I'm a mushroom fiend (normal 'shrooms, people). Seriously, I will throw them on anything and everything. I was in New York for Santacon this past weekend and managed to get a portobello mushroom sandwich from one of my favorite sandwich shops there three times from when I got in Friday night to when I left Sunday night. I also order a mushroom dish on any menu 9 out of 10 times. Coming from a huge meat eater, it's kind of an odd obsession. 

I know mushrooms aren't for everyone, though. I actually made this pizza over the summer and never posted it because look at it - that's a mushroom overload. But I realized that it's a delicious pizza and there's no reason it has to have mushrooms on it for those who aren't fans of fungi (I do somewhat understand the aversion if you've never tried them). The method for making the crust is the part I found most interesting about the recipe. Resist temptation and add the extra step!

I've obviously made it pretty clear on my blog that I make pizza all the time. It's so easy and I love being able to mess with ingredients however I want. For those of you who like mushrooms, feel free to make your pizza look more like mine. I think my goal when making this was to cover every inch of the pizza with mushrooms. If that's not your thing, add all of your personal favorite toppings. Also, if you don't want to splurge on truffle oil you can do without it.

Enjoy!

p.s. get excited for holiday cooking...it's coming!

Truffled Fontina and Mushroom Pizza

Recipe adapted from Flying Fourchette

Active time: 10 minutes

Total time: 30 minutes

Makes 4 servings

 

1 pound pizza dough, thawed if frozen
1/2 pound sliced mushrooms
3/4 pound cold Italian Fontina (or Taleggio), rind discarded and cheese sliced, or freshly grated (use good fontina for this)
1 teaspoon white truffle oil (optional)

1 tablespoon minced garlic spread

Directions:

Put a large heavy baking sheet (17 by 14 inches) on lowest rack of oven, then preheat oven to 475°F.

Stretch out dough on a lightly floured surface, pulling on corners to form a roughly 16- by 13-inch rectangle. Transfer to a tray lined with parchment paper. Lightly prick dough all over with a fork.

Slide dough (still on parchment) onto hot baking sheet. Bake until top is puffed and pale golden in patches, 6 to 10 minutes.

Remove from oven; prick any large bubbles with a fork and flatten. Gently spread garlic over crust, and scatter mushrooms or your toppings of choice on top.

Season with salt and pepper and lay or sprinkle cheese on top.

Bake pizza until edge of crust is deep golden and cheese is bubbling and golden in patches, 8 to 10 minutes.

Drizzle with truffle oil (if using) and season with pepper. Serve immediately.

I don't think I could ever get tired of pizza. It's been a staple throughout my college years (is this where the nostalgia sets in..when I talk about food?). I feel I've moved up the ranks in my pizza obsession in these last four years. It started out as it would with any young, naive freshman, ordering late night pizza from the greasiest place in town, Gumby's. There is honestly nothing better than Gumby's "Pokey Stix" at 2am. They're garlicky, greasy and delicious. You can also smell them from a mile away and get an XXL for $10. It was an essential part of making friends. The problem is, you only enjoy Pokey's for the brief time you are actually eating them. Guilt sets in about five minutes later. Then slight nausea.

So, then it came to sophomore year. Sophomore year I chose the more traditional route: Domino's, Papa John's or pizza from one of our great local places. I hoarded coupons to keep things cheap. By sophomore year you scoff at the freshmen ordering Pokey's and pretend like you weren't doing the same thing a year before. Junior year I discovered pizza bread. That's when I started making my own pizza...all. the. time. That's healthy. A week ago (aka one week to go in my senior year) I discovered these. Good heavens. It was a long and, at times, treacherous journey, but it was all worth it if this is the pinnacle of pizza perfection. Yes, I know I could go and get amazing pizza from a restaurant, but I'm young and broke.

I've been up working on a final exam since 5am this morning. I only made it to 6am before I had to go down and heat up two of these. Do I stop getting away with odd eating habits once I graduate? That's unfortunate. As an awkward side note, I had to sprint through campus to turn my take home exam in on time and ran right past my professor who immediately called me out. So much for cool, calm and collected to close out senior year.

