEN
Scaling this recipe up for a group, or want to check your baker's percentages before you adjust the batch size? The free DoughRise Baker's Percentage Calculator will do the maths for you in seconds.
Happy baking! Find everything you need at doughrise.store
Photo by veda kiran on Unsplash
