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Caramelized Mushroom and Arugula Pizza Bianca

Homemade pizza–not easy to resist. When it’s homemade, I can’t stop eating, one slice at a time and it’s gone! This caramelized mushroom arugula pizza bianca with its thin and nutty whole wheat crust is mighty tempting.

Caramelized Mushroom and Arugula Pizza Bianca cut, on wooden pizza peel

Did you notice I didn’t say anything about tomatoes? Right, nary a tomato in sight on this pizza. In pizza talk, when pizza isn’t topped with tomato sauce or, it’s a “white” pizza, in Italian, pizza bianca.

CLICK HERE to PIN Caramelized Mushroom, Arugula, and Goat Cheese Pizza!

While it’s not as easy as ordering on the phone, what comes from your oven is above and beyond what comes in a box. And a whole lot more fun—pizza is a party in the making! Knowing how to make and bake pizza is a culinary trick you want up your sleeve.

Caramelized Mushroom and Arugula Pizza Bianca assembly before the arugula

Like children who play well with others, this pizza’s toppings have fun together.

The slightly bitter walnuts play perfectly with peppery arugula, the aromatic garlic complements caramelized mushrooms, the balsamic vinegar highlights arugula, and those crunchy walnuts and mildly tangy goat cheese, well, that’s flavor affinity! The finishing sprinkle of pungent thyme accents each and every other ingredient. Can you taste what I’m saying?

Caramelized Mushroom and Arugula Pizza Bianca done and uncut

Pizza- an eatable plate full of tempting toppings. This thin and crisp platter with golden-sautéed mushrooms, fresh goat cheese, crunchy walnuts, garlicky olive oil, and a tangle of peppery arugula–can you resist?

Often, the homemade vegetarian pizzas that come from my oven are not tomato-sauced. Pizza bianca. Pizza around here might be thinly sliced potatoes on top of basil pesto, or tangy-sweet summer peaches with arugula, or caramelized onions and fontina cheese, and ever so rarely, tomatoes. It seems I’m just a pizza bianca kind of gal.

*** Just so you know, some of the links below are affiliates. When you purchase products via my links, it doesn’t cost you anything and I earn a tiny commission, which helps me continue to provide free content here on Letty’s Kitchen. Thank you!!

What kind of crust can you use for pizza bianca? What if you don’t have time to make a homemade crust?

  • You can bake your caramelized mushroom and arugula pizza bianca on just about any bottom crust you please.
  • At our house we roll with whole wheat pizza dough, a stellar dough that’s easy to make and prepare ahead, yet fast-rising enough to be ready to use in an hour.
  • If you want to roll your own but don’t want to mess with yeast, ask for fresh dough at your favorite bread bakery.
  • Look for rolled and ready pizza dough in grocery store freezer cases. They sell ready-to-top pizza crusts with clean-eating ingredients at both Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s.
  • *** Gluten free? Give cauliflower crust a try. Costco carries a cauliflower crust that’s ready to top and bake. Simple Mills sells a boxed gluten-free pizza dough mix.
  • Another option is to build your pizza on pre-baked flatbread, like the naan bread from Stone Fired Oven.

Can you substitute a different cheese?

  • Yes! You might want to try a mix of melty fresh mozzarella and salty feta. Blue cheese like Gorgonzola also has excellent flavor affinity for mushrooms, arugula, and walnuts.
  • For a vegan pizza, mix a little fruity olive oil into the “cheese” and let it sit a few minutes before topping the pizza.

Do I need a pizza stone and peel to make pizza?

  • No. Don’t let want of equipment keep you from homemade pizza.
  • Granted, a wooden or metal peel (Affiliate link) helps slide pizza in and out of the oven, and a hot pizza stone (Affiliate link) yields a quickly baked crisp crust, but you can build and bake pizza quite easily on a cookie sheet (Affiliate link) or round pizza pan. (Affiliate link)
  • However you build your pizza, be sure to sprinkle cornmeal on the pan or peel before placing the rolled dough. The cornmeal acts as ball-bearings so the crust doesn’t stick to the pan and slides easily onto the stone.
  • If you have a pizza stone but no peel, build your pizza on an upside down cookie sheet that you’ve sprinkled with cornmeal, and use it to slide your pizza onto the stone.

Caramelized Mushroom and Arugula Pizza Bianca cut with one slice half eaten

What’s the easiest way to cut pizza?

  • With scissors. They’re much more up to the task than any pizza wheel.
  • Those in the know: At Nostrana in Portland Oregon they give you scissors with your uncut pizza!


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You might also like how caramelized mushrooms enhance this spicy red lentil mushroom pasta.

**Adapted from a NY Times article by Martha Rose Shulman, who wrote several cookbooks that grace my cookbook shelves, The Vegetarian Feast and Fast Vegetarian Feasts.

This post contains affiliate links. When you purchase products via my links, it doesn’t cost you anything and I earn a tiny commission, which helps me continue to provide free content here on Letty’s Kitchen. Thank you!!

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Nutrition Facts
Homemade Caramelized Mushroom and Arugula Pizza Bianca
Amount Per Serving
Calories 114 Calories from Fat 99
% Daily Value*
Fat 11g17%
Saturated Fat 1g6%
Sodium 3mg0%
Potassium 106mg3%
Carbohydrates 1g0%
Protein 1g2%
Vitamin A 10IU0%
Vitamin C 0.7mg1%
Calcium 5mg1%
Iron 0.3mg2%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

1 comment

  • This pizza looks so appetizing, and I really don’t think pizza needs tomato sauce to be delicious. I love these toppings! Reply · 5 December, 2018

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