Leek and Mushroom Pizza
Ingredients
16 ounces Pizza Dough enough for one 12 inch pizza (store bought or make your own)
2 leeks dark green parts removed, cut lengthwise and into half moons
8 ounces shimeji mushrooms sliced
4 slices thick cut bacon diced
1 ½ cups shredded mozzarella
1 tablespoon butter
3 garlic cloves minced
salt
Instructions
Preheat oven to 500°F. Place pizza stone in oven while it's preheating (for at least 30 minutes). If you don't have a pizza stone, use a baking sheet (no need to preheat the baking sheet).
If refrigerated, set pizza dough on the counter for at least half an hour.
Add the mushrooms to a nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Sauté for 5-10 minutes, until mushrooms have released their moisture and pan is dry. Remove from pan.
Add the bacon pieces and allow to render fat and start to become crisp. Remove bacon from pan and leave fat.
Add 1 tablespoon of butter to pan and allow to melt. Add the leeks and season lightly with salt and pepper (remember the bacon is salty, so you don't need much). Sauté for several minutes, until starting to soften. Add the mushrooms back to the pan and continue to cook with the leeks, until starting to turn golden. Add the bacon and the garlic to the pan and cook until fragrant, 30 seconds to one minute. Taste mixture and season with more salt and pepper if needed. Remove from heat.
Use your hands to work the pizza dough ball into a disc, when it gets to be 6-8 inches across, place on the pizza peel and continue to spread into a 12 inch disc.
Spread the half of shredded cheese all over the dough, leaving about an inch of space all around the outside edge of the crust. Cover with the bacon leek and mushroom mixture. Sprinkle with the rest of the cheese..
Once the oven and pizza stone have preheated for 30 minutes, transfer pizza from the pizza peel to the pizza stone in the oven. Cook pizza for 12-14 minutes, until dough is golden brown and the cheese is melted.