This recipe was a true labor of love. Sometimes food just taste better when you know you’ve put a lot of time into it.
It’s not that this recipe was at all difficult, it just takes time. Between the fermenting dough and caramelized onions, you need to plan ahead for this one. But most of the time is spent letting the ingredients do their own thing while you go paint your toe nails, do your laundry, or watch Law & Order. So, don’t be scared off by the length of it.
This pizza is truly awesome with it’s garlicky cream sauce, sweet caramelized onions, and earthy sauteed mushrooms. Everything just goes together. And after calculating the cost, I have to say I was quite surprised. I expected the total to be twice as much and to have to explain that I was simply trying to use up a bag of onions that have been sitting on my counter for a couple weeks and a half pound of mushrooms that were starting to get wrinkly in my fridge. I guess I don’t have to make excuses after all! It’s an all around winner!
So, plan ahead to have a pizza night this Friday and mix up your dough the night before… you WON’T be disappointed!
Caramelized Onion & Mushroom Pizza
Caramelized Onion & Mushroom White Pizza
Servings 4Ingredients
DOUGH
- 2 cups all purpose flour ($0.30)
- 1 tsp salt ($0.05)
- 1/4 tsp instant yeast ($0.02)
- 3/4 cup water (approximately) ($0.00)
TOPPINGS
- 3 small yellow onions $0.84 ($0.84)
- 2 Tbsp olive oil $0.24 ($0.24)
- a pinch salt and pepper $0.05 ($0.05)
- 8 oz button mushrooms $1.75 ($1.75)
- 1/4 tsp dried thyme $0.02 ($0.02)
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella $0.93 ($0.93)
- handful fresh parsley (optional) ($0.10)
SAUCE
- 1 Tbsp butter ($0.12)
- 1 clove garlic ($0.08)
- 4 oz cream cheese ($0.93)
- 1/2 cup milk ($0.13)
- 1/4 tsp salt ($0.02)
Instructions
- The night before, combine the flour, salt, and yeast in a bowl. Stir to combine. Add just enough water to make the mixture form a ball of dough with no dry flour left on the bottom of the bowl. This will be around 3/4 cup of water. Loosely cover the bowl and allow the dough to rest at room temperature for 12-18 hours.
- The next day, about an hour and a half before you plan to eat, thinly slice three small (or 2 medium/large) yellow onions. Saute the onions in a skillet over medium-low heat with 2 tablespoons of olive oil for about 45 minutes, stirring the mixture every 2-3 minutes. The end result should be deep golden brown, soft, sweet onions. For a more detailed, step by step photo tutorial on how to caramelize onions, check here.
- While the onions are cooking, slice the mushrooms. Take the caramelized onions out of the skillet and add the mushrooms, along with a pinch of salt and pepper and the dried thyme. There should be some residual oil in the skillet to cook the mushrooms, if not add a tad more. Cook the mushrooms until all of the moisture has evaporated away (about 10 minutes over medium heat).
- While the mushrooms are cooking, prepare the cream sauce. Mince a clove of garlic and add it to a pot with 1 tablespoon of butter. Saute over medium heat until softened (about 2 minutes). Next, add the cream cheese, milk, and 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Heat and whisk this mixture until a smooth sauce forms (about 5 minutes).
- Adjust the rack in your oven to its highest position and begin to preheat to 500 degrees. The dough at this point should be at least double in volume and very bubbly (see photos below). Sprinkle it generously with flour and then scrape it out of the bowl and onto a floured surface. Pat the dough down into a circle about ten inches in diameter. Transfer the dough to a large (16-inch) pizza pan that has been coated with non-stick spray and stretch/press it the rest of the way out to the edges of the pan.
- Spread the sauce over the surface of the dough with the back of a spoon. Sprinkle the caramelized onions and sauteed mushrooms over top. Finally, add the shredded mozzarella. Bake the pizza in the fully preheated 500 degree oven for 12-15 minutes or until the crust is golden brown. Sprinkle with chopped fresh parsley after baking, if desired.
