Mushroom Pizza with Thyme and Fontina

The Last Good Weeks

September in New England has this specific quality. The evenings cool off fast, the light goes golden earlier, and you find yourself firing up the oven in a hoodie. We lean into that. This mushroom pizza was built for exactly that moment — something earthy and a little rich, the kind of pie that actually tastes like the season.

No red sauce here. This one is a white base with fontina, and it is worth making.

What You Need

For one 12-inch pizza:

• Pizza dough — one ball, room temp for at least an hour before you stretch it
• Fontina — about 3 oz, grated or torn into small pieces. Don’t use the rubbery domestic stuff if you can avoid it
• Mushrooms — 5 to 6 oz mixed, cremini and shiitake both work well together
• Fresh thyme — 6 to 8 sprigs, leaves stripped
• Garlic — 2 cloves, sliced thin
• Olive oil — for the base and for cooking the mushrooms
• Kosher salt and black pepper
• Finishing olive oil — a better one if you have it, added post-bake

Cook the Mushrooms First

This is the step people skip, and they end up with wet, steamed mushrooms on their pizza. Don’t skip it.

Get a dry skillet hot — medium-high. Add the mushrooms with nothing else and let them sit until they release their liquid and that liquid evaporates. Then add a little olive oil and the sliced garlic. Cook another two or three minutes. Season with salt and pepper, pull from the heat, and fold in about half the thyme leaves. Let them cool slightly before they go on the dough.

Wet mushrooms ruin this pizza. Cook them down.

Building the Pizza

Stretch your dough to about 12 inches. Brush the surface lightly with olive oil — just enough to coat. No heavy hand here. Lay down the fontina in an even layer, leaving your edge clear. Scatter the cooked mushrooms over the top. Finish with the remaining thyme leaves and a few cracks of black pepper.

If you are cooking on an Ooni Koda 12 or a Solo Stove Pi, you are looking at a 60 to 90 second cook at around 900°F. Turn it once at the halfway point. The fontina melts fast and the edges will char nicely.

If you are on the Ninja Woodfire — and we know some of you are — you will get a longer cook at 700°F. Give it 4 to 6 minutes and keep an eye on the undercarriage.

Out of the Oven

Hit it with a drizzle of your best finishing olive oil right when it comes off the stone. The thyme on top will have crisped slightly. Let it rest for 60 seconds before you cut it.

This is a quieter pizza than a pepperoni, but it earns its place on a cool September evening.

Try This Next

If you want to extend the season, look at your setup for cold weather preheat times — a 45°F evening changes how long your stone takes to get there, and it matters more than most people expect.