Four Cheese Miso Mushroom Pizza

Combine flours and salt in a large bowl. (If you have a breadmaker, add all of the ingredients for the basic pizza dough into the breadmaker. Knead for 10 minutes. Prove 20 minutes. Press knead function for a further 10 minutes, then continue recipe from step 5. Otherwise, read on for manual instructions.)

Place 2 cups of lukewarm water into a jug. Add the yeast and olive oil. Mix to combine.

Pour the yeast mixture into the flour mix. Use a fork to mix until sticky. Then, using your hands (flour them because the mix will be sticky), lightly knead the dough into a round ball shape. Flour the bottom of a large bowl and place the dough into it. Cover and set aside to prove for 20 minutes.

Tip the dough onto a floured surface and knead for 5 minutes or until smooth.

Divide the dough into 6 small balls. Use your hands to form them into smooth balls. Place onto a large tray sprinkled with plenty of flour. Cover with a damp tea towel and allow to rise for 2 hours.

In the meantime, let’s make the topping. In a large pan over high heat, add the olive oil and butter. When the butter starts to melt and foam, add your sturdier mushrooms (such as button and Swiss browns, for instance). Add a good pinch of salt and mix the mushrooms. Spread them out on the base of the pan and leave for a couple of minutes to pick up some lovely colour. Stir, then spread out and leave again for another couple of minutes. Now add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds or until fragrant.

Place the miso paste in a small bowl, then add 1 tablespoon of water. Mix until well combined.

Add the more delicate mushrooms to the pan (oyster, for instance), then drizzle over the miso mixture. Toss everything together until the mushrooms are coated. Sprinkle over the parsley, give the mushrooms a mix, then turn off the heat.

An hour before you want to start making your pizzas, place a pizza stone into your oven on the middle rack. Turn up the heat to the highest setting. Leave to preheat for 1 hour.

To form the pizza base, carefully transfer a dough ball to a floured surface (try not to disturb the top of the dough – it helps to use a pastry scraper for this). Use your fingers to start flattening the dough through the centre. Then stretch and shape the dough into a round, leaving the ‘crust’ higher than the centre. Flip the dough over a few times to stretch it out, too. Watch the video for my technique if you need a visual reference!

Drizzle the pizza base with a little olive oil, then add a few slices of mozzarella cheese as a base. Arrange some of the mushroom mix on top, then add a few slices of caciotta. Drizzle with a little more olive oil, then finely grate some provolone all over.

Change your oven to grill setting on the highest temperature possible (this will help us to brown and puff up the top of the pizza quickly). Slide a pizza peel underneath the prepped pizza, then open the oven and transfer to the hot pizza stone. Close the oven door and cook the pizza for 6–7 minutes, or the cheese has melted and the crust is golden and starting to char. Transfer to a cutting board, then rip up some burrata and scatter on top. Sprinkle with some of the extra parsley and a little lemon zest. Add small dollops of yuzu kosho, if using. Slice and serve. Continue making the remaining pizza or freeze the leftover dough in individual ziploc bags.

– If you don’t have a pizza peel, transfer your pizza base onto a sheet of baking paper BEFORE you put the toppings on. Then you can pick up the finished pizza using the baking paper and transfer the whole lot (baking paper and all) to your pizza stone.

– Frozen pizza dough can be defrosted in the fridge overnight. Then re-shape the balls just as you did in step 5 but they will only need to prove for about an hour before using.