Are you ready for this pizza of the dead? Black sesame dough, basil pesto, sauteed onions, cheese and cute savoury mushroom skulls topped with fresh herbs make it perfect. A fun way to celebrate Halloween with your hungry friends, goblins and ghouls.
Cupcakes, candies, cakes and cookies are most favourite Halloween treats. For instance, these monster strawberry cupcakes, this delicious spider web roll cake or these finger cookies. However, I like hearty and savoury spooky snacks, too. For instance, a pizza. How to make a different pizza? Try a black base and small button mushroom skulls for a spooky pizza. I can assure you, it’s a perfect Halloween idea.
Black pizza dough
How do you feel bout black food? Most of the time we associate it with food gone bad. Right? But not in this case. This black color is interesting and trendy. I like how it looks and brings out the contrast to other colourful food. And, it makes your dish look fancier. Wink.
If you are intrigued by some black food, you might check out this gourmet pumpkin squid ink spaghetti or a cold dish, such as this prosciutto-melon spaghetti.
Many black dough recipes require activated charcoal powder or squid ink in order to achieve that deep black colour. I tried to find those at the grocery and at the Chinese market. I asked for the charcoal at the pharmacy, as well. No luck finding these ingredients, though. With some brainstorming, I came up with black sesame paste. But, I still needed to order it online.
Black sesame paste is a great substitute for activated charcoal and squid ink. Besides giving a lovely dark colour to the dough, it also adds a light nutty note. Nutty and earthy have always been a good combination. Therefore, mushrooms are a great choice to pair with the black sesame pizza dough.
Additionally, I want to share a quick trick or tip with you. Instead of using flour for dusting, I used deep green pumpkin seed oil. Not only does it give a lovely light greenish tone to the dough but it makes it taste better as well. And your dough is not covered with white spots.
Mushroom skulls
Using mushrooms to create small skulls is a cute and creative idea. And, it is so simple and quick, too. In order to make the eye holes, use a straw. Using a small carving knife make a nose and teeth. The amazing thing is, you can create two skulls with only one mushroom. Interesting, right? Create the faces on opposite sides of the mushroom and then halve it.
I picked white button mushrooms to resemble the white skull colour. Also, I wanted some darker and some white mushrooms. By using only white mushrooms I achieved both. How? I put half of the mushrooms at the beginning of baking in the oven and the other half I simply shortly sauteed in a pan.
The mushrooms which were baked in the oven got dark brownish. They almost look dirty. Wink. So perfect! Those made in the pan stayed white and so created a lovely colour contrast on the dark pizza.
Additionally, to give the pizza an abandoned cemetery look, add some green pesto (here is a recipe for a homemade arugula-basil pesto), some green cheese and some fresh green herbs, such as rosemary, thyme, mint, chives, parsley or coriander. In other words, create a happy fresh garden. Wink. It almost looks like a walking-dead cemetery. Wink.
Ingredients for a pizza of the dead (30 x 40 cm):
- 4 g dried yeast
- 160 ml lukewarm water
- 100-120 g black sesame paste
- 1 tsp of black food colour (if needed)
- 30 g sourdough starter or levain (optional)
- 250 g flour
- 5 g sea salt
- black pepper
- pumpkin oil
- a knob of butter
- 20 ml olive oil
- 2 small red onions (sliced)
- 4 garlic cloves (chopped)
- a sprig of fresh rosemary
- 60 ml red wine
- 12 white button mushrooms
- 100 g green pesto (basil, arugula)
- 90-100 g basil pesto cheese (grated)
- mixed fresh herbs (thyme, parsley, chives)
To begin, pour the lukewarm water into a cup or a bowl, add the dried yeast and leave it for 10 minutes. In a medium bowl, combine flour, salt, pepper, sesame paste and the sourdough starter. Once the dried yeast gets frothy, pour it into the flour and mix it all together. If needed, add a tip of a knife of black food colour. Continue mixing or stirring until it comes together. Then, using your hands, knead it until smooth and elastic. Instead of dusting your surface with flour, use some drops of pumpkin seed oil. Form a ball, place it into a slightly greased bowl and loosely cover it with a damp kitchen towel. Let it proof in a draft-free place for 2-3 hours or until doubled in size.
Making mushroom skulls
In the meantime, clean the mushrooms and trim the end of the stems. To create the skulls, firstly, use a straw to cut out two eye sockets, secondly, with a sharp carving knife cut out a small triangle to form the nose and score some lines down the stipe to create “teeth”. Thirdly, turn the mushroom around and create the same face on the opposite side. At this point, cut the mushroom in half to get two skulls. Continue with the remaining mushrooms.
Afterwards, peel and slice the onion and chop the garlic. Chop the rosemary needles. In a larger frying pan, add the olive oil and butter. Once warm, stir in the rosemary, onion and garlic. Cook it for a couple of minutes or until soft. Deglaze with red wine. Cook until almost the whole liquid evaporates. Set aside.
In another pan, drizzle some olive oil. After it gets hot, add half of the mushroom skulls and sautee them for a minute, by keeping them white. Remove from the heat.
Place a sheet of parchment paper on your working surface and flip the pizza dough on it. Put a baking sheet in the oven and preheat it to 230°C (or the maximum capacity of your oven). Meanwhile, roll out and stretch the dough (about 2-3 mm thick) to your desired form and size.
Spread the pesto all over the dough, add the grated cheese, sauteed onions and the second half of the mushrooms. Carefully take the baking sheet out of the oven and, pulling the parchment paper, drag the pizza onto the sheet. Push the baking sheet back in the oven on the lower part. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until the dough forms a nice crust.
Finally, take the pizza of the dead out of the oven and top it with sauteed mushrooms and fresh herbs. Cut it into desired pieces and serve while still hot.
Enjoy.
