Truffles – FoodWatcher

Truffle Pizza

Are you a truffle lover? This truffle pizza features savory mushrooms and gooey cheese, finished off with a truffle oil that infuses the entire pie. If I see truffle anything on a menu, I immediately order it. It’s become a bit of a joke between Alex and me, because I’m so predictable. Of course Sonja’s ordering the truffle fries. Or the truffle pizza. Or the truffle risotto. Hey, no shame over here! Truffle is my favorite flavor in the world. I can’t help it! It’s earthy, it’s intoxicating, and it makes anything taste nuanced and intriguing. Also it reminds me of our travels to Italy, so of course that gives me all the feels. This truffle pizza is all about channeling that love: savory mushrooms, gooey cheese, and finished off with a truffle oil that infuses the entire pie. First, let’s talk truffles! So, what are truffles and why are they so great? And no, they’re not little balls of chocolate (that’s a whole different type of truffle). Truffles are mushrooms — technically speaking, fungi! They grow underground on the roots of trees. Truffles have been called the “diamond of the kitchen” and are highly prized in many cuisines. Truffles […]

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Are you a truffle lover? This truffle pizza features savory mushrooms and gooey cheese, finished off with a truffle oil that infuses the entire pie.

If I see truffle anything on a menu, I immediately order it. It’s become a bit of a joke between Alex and me, because I’m so predictable. Of course Sonja’s ordering the truffle fries. Or the truffle pizza. Or the truffle risotto. Hey, no shame over here! Truffle is my favorite flavor in the world. I can’t help it! It’s earthy, it’s intoxicating, and it makes anything taste nuanced and intriguing. Also it reminds me of our travels to Italy, so of course that gives me all the feels. This truffle pizza is all about channeling that love: savory mushrooms, gooey cheese, and finished off with a truffle oil that infuses the entire pie.

First, let’s talk truffles!

So, what are truffles and why are they so great? And no, they’re not little balls of chocolate (that’s a whole different type of truffle). Truffles are mushrooms — technically speaking, fungi! They grow underground on the roots of trees. Truffles have been called the “diamond of the kitchen” and are highly prized in many cuisines.

Truffles are also very expensive and hard to find, because they’re hard to farm and difficult to harvest. Hunters actually take specially trained dogs and pigs out to hunt for truffles: they find their scent underground. (Pretty cool, really!) Because truffles are so hard to find, truffle oil is a great way to enjoy the flavor of truffles. It packages the flavor of truffles right into an oil!

What type of truffle oil to buy?

Unfortunately, many truffle oils on the market are synthetic, using lab-made compounds that mimic flavors found in real truffles. This is why you’ll hear chefs sometimes turn their noses up at truffle oil. However, there are now some versions of all natural truffle oil on the market. This type of truffle oil is made with pieces of actual truffles and is not synthetic. We’d recommend using all natural truffle oil for this pizza.

What’s the best truffle oil to buy for this truffle pizza? Our favorite brand to use is Urbani’s white truffle oil (we’re not affiliated). It’s made in Italy, all natural and with real truffle pieces inside: not synthetic at all! We’ve been cooking with it and it has a fantastic, subtle truffle aroma.

For More: Truffle Oil: Where to Buy and How to Use It

How to make truffle pizza

Once you know all about truffle oil (see above if you scrolled past!), you can get on with the pizza business of this truffle pizza. This pizza is a white pizza, meaning that you don’t have to bother with pizza sauce. Though our easy pizza sauce is pretty darn amazing if you need one! You’ll simply brush the dough with olive oil, then place the cheese on top.

On this truffle pizza, we wanted to go heavy on the mushrooms to complement the truffle flavor. You’ll slice up baby bella mushrooms and saute them with a bit of garlic and fresh chives as the topping for the mozzarella and Parmesan cheese.

The most difficult part about making a truffle pizza is making and shaping homemade pizza dough! To make it easier, feel free to use store-bought dough. But if you’d like to make your own…we have the best recipe on the internet.

Pizza dough recipes

For making the pizza dough for this truffle pizza, we have two pizza dough recipes we recommend:

Best Pizza Dough This is our standard pizza dough that we’ve used for years! We make it using stand mixer, but you can also knead it by hand.
Easy Thin Crust is similar but makes a thinner dough that you roll out — it would also work well here!

Now if you’re making homemade pizza dough, you’ll need the following tools…

Pizza making tools

It’s helpful to have a few pizza making tools handy when you’re making homemade pizza! These two tools have been indispensable in our homemade pizza making game:

Pizza stone: A pizza stone is what makes Italian pizza crust crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. Here’s the best pizza stone we’ve found. And if you’re wondering, a bit more on pizza stone care.
Pizza peel: What’s a pizza peel? It’s a paddle used to slide the pizza onto the hot pizza stone in the oven. We recommend this Standard pizza peel or this Conveyor pizza peel.

This truffle pizza recipe is…

Vegetarian.

Truffle Pizza

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Author: Sonja Overhiser
Prep Time: 1 hour
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
Yield: 8 slices

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Description

Are you a truffle lover? This truffle pizza features savory mushrooms and gooey cheese, finished off with a truffle oil that infuses the entire pie.

Ingredients

1 ball Best Pizza Dough (or Food Processor Dough or Thin Crust Dough)
6 baby bella mushrooms
1 garlic clove
1 handful chives
1 tablespoon olive oil, plus more for drizzling
3/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
Semolina flour or cornmeal, for dusting the pizza peel
Truffle oil, for drizzling
Chunky sea salt (optional), for garnish

Instructions

Make the pizza dough: Follow the Best Pizza Dough or Thin Crust Dough recipe to prepare the dough. (This takes about 15 minutes to make and 45 minutes to rest.)
Place a pizza stone in the oven and preheat to 500°F. OR preheat your pizza oven (here’s the pizza oven we use).
Prepare the toppings: Slice the mushrooms. Mince the garlic. Chop the chives; set aside a handful of chopped chives for the garnish.
In a saute pan or skillet, heat the 1 tablespoon olive oil to medium high heat. Add the mushrooms, garlic, chives, and 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt and cook for about 4 to 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until tender and golden brown.
Bake the pizza: When the oven is ready, dust a pizza peel with cornmeal or semolina flour. (If you don’t have a pizza peel, you can use a rimless baking sheet or the back of a rimmed baking sheet. But a pizza peel is well worth the investment!) Stretch the dough into a circle; see this video for instructions. Then gently place the dough onto the pizza peel.
Brush a thin layer of olive oil onto the crust. Then top with the mozzarella cheese in an even layer, then the Parmesan cheese and the cooked mushrooms.
Use the pizza peel to carefully transfer the pizza onto the preheated pizza stone. Bake the pizza until the cheese and crust are nicely browned, about 5 to 7 minutes in the oven (or 1 minute in a pizza oven).
Top with the truffle oil to taste*, then top with the reserved chopped chives and a bit of kosher salt or chunky sea salt, crushed with your fingers as you add it. Slice into pieces and serve immediately.

Category: Main Dish
Method: Baked
Cuisine: Italian