This is a traditional thin-crust pizza with a non-traditional topping: parsnips seasoned with tomato purée, tobanjan and garlic oil. It is easy to make but takes some time as the dough has to rise for two hours.
- Fermented broad bean paste (called doubanjiang in Chinese, tobanjan in Japanese) is a key ingredient, as it adds both umami and spicyness to the parsnips. Make sure to check the ingredients as there are many types of chilli bean paste and a lot of them are not vegetarian. The Chinese characters are 豆瓣酱. If it says 辛豆瓣酱 then it will be very spicy. The brand I got is Pearl River Bridge Chilli Bean Paste.
- What I call tomato purée is called tomato paste in the US.
vegetarian • 600 kcal per person 
Ingredients
For two people:
- for the base
- 130 g white flour (I use half “00” pasta flour and half bread flour)
- 80 ml water
- 7 g dried yeast
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 g salt
- for the toppings
- 1 pack (250 g) of mozarella slices
- 200 g parsnips
- 100 g chestnut mushrooms
- a handful of dried funghi porcini
- 50 g grated parmezan or grana padano
- 2 tablespoons pine nuts
- 1 tablespoon tomato purée
- 1 teaspoon garlic oil
- 1/2 teaspoon tobanjan
Preparation
Making the dough
- Put all ingredients in a pot and mix them, then knead until you have a smooth dough.
- Let the dough rest, covered, for one hour.
- Knead the though gently for a second time.
- Let it rest, covered, for another hour.
The toppings
- Soak the porcini mushrooms for 30 minutes in freshly boiled water.
- Wash and peel the parsnips and slice them as thinly as possibly.
- Cook the parsnips in the microwave at 900 W for 3 minutes 30 seconds.
- Put the cooking liquid in a broad, shallow bowl and add the tomato puree, garlic oil and tobanjan. Mix into a smooth paste.
- Add the cooked parsnips and mix so they are evenly covered with the seasoning.
- Slice the mushrooms as thinly as possible.
Making the pizza
- I make a rectangular pizza on a baking tray covered with baking paper.
- I don’t use a rolling pin but flatten the dough by pushing with my fingers.
- Preheat the oven at 250 ºC.
- When the pizza base is ready, cover it with the mozarella slices, parsnips and mushrooms.
- I have a hot air oven so I bake the pizza for 5 minutes, then turn, then bake it for another 5 minutes.
- Take the pizza out of the oven.
- Add the porcini mushrooms, pine kernels and grated hard cheese.
- Put the pizza back in the oven and bake for another 3 minutes.