Spooky pizzettas
We’re not sure where the idea started, but we love these mushrooms skulls as a spooky addition to a pizza, ideal for a Halloween party. Use our basic pizza dough as the base.
Cook's notes
The best way to get a pizza in the oven is on a purpose made peel/paddle, dusted with plenty of flour. If you have a pizza oven, you’ll no doubt own one. If you don’t and you are using a standard oven, you can roll the dough out on a piece of baking parchment, add your toppings and then slide it off the parchment, directly onto the hot oven tray.
Ingredients
- 20 chestnut mushrooms
- 400g baby spinach
- 400ml passata
- 2 balls of mozzarella, torn into bite-size pieces
- 120g cheddar cheese, grated
- 1 batch of basic pizza dough – see intro for link to our recipe
Method
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Step 1
Make and prove your dough and then divide it into 8 equal sized balls. Put a flat baking sheet in the oven (or pizza stone if you have one) and preheat it to 220°C.
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Step 2
Wash the spinach well and cook it briefly in a frying pan until it has just started to wilt, it should only take 20-30 seconds. Cool immediately under cold water and then drain and squeeze out excess water with your hands. Roughly chop the squeezed spinach and keep to one side.
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Step 3
Next, halve the mushrooms and gently peel away the skin so they look more skull-like – you can keep the skins for cooking or adding to a stock pot. Turn them into mini skulls by scoring teeth marks into the stems and making eyes and nose holes in the top using a small sharp knife. Feel free to carve them more intricately if you’re feeling artistic.
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Step 4
To make each pizza, roll the dough ball out into a rough circle as thinly as you can. Spread a spoonful of passata on top and then scatter over some mozzarella, cheddar and chopped spinach. Pop 5 mushroom skull on top and brush them lightly with olive oil.
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Step 5
Slide the pizza into the oven and bake until the dough is golden and crisp, and the toppings cooked (approx. 8-10 mins in an oven, 1-2 in a pizza oven). You might get more than one in at a time, depending on the size of your oven. Repeat