You've probably seen something similar to these without the sauce and garlic in the bread. I've made those a few times in the past. I've never posted them because I don't really like posting things I don't love, and they're good, but not great. But I found the missing link. Also, I did not measure out anything. Pizza is all about personalization. I tried to guess out about how much I put of everything, but if you use more or less that's fine!

Enjoy!

Pizza Rolls

Ingredients
1 batch pizza dough *
50 pepperonis, cut in quarters
1/4 cup pizza sauce
Minced garlic spread (I use California Style Minced Garlic)
6 ounces shredded mozzarella or Italian blend cheese
Italian seasoning

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9-inch pie plate (a cake pan will also work fine if you don't have a pie plate). 
• Divide the dough into 10 roughly equal pieces. Take the dough pieces, one at a time, and flatten them out into a small circle about 4 inches wide. 
• Spread about 1/8 teaspoon minced garlic across the dough. You are not trying to overwhelm anyone with garlic, it's just for a slight kick. 
• Dab roughly a tablespoon of sauce on, but don't spread it out to the edges. 
• Place a few pepperonis on top, and sprinkle about a tablespoon of cheese on. 
• Pull the edges around the contents and pinch closed. If you put on too much sauce, the sauce will start dripping out and you'll never be able to seal the dough, so be careful with amounts! 
• Place seam-side down around the outside of the pie pan. 
• Repeat this process, placing the sealed rolls side by side. One or two might have to go in the middle, this is ok. 
• Lightly brush the tops of the dough with olive oil, then sprinkle Italian seasoning and parmesan. Bake for 20 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown. Serve warm, with ranch or marinara (or both!). 

*I happen to stockpile frozen pizza dough like it's my ticket to surviving the apocalypse. My recommendation, buy it in bulk when it's on sale for 99 cents at the grocery store. When you get home, pop what you aren't using in the freezer. You can either thaw it by setting it out on the counter for ~6 hours, or thaw it in the fridge overnight when you are ready to use it. If you have time and want to try homemade pizza dough go for it! I just like shortcuts.

I just love an easy recipe. Maybe that's why I keep coming back to Christie's plethora of frozen bread dough recipes over at Southern Plate. I've had my eye on these cinnamon buns for awhile now, but my infatuation with pizza bread from frozen bread dough made me more than a little wary to subject myself to a new obsession (maybe I should refrain from using words containing the word "fat" when talking about my favorite foods?). 

I've now made them twice in three days--at least I know myself well.

But, it's exam time and having food around the house is essential while studying. I don't do libraries because I get too distracted by all the studious people around me. I like to take a power nap break when I get tired, and I want to eat when I get bored (I'm a bored eater if there ever was one). Not that I can't do both of those in the library, but I'm sure I'm the type of person who would wake up sleep talking, so I'd rather not disturb the peace. I am two exams away from freedom, and then I'll be heading up to DC for the summer. Hopefully living in a dorm again won't hurt my cooking too much!  Anywho, make these. They are wonderful. 

Cinnamon Buns 

Recipe from Southern Plate

1 loaf frozen white bread dough (such as Rhode’s)

Filling:

1/4 C butter or margarine, softened

1 C brown sugar, packed

3 T ground cinnamon

Icing:

3 ounce cream cheese, softened

1/4 C butter or margarine, softened

1 1/2 C confectioner’s sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla (optional)

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Place loaf of dough on plate and let sit at room temperature until thawed. Once thawed, roll out onto floured surface to a size of about nine inches by sixteen inches. Spread 1/4 C margarine over dough.

In small bowl mix together brown sugar and 3 T cinnamon. Sprinkle over top of cinnamon roll, stopping about 1/2 an inch away from the sides so it will seal.  Carefully roll up cinnamon roll into a log and press lightly to seal. Slice into one inch slices with serrated knife. Place in greased 9×13 inch pan and cover with cling wrap. Place in warm spot and allow to rise until doubled in size. Remove cling wrap and bake at 400 for about 15 minutes, or until done.

Icing: Mix all ingredients together and beat with electric mixer until creamy. Spread over cinnamon rolls.

I tried to be creative and get more angles, but apparently creativity isn't my strong suit when I'm running on two hours of sleep. Note to self: ripping a cinnamon bun apart doesn't look nearly as appealing on camera as in person.