Wild Table with Savage Arms: Wild Mushroom Pizza

Foraging for wild mushrooms is a wonderful family activity. It can be its own adventure, or you can do it while you're scouting, hiking, or even hunting for wild game on the way in and out of the woods. There are definitely some caveats--many poisonous mushrooms look like edible ones--and you can read all about it here.

It's important that you consult an expert before consuming wild mushrooms. Only consume wild mushrooms when you are 100% sure of your identification. Also, never wash or soak mushrooms. Clean them with a toothbrush or scrape them with a knife. 

What can you do with those mushrooms once you bring them home? The possibilities are nearly as endless as the variety of wild edible mushrooms is, but today, we're highlighting wild mushroom pizza. Our friends at Savage Arms are practically obsessed with the ways we can incorporate wild-harvested food into our daily diets, and this pizza recipe is definitely obsession-worthy.

You can add all kinds of mushrooms to a pizza, but today's edition of Wild Table with Savage Arms recommends favorites such as morels, chanterelles, oysters, black trumpets, and lobster mushrooms. You can add some onions, garlic, and bell peppers, but for this wild mushroom pizza recipe, we’ll keep it simple.

Ingredients

Dough

• 1 1/2 cups warm water
• 2 1/4 tsp dry yeast
• 3 3/4 cups flour (I like to mix 50-50 bread flour and wheat flour)
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp sugar

Sauce

• 12 oz tomato puree
• 1 tbsp fresh or dry basil
• 1 tbsp minced garlic
• 1 tbsp oregano

Toppings

• Fresh basil
• Fresh Mozzarella 
• Low Moisture Mozzarella
• Grated Parmesan
• Wild mushrooms (sautéed in advance)

Instructions

1. Mix yeast and warm water in a bowl and let sit until yeast is dissolved and foaming.
2. Add flour, salt, sugar, and olive oil and mix
3. Knead the dough by hand or in a mixer with a dough hook
4. Cover the dough bowl and allow dough to proof for a minimum of 90 minutes in a warm place 75-85 degrees Fahrenheit. It should at least double in size and will take longer in a cool environment.
5. When dough is near completion, mix sauce ingredients in a small pot and simmer covered.
6. Slice your mushrooms 1/4 thick and brown them in butter or olive oil, then set aside
7. Preheat oven, and pizza stone, to 475 degrees
8. Divide dough into two balls
9. Roll one dough ball out onto a floured piece of parchment paper and rub with olive oil
10. Top the pizza with sauce, cheeses, mushrooms, basil, and anything else you like (onions!)
11. Bake pizza for about 15 minutes. It’s done when the cheese and crust have browned.
12. While one pizza cools, get the second one prepped, and bake it while you eat number 1.