![Eggplant and Mushroom Pizza Eggplant and Mushroom Pizza](http://streaminggourmet.com/assets_c/2008/12/pizzadone.jpg)
Thanks to Jessie from The Hungry Mouse and Reeni of CinnamonSpiceAndEverythingNice, I was able to solve the problems I encountered when I tried to make Homemade Eggplant Pizza the first time. See that post here.
When I made pizza the last time, the crust never fully baked and therefore the pizza was soggy and the dough was downright raw in the middle.
They recommended that I prebake the pizza crust just a little and they also recommended that I cook the pizza for longer than 12 minutes – more like 18 – 22 minutes in a very hot oven. I particularly liked Reeni’s advice to preheat the oven to 500˚F and then turn it back to 450˚F once I put the pizza in the oven. My oven tends to trend a little low anyway and opening the door always knocks the temperature down, so preheating a little high was a great idea.
![To avoid this puffing, prick the raw pizza dough with a fork before putting it in the oven. To avoid this puffing, prick the raw pizza dough with a fork.](http://streaminggourmet.com/assets_c/2008/12/puffcrust.jpg)
I forgot to prick the pizza dough before I put it in the oven to pre-bake so I was startled by this puffing up of the dough. But that can easily be avoided by pricking the dough with a fork to let the air escape. I was able to flatten it back out after removing it from the oven, so it wasn’t a huge disaster.
I used this pizza baking pan that has holes in it to allow air to circulate and I set my oven to “convection.” Circulating the air with the convection setting helps things brown better.
![Non-stick pizza baking pan Non-stick pizza baking pan](http://streaminggourmet.com/assets_c/2008/12/pan.jpg)
Other steps I took this time included sautéeing the eggplant first (with mushrooms and tomatoes) to get more water out (of all the vegetables). I also let the salted eggplant pieces sit in a strainer for longer and squeezed out the water harder.
![Eggplant salted and draining Eggplant salted and draining](http://streaminggourmet.com/assets_c/2008/12/eggplantdrain.jpg)
![Mushrooms sautéeing Mushrooms sautéeing](http://streaminggourmet.com/assets_c/2008/12/mushrooms.jpg)
![Mushrooms and Eggplant Sautéeing Mushrooms and Eggplant Sautéeing](http://streaminggourmet.com/assets_c/2008/12/musheggplant.jpg)
![Sliced Cherry Tomatoes Added Sliced Cherry Tomatoes Added](http://streaminggourmet.com/assets_c/2008/12/sauteetomato.jpg)
![Ready to Go Into the Oven Ready to Go Into the Oven](http://streaminggourmet.com/assets_c/2008/12/readyforoven.jpg)
Now that I know how to make homemade pizza that isn’t soggy, be on the lookout for more pizza creations.
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1 reply on “Eggplant and Mushroom Pizza with Yummy, Crispy Crust”
I couldn’t take my eyes off this wonderful pizza! I can almost imagine the smell of this in my kitchen 🙂 Thanks for sharing, I’ll definitely make one today! oh and If you have time will you drop by at Foodista ? We are building an online food and cooking encyclopedia ala wikipedia and you can also check out our recipes on the site 🙂 Cheers!