Black Trumpet Pizza "The Dark Side"

One of my goals for the summer was to find Black Trumpets, also called Horn of Plenty or Trumpets of Death. They are elusive to find and have a smell and flavor that is almost impossible to describe. Finally after countless miles walked, I found them. My mind almost always immediately starts thinking about pizza or pasta when cooking with wild mushrooms. I decided I wanted to do a pizza that really highlighted the mushrooms' wild flavors - which ultimately meant keeping it super simple. I left out anything that would distract from it's unique profile, so no garlic, no herbs, no overpowering cheese or spice. I started off with 4 ingredients; fontina, black trumpets, grated pecorino romano, and a high quality olive oil on a sourdough crust fired in a wood oven. After testing it, I added some finely minced chives from the garden and a tiny bit of lemon zest, and it was winning over the mushroom skeptics in the house. Video of the whole process below.

Ingredients:

Black Trumpets (sauteed in olive oil)

Fontina cheese

Grated pecorino romano cheese

Olive oil

Lemon Zest

Chives (finely diced)

Instructions:

The Mushrooms

1. The real heart of this pizza are the black trumpets. For this recipe I used fresh mushrooms but you can swap out with re-hydrated dried trumpets.

2. Saute the mushrooms in olive oil on medium low heat for just about a minute or two. Black trumpets cook very rapidly.

The Dough:

For the pizza dough I have been very happy using a Ken Forkish recipe from Flour Water Salt Yeast for an overnight dough with levain. It’s one of the few recipes that I have decided not to mess with as it always yields great results. Recently I’ve been using Caputo Manitoba flour which has been delivering wonderful results.

The Assembly & Finishing:

1. Stretch your dough.

2. Layer on small cubes of fontina cheese equally across the dough.

3. Sprinkle with a generous portion of grated pecorino.

4. Layer on the cooked mushrooms evenly across the middle of the dough.

5. Sprinkle on more pecorino.

6. Bake your pizza. I use a wood fired Ooni Pro but use whatever works for you.

7. Once it comes out of the oven, piping hot, drizzle on some high quality olive oil.

8. Sprinkle on finely diced chives.

9. Top with fresh lemon zest.

10. Enjoy!