Mushroom-Prosciutto Pizza

For the dough:

1. In a 2 cup measuring cup, combine the water and honey, stir to combine and sprinkle the yeast over it. Let it sit until the mixture is foamy, about 10 minutes. If the yeast doesn’t “proof” (get “foamy”) pour it out and start again. It is important to have a live yeast mixture.
2. Meanwhile place the flour and the salt into a sifter and sift it into the medium bowl of a stand mixer. Make a well in the center of the flour and pour in the 1/4 cup olive oil and the “proofed” yeast mixture. Turn the mixer, fitted with dough hooks, to high speed (labeled knead on my mixer). Continue kneading (mixing) until the dough comes cleanly away from the sides of the bowl and forms a ball around the dough hooks (scrape the sides of the bowl to move flour into the path of the hooks as needed).
3. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth but still slightly tacky (add flour gradually as needed to reach the slightly tacky state). This will probably take about 3 to 5 minutes.
4. Lightly oil a large mixing bowl with about 1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil. Place the dough in the bowl and turn it to oil the ball on all sides. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a light cloth and set in a warm, draft-free place until nearly doubled in size. This will take about 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
5. After the dough has doubled in size, remove the dough from the bowl and form it into a 12-inch log. Divide the log in half and form each half into equally sized dough balls. Lightly oil 2 large mixing bowls with about 1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil. Place each dough ball into its own bowl and turn to oil the ball on all sides. Cover each bowl with plastic and set in a warm, draft-free place until nearly doubled in size again, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

For the topping:

1. Melt butter in a 12-inch, nonstick skillet over medium-high heat then add 2 tablespoon of olive oil and the mushrooms and shallots. Sauté mushrooms and shallots until the shallots are translucent and the mushrooms are tender, about 7 minutes. Add garlic and thyme and sauté 1 minute. Stir in the Marsala. Correct seasoning to taste and remove from heat.

For the construction and baking:

1. Place an appropriately sized pizza stone on the middle shelf of your oven and pre-heat the oven to 450 F.
2. On a lightly floured work surface, place one of the dough balls and flatten into a disk with your fingertips and palms. Then, press it into a thinner disk of dough approximately 10 to 12 inches round and about 1/8-inch thick (if necessary use a rolling pin to achieve the 1/8-inch thickness. But don’t worry if the pizza isn’t perfectly round . . . that’s called “rustica” and it’s the way “real” Italian pizza looks in Italy). Sprinkle flour over the surface of this thin disk (this will become the bottom of the pie when you place the disk on the peel in the next instruction).
3. Distribute some corn meal over the surface of a pizza peel (this will act as “ball bearings” and allow the dough rounds to move easily over the surface of the peel) and transfer the formed pizza base onto the peel. Lightly spread about ½ of the mushroom mixture evenly over crust, then sprinkle it evenly with ½ of the prosciutto and ½ of the fontina cheese (leaving about ½ inch of uncoated dough around the edge to form the crust).
4. Finally sprinkle a little extra-virgin olive oil over the surface.
5. Gently shake the peel to insure the pizza moves freely (if it doesn’t, gently lift the edges of the pizza and distribute additional corn meal until it does). Using the peel, slide the pizza onto the stone and bake the pizza until the cheese is melted and bubbly, about 12 minutes in a 450 F oven. Remove from the oven, slice into 8 wedge shaped slices and serve.
6. Repeat with the remaining dough and remaining toppings and cheese.