Mushroom and Spinach Pizza Recipe - Awesome Cuisine (2024)

FAQs

Should spinach be cooked before putting on pizza? ›

Spinach contains some water, but not enough to make your pizza soggy, so there's no need to cook it in advance. In this recipe, we use baby spinach, which doesn't require any prep (other than rinsing and spinning dry). Any moisture from the spinach will make the ricotta sauce even creamier, which is a good thing.

Heat the pan inside the oven while you warm it.

This is why I sometimes build the mushroom pizzas on a plate first instead of directly on the baking dish. This helps to make sure the mushrooms don't get soggy when you're cooking them in the oven.

Should I saute garlic before putting it on pizza? Yes, most people prefer the pungency and bite of raw garlic to be softened by cooking. With pizza, the best way to do that is sauté the garlic before hand or, as is the case here, gently cook it in butter.

When you use spinach as a pizza topping, do you saute it first, wilt it first, or just put it on raw? I've tried all different ways but I like to wilt it in a saute pan first so it doesn't dry out or burn. If you want to use it raw, I find it best to add it for only the last 2 or 3 minutes.

Delicate greens, like arugula and spinach, don't need to be precooked for pizza, but hearty, leafy greens — especially those with coarse stems — need to be cooked first. Blanch broccoli rabe to soften the stems and tame some of the bitterness, make crispy kale for extra crunch, or sauté Swiss chard!

The steam from the base can't escape, so it condenses on your crispy surface and turns it wet and soggy. Use a pizza stone or a pan with holes to get a crispy pizza crust. A pizza stone will keep your pizza hot and its porousness will absorb some condensation.

A baking steel helps the underside of your pizza brown and crisp to perfection. The recommended option is a baking steel, which most home pizza bakers prefer. A baking steel has significant thermal mass, plus it excels in an extra category: thermal conductivity.

Simmer Your Sauce

The best way to achieve restaurant style pizza sauce is by making it yourself. Don't bother using fresh tomatoes. Canned whole San Marzano tomatoes are the most consistent in quality, and have the perfect balance of sweetness and acidity.

Spinach Pizza Tips

Simply chop it, if needed, and add it between the sauce and the cheese. Fresh is best here, as frozen spinach will have a different texture, but in a pinch you can substitute frozen spinach. Just make sure it's thawed and then squeeze out any extra moisture before placing it on your pie.

What is the best cheese for homemade pizza? ›

The most commonly used cheese on pizza is mozzarella, because it melts beautifully without turning oily or lumpy. Cheeses such as feta, haloumi and aged gouda are tasty toppings, but they're a bit fancy for families and don't melt as well as mozzarella. Low-moisture mozzarella in particular has great melt and stretch.

Onions should be pan sautéed with a little olive oil until soft and caramelized before putting on top of a pizza. Raw onions contain a lot of moisture and will not cook evenly if baked on top of a raw pizza dough.

Thinly slice vegetables like fresh mushrooms, zucchini, and bell peppers, and toss them in olive oil and seasonings before putting them on the pizza while it's still frozen. If you have leftover cooked vegetables those work, too. Leafy greens like spinach and kale should be quickly sautéed with oil and garlic first.

Frozen spinach is blanched before it's packaged, meaning it's cooked quickly before freezing. This gives it a super satisfying texture when topped on a pizza: lightly crunchy and almost fluffy, whereas cooked spinach can get a little slimy.

Spinach. The leafy green is packed with nutrients, but you'll absorb more calcium and iron if you eat it cooked. The reason: Spinach is loaded with oxalic acid, which blocks the absorption of iron and calcium but breaks down under high temperatures. What Do You Really Get When You Buy Organic?

The milder, young leaves can be eaten raw in a salad, while the older ones are usually cooked (spinach has one of the shortest cooking times of all vegetables). It reduces very dramatically during cooking; a 450g bag will be just enough for two people. Read our guide on the health benefits of spinach.