Pizza Prosciutto Funghi
The dish in context
Prosciutto e funghi is a standard pizzeria topping across Italy rather than a protected regional specialty. In Italian usage, prosciutto on this pizza usually means prosciutto cotto — cooked ham — not prosciutto crudo, which is normally added after baking when used at all. The structure is the same pizzeria grammar as a Margherita: tomato, mozzarella, restrained toppings, high heat. Mushrooms are most often common cultivated mushrooms, sliced thin enough to cook before they flood the pizza. Olives and artichokes can appear in neighboring pizzeria combinations, but they move the pie toward capricciosa or quattro stagioni.
Method 9 steps · 1530 min
Mix the dough
Dissolve the yeast in the water, add the flour, and mix until no dry patches remain. Rest 20 minutes, then add the salt and knead 5-7 minutes until the dough is smooth, elastic, and slightly tacky rather than sticky.
Ferment cold
Cover the dough and refrigerate 18-24 hours. It should rise slowly, smell faintly yeasty and wheaty, and show small bubbles under the surface.
Divide and proof
Divide into 4 balls of about 210 g each. Ball tightly, place in lightly floured covered containers, and proof at room temperature for 2-3 hours until relaxed and puffy.
Drain the wet ingredients
Crush the tomatoes by hand, drain off loose watery juice, and season with the sauce salt. Drain torn mozzarella on paper towels or in a sieve for at least 30 minutes. Slice the mushrooms thinly and pat them dry.
Heat the baking surface hard
Place a pizza steel or stone on the upper-middle rack and heat the oven at its maximum setting, ideally 275-300°C / 525-575°F, for at least 45 minutes. If the oven has a broiler, switch it on for the final 5 minutes before launching.
Stretch the first pizza
Dust the dough lightly with semolina or flour. Press from the center outward, leaving a 1.5-2 cm rim, then stretch to about 28-30 cm. Do not roll it flat.
Top with restraint
Spread a thin layer of tomato, leaving the rim bare. Add mozzarella, prosciutto cotto strips, and a single loose layer of mushrooms. The surface should still show tomato between toppings.
Bake
Launch onto the hot steel or stone and bake 5-8 minutes, turning once if the oven browns unevenly. Pull when the rim is blistered in spots, the cheese is melted but not browned hard, and the mushrooms have browned edges.
Finish and repeat
Drizzle lightly with extra virgin olive oil after baking. Slice immediately, then bake the remaining pizzas the same way, letting the oven recover for 3-5 minutes between pies.
Common mistakes
- {'mistake': 'Using prosciutto crudo as the baked ham layer.', 'fix': 'Use prosciutto cotto for the classic pizzeria version. If using prosciutto crudo, add it after baking and accept that the pizza has become a different variant.'}
- {'mistake': 'Loading the pizza with thick mushroom slices.', 'fix': 'Slice mushrooms 2-3 mm thick and keep them in one loose layer. Thick mushrooms dump water before they brown.'}
- {'mistake': 'Cooking the tomato sauce.', 'fix': 'Use crushed, salted tomatoes. Cooked sauce tastes heavier and pushes the pizza toward a different Italian-American profile.'}
- {'mistake': 'Using wet mozzarella straight from the brine.', 'fix': 'Drain fior di latte thoroughly, or use whole-milk low-moisture mozzarella in a weak oven.'}
- {'mistake': 'Baking on a cold sheet pan.', 'fix': 'Use a fully preheated stone or steel. A room-temperature tray gives a breadlike base before the top has time to color.'}
What does not belong
- {'item': 'Cream sauce', 'reason': 'Cream does not belong in pizza prosciutto e funghi. The base is tomato and mozzarella.'}
- {'item': 'Smoked ham or bacon', 'reason': 'Smoke dominates the mild cooked-ham profile. Use prosciutto cotto or a mild cooked ham.'}
- {'item': 'Truffle oil', 'reason': 'Truffle oil turns the pizza into a modern mushroom pizza. It does not belong in the standard pizzeria version.'}
- {'item': 'Dried oregano as a heavy blanket', 'reason': 'Oregano belongs clearly on marinara and some tomato-forward pizzas; here it flattens the ham and mushroom. If used at all, use a pinch, not a layer.'}
- {'item': 'Raw arugula or shaved Parmigiano', 'reason': 'Those belong to other pizzeria combinations. Prosciutto e funghi is built around cooked ham, mushrooms, tomato, and mozzarella.'}