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Nutrition
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Step By Step Photos
The night before, stir together the flour, salt, and yeast. Stir in just enough water until it forms a ball of dough like this. For me it was about 3/4 cup of water, but it will be different every time depending on the humidity and other factors. Loosely cover the dough and let it sit at room temperature for 12-18 hours. This will develop the gluten to give you a nice crisp/chewy crust and also provide flavor.
The next day, about an hour and a half before you want to eat, get the onions started. You can use three small or two medium or large onions. You could even caramelize a double batch and then freeze half so that you don’t have to do it all over again next time!
Slice the onions and pop them into a skillet along with 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Start cooking them over medium/low heat, stirring every few minutes.
This is a long, slow process and must be done that way. After about 45 minutes of slow cooking, the onions will be like this. I could have even cooked them longer, but I was all like “I WANT PIZZA NOW!” so I stopped here. For a more detailed photo instruction of how to caramelize onions, look here.
To avoid dirtying another pan, I just took the onions out and added my sliced mushrooms. There was enough oil left over in the skillet that I didn’t need to add more, but do so if you need to. Also add a pinch of salt, pepper, and a 1/4 tsp of dried thyme.
Cook those mushrooms down until they have released all of their moisture and then that moisture has evaporated off (about 10 minutes).
While the mushrooms are cooking, you can begin making the sauce. Mince a clove of garlic and saute it for about 2 minutes in a tablespoon of butter.
Then add 4 ounces of cream cheese, a half cup of milk, and a 1/4 teaspoon of salt…
Whisk and heat the ingredients together until they form a smooth sauce (about 5 minutes over medium heat)
Now back to that dough… This is what it looks like after about 16 hours. Big, fluffy, bubbly, and most importantly, STICKY. Sprinkle some flour over top of the dough and then use your hands to scrape it off the sides of the bowl and onto a floured counter top. Oh yeah, and begin to preheat your oven to 500 degrees now too, because that may take a while. And make sure your oven rack is on it’s highest level.
Once you have the dough out on your counter top, press it down into a circle that is about half the size that you want it. You need to be able to transfer it to the pizza pan and then you can stretch and press it the rest of the way out once it’s on there. I used a large 16 inch pizza pan.
Transfer the partially stretched dough onto a pizza pan coated with non-stick spray. Stretch it the rest of the way out. Pour the cream sauce on top and use the back of a spoon to spread it around.
Sprinkle the mushrooms and onions over top…
And then sprinkle just a little mozzarella over top (1 cup). Since there’s already a rich cream sauce, I didn’t want to add a ton of cheese. Plus, I didn’t want it to over power the onion and mushroom flavor.
Bake that puppy for about 12-15 minutes or until the crust is nice and golden brown. Add fresh parsley on top after cooking, if desired (it just makes it look nice).
Why, hello gorgeous… *wink, wink*
Probably the best pizza I have ever eaten! My fiancé and I absolutely loved it!
Tried it, it came out amazing.
I made this and it was wonderful! It was my first time ever attempting to make the dough myself, but my family raved over it! I’m making it again tonight.
Did the recipe per written ; except– added some rare, deli sliced- top round.
Oh, I also, used a stone on a propane grill with a portable little smoker using apple wood- And, I have passed these instructions added to your amazing tutorial to several people . Same result every time. Amazing
Cream cheese as pizza sauce! I’ve been doing this for years but never saw it much in recipes! Right on. Can’t wait to try this but sub spinach and prosciutto for the mushrooms maybe.
Hi Beth! This looks amazing! I don’t have a pizza pan, could I get away with using a sheet pan or cookie sheet?
Yes, but I suggest adding a liberal dose of cornmeal to the sheet pan to slightly elevate the dough off the pan and allow steam to escape. That will help make it crispier on bottom instead of soggy.
