Pepperoni and Mushroom Pan Pizza

This easy-to-make pepperoni and mushroom pan pizza has a soft and airy crumb and a crispy outer crust and can be ready to eat in just four hours from start to finish. 

This pizza is like a focaccia, with a little less olive oil, topped like a pizza. The dough is super flexible, and can be baked right away or refrigerated and baked the next day. 

I topped this pizza with pepperoni and sautéed shiitake mushrooms. Because some of my pizza eaters aren't big mushroom fans, I buried the mushrooms under the cheese before baking. Plus, because you've sautéed the mushrooms, they shrink and soften quite a bit, concentrating their flavor. 

Sauté them in some olive oil along with a couple of tablespoons of fresh herbs for a wonderful flavor. 

I like the flavor of mushrooms, but not necessarily the texture. Sautèing them, sprinkling them over the sauce, and then covering them with the cheese and pepperoni worked perfectly. 

No one will turn their nose up at these mushrooms, and they will love the umami flavor that they bring to the pizza. 

Ingredients:

For the Dough: 

The dough ingredients are so simple and don't include sugar. Just bread flour, instant yeast, salt, lukewarm water, and a little bit of extra virgin olive oil. 

For the Sauce:

I used a half cup of Rao's Homemade Pizza Sauce. This sauce is as good as anything I could make myself unless I'm making a specialty pizza. 

For Topping the Pizza:

Grated mozzarella cheese. I don't recommend using fresh mozzarella. 

Pepperoni.

Shiitake mushrooms sautéed in olive oil and herbs. 

Grated Parmesan and freshly chopped basil. 

How to Make this Pan Pizza:

First, mix the dough ingredients by hand in a large bowl. There is no need to knead the dough. You just let it rest a bit, perform a couple of stretches and folds, and then let the dough get bubbly. 

Next, gently scrape the dough into an oiled pan and stretch it over the surface without deflating it. You can oil your fingertips and dimple the dough to kind of "encourage" it to cover the entire surface of your pan. 

After that, let the dough rest for about 45 minutes to get puffy and more bubbly. 

While the dough is rising, sauté the mushrooms with the olive oil and herbs. 

Once the dough is ready, gently spread the pizza sauce over it from edge to edge, sprinkle with the mushrooms and then the cheese. Top with slices of pepperoni. 

Finally, bake the pizza in a 500 degree oven with a baking stone on the bottom rack. The reason you want to use the bottom rack is so that the bottom of the pizza gets all crispy. 

If when the baking time is up and the top of the pizza still needs a little time, just transfer the pan to the upper rack and bake a few minutes more. 

The reason you bake the pizza on the bottom rack is to make sure the dough bakes through and crisps on the bottom without burning the cheese and pepperoni on top. The first time I made this pizza, I baked it on the middle rack and ended up with some blackened pepperoni. 

Equipment You May Need:

I used a Lloyd's Detroit-style pizza pan. I originally bought it years ago to make a Detroit-style pizza, which is a cheese crusted pizza topped with sauce after baking. If you like crusty cheese... 

The pan is styled after the pan that used to be used in factories in Detroit to clean tools in high pressure ovens and were first adapted for making pizzas in the 1940s. 

The dark pan is fabulous for crisping the crust, and it's great at releasing the pizza without any sticking. If you do not have a Lloyd's pan, you can easily substitute a 9-inch by 13-inch cake pan, preferably one that is darker. 

I love using a griddle spatula for pulling the pizza out of the pan. 

If you have one, to really get a crispy crust, bake the prepared pizza on a preheated pizza stone or steel placed in the bottom rack. 

Recipe Variations:

You can vary the toppings a bit if you like, including subbing sausage for the pepperoni or skipping the meat altogether. 

Do not weigh down this pizza with too many heavy toppings though in order to keep the light and airy nature of the crust. 

Make-Ahead Tip:

You let the dough rise after the second fold overnight in the refrigerator, from eight to 24 hours. 

The first time I made this pizza, I made the dough at night, placed it in the fridge, and then shaped and baked the pizza for dinner the next day. The dough will take a little longer to stretch out in the pan. 