I’m really curious about the dough, and not so much the toppings. The dough I make takes about 20 mins in total (10 mins to proof the yeast; 5 mins to let it stand after kneading it), using pizza dough yeast (the stuff that comes in a three-pack). Flour, salt, sugar, oil, water, yeast. From the moment I put the yeast in the water+ sugar to the time I pull the finished product out of the oven is pretty much 45-50 minutes. It turns out pretty amazing.
My question to you is, what is this crust like that you’ve got going on? Could you describe its properties post-oven?
This type of long fermentation produces a dough that is crispy on the outside and a little more chewy on the inside. :)
I had some caramelized onions, mushrooms, sauteed ramps and pizza dough lying around, so this was perfect. I used your recipe for the garlic white sauce as a base and added truffle oil and fresh mozzarella – it turned out amazingly. Thank you!
I made this, added bacon, was delicious! Next time I will add just a tad more garlic to the sauce and roll the crust out thinner.
Hi Beth,
I’m really looking forward to making this on sunday for myself and two friends. I know you listed that it serves 4, I’m just curious how many pieces you consider to equal 1 serving. Only asking because we are big eaters lol and I’m trying to decide if I should include a side with the meal or not. Thanks a lot! p.s. do you have any suggestions for a good side to go with a pizza?? other than a salad that I’m making already!
Ah, yes, definitely make some more sides! This only made one pizza, so two slices per serving. Or, you could make two pizzas and just do that and the salad. :)
So freaking good. I used goat cheese and parm instead of cream cheese, since I didn’t have any. Also, I had no mozza in the fridge, so I didn’t top it with any cheese.
I made this gluten free with Cup4Cup flour blend and dairy free with a df cream cheese, df butter, almond milk, and vegan cheese. My favorite part was the crust. I realized my dough wasn’t rising much so I read the yeast packaging, which said it needs warm/hot water when used without dissolving. Then, I added a little bit of warm water, waited a few hours, and used it. My white sauce was super runny, but I can’t blame the recipe because of how many substitutions I had to make. Still a really yummy pizza!
I love all your recipes that I’ve tried and this was no exception, it was awesome! I did some changes like store bought crust and I included some of my morel mushrooms that my husband gathered last Spring and it was fantastic!
Had “pizza week” last week and made this and your Greek pizza (it called for caramelized onions too, so made a little extra). Wow. Was a little worried about cream cheese in pizza sauce but yum! This was insanely good – as was a vegetarian version of the Greek (olives instead of pepperoni). Your recipes rock!
Forgot to add *’s. Have now made this twice :) and it keeps getting better.
I made this with the boyfriend so that we didn’t have to order out. Yum. So much yum.
Hey Beth, first of all I’m a huge fan of your blog. I had trouble with this recipe though in regards to making the dough. I seem to have the same problem as another person below. I made sure to use instant yeast, but it says quick rise on the package and that it needs less rising time. I don’t know if that has something to do with it, but it seemed to be the only kind my grocery store had. My dough looked nothing like yours, I checked it 12 hours later but waited the full 18 in hopes that it would get better. It wasn’t bubbly at all or very sticky and didn’t even seem to really expand. It was like a dry ball that was ripping apart when I tried to stretch it. Any ideas? I still made the pizza and it tasted good with those delicious toppings it’s just the crust was weird and small. Any advice would be greatly appreciated :)
Hmm, yeah, I think that the “quick rise” yeast is not the same as “instant”. It sounds like that’s the type that needs to be proofed in water to activate before adding to the recipe. I would suggest using a regular pizza dough recipe, like this one, next time and that should work better. :)
Thank you so much! It’s just confusing because it says instant on it. I will try that recipe next time for the dough. Love this pizza though, the topping combination is really great.
This was a delicious addition to our pizza night repertoire. I cook a lot and try to DIY lots of the things other folks might buy packaged. Unfortunately, looking to blogs for recipes usually frustrates me more than helps. Unskilled narcissists who spend their time posing basil for photos instead of writing concise cooking method. Your blog really changed all that! The recipes are great and it’s really all about great food on a budget. Thank you!