More Pizzas You May Also Enjoy:

Barbecue Chicken Pizza

Prosciutto and Fennel Pizza

Broccoli Pizza

Cheesy Pan Pizza with Turkey Sausage

Potato and Leek Pizza

This month's Bread Bakers theme is mushrooms. Be sure to check out everyone's recipes!

• Pepperoni and Mushroom Pan Pizza from Karen’s Kitchen Stories
• Cheesy Mushroom Calzone from Sneha’s Recipe
• Wild Mushroom Flatbread from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Mushroom Swiss Bread from Palatable Pastime
• Mixed Mushroom Soft Bread Sticks from Food Lust People Love
• Porcini Swirl Bread from A Messy Kitchen

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. 

We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

Pepperoni and Mushroom Pan Pizza

Yield: 15 slices

Author: Karen's Kitchen Stories

Prep time: 15 MinCook time: 20 MinInactive time: 3 HourTotal time: 3 H & 35 M

This easy-to-make pepperoni and mushroom pan pizza has a soft and airy crumb and a crispy outer crust and can be ready to eat in just four hours from start to finish.

Ingredients

For the Dough

• 360 grams (3 cups) bread flour
• 8 grams (1 1/2 teapoons) salt
• 3 grams (1 teaspoon) instant yeast
• 270 grams (1 cup plus 3 tablespoons) lukewarm (about 110 degrees F) water
• 17 grams (one generous tablespoon) olive oil

To Prepare the Mushrooms

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 cup chopped shiitake mushrooms
• 2 tablespoons minced fresh herbs (Italian parsley, basil, thyme or other herbs

To Assemble and Top the Pizza

• 1 tablespoon olive oil, for oiling the pan
• All of the dough
• 1/2 cup pizza sauce, jarred or homemade
• All of the sautéed mushrooms and herbs
• 6 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese
• 60 grams (2 ounces) sliced pepperoni
• Freshly grated Parmesan cheese and more herbs to sprinkle the baked pizza before serving, to taste.

Instructions

1. Whisk together the flour, salt, and yeast in a medium to large bowl.
2. Add the water and oil and mix everything together with you hand until fully combined. Cover and let rest for 15 minutes.
3. Stretch and fold the dough a few times in the bowl with a wet hand, cover again, and let rest for 15 minutes.
4. Stretch and fold the dough a few more times, cover the bowl, and let the dough rise in a warm spot for 60 to 90 minutes, until bubbly and almost doubled.
5. Oil a 9 1/2 inch by 13 1/2 inch Lloyd's pizza pan, or a 9 inch by 13 inch metal cake pan with a generous tablespoon of olive oil. Gently turn the dough out into the pan and spread it out by gently stretching it and dimpling it with oiled fingers so that it fills the pan. If it resists, cover the dough and let it relax for 15 minutes. Do your best not to deflate the dough.
6. Cover and let the dough rise in a warm spot for 45 to 60 minutes, until puffy.
7. In the meantime, heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a small saucepan. Sauté the mushrooms and herbs in the olive oil for about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat.
8. Heat the oven to 500 degrees F with a baking stone (if you have one) on the bottom rack.
9. When the dough is ready, gently spread the sauce over the dough with the back of a spoon. Sprinkle the mushrooms over the sauce and then sprinkle with the mozzarella. Arrange the pepperoni over the cheese.
10. Bake the pizza for 16 to 20 minutes, until the bottom is crispy and the crust is baked through.
11. Remove the pizza from the pan and onto a cutting board. Sprinkle with the Parmesan and herbs and then slice and serve.

Nutrition Facts

Calories

160

Fat (grams)

6 g

Carbs (grams)

20 g

Fiber (grams)

.3 g

Sugar (grams)

3 g

Protein (grams)

7 g

Sodium (milligrams)

376 mg

Cholesterol (grams)

12 mg

https://www.karenskitchenstories.com/2023/04/pepperoni-and-mushroom-pan-pizza.html

Karen's Kitchen Stories

pizza, mushrooms

Bread

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The dough recipe for this pizza was adapted from King Arthur Baking. Their post has tips for adapting the dough to different pan sizes as well as making Detroit-style pizza. I used King Arthur Bread Flour, which worked perfectly.