Seasonal Pizza Toppings: Autumn Edition

When the clocks go back, the days get shorter, and the temperatures drop, pizza ingredients aren’t often the first items on the weekly food shop. However, here at Igneus, we’re firm believers that they should be! Autumn brings an array of rich and comforting ingredients that are perfect for pizza. The ingredients that are readily available at this time of year tend to be those of earthy root vegetables, sweet butternut squashes or pumpkins, and hearty mushrooms. All flavours that work really well on pizza, especially when cooked using the real wood fire of your Igneus Pizza Oven.

Cooking Seasonally

Cooking with seasonal ingredients is the single biggest hack for unlocking unbelievable flavour with very little effort and truly elevating your pizza game to another level. It’s also much more exciting than the usual suspects of pizza, margherita or pepperoni. Both of which have their place, but they lack the creativity of a seasonal banger.

Seasonal produce is naturally fresher, more affordable, and at its peak in flavour too. And when you combine beautiful autumnal ingredients with the intense heat of a wood-fired pizza oven, the result is deliciously smoky, gnarly, deep flavours that will make you completely forget about the cold temperatures.

On the subject of forgetting about the cold, one of the great things about an Igneus Wood Fired Oven is that it also doubles up as a fire pit. Meaning there’s really no excuse not to get the gang out in the garden despite the cooler temperatures!

Our Top 5 Autumn Pizza Ingredients

Butternut Squash

Butternut squash is always going to be top of our list at this time of year. It’s sweet, nutty, and really versatile, perfect for an autumn pizza topping. You can cut it into smallish chunks and roast it off first with lashings of olive oil, thyme and chilli. The edges go really gnarly and caramelised because it’s so naturally sweet. You can use it like this for your pizza or blitz it down into a puree using a food processor. The squash can then be used as your sauce to spread directly onto the dough. Pair it with creamy ricotta or burrata, crispy sage leaves, and sliced red chillies.

Beetroot

It may not be top of many people’s list of pizza toppings, but bear with us here. Beetroot can be a real showstopper, both visually because of its vibrant colour, but also because of its deep, earthy flavour. Roast it down whole, wrapped in aluminium foil or in chunks until tender, then pair it with salty and sweet flavours. Our favourite combination is either goat’s cheese or feta for that salty hit, with wonderfully sweet caramelised onion chutney generously dolloped on after baking.

Leeks

Nobody thinks twice about putting sliced onions on pizza. But the moment we mention leeks, the strange looks start coming our way! On a serious note, leeks can work incredibly well on pizza. They’re much milder and sweeter than red or brown onions and have a fantastic mellow flavour when caramelised in your wood-fired pizza oven. Always cook them down first by slicing thinly and sauteing off in olive oil and butter to bring out their natural sweetness. Leeks pair perfectly with pancetta, mushrooms and mascarpone. The high heat of the fire slightly chars the edges of the leeks, creating a crispy texture and smoky flavour.

Mushrooms

Okay, mushrooms on pizza are pretty standard, right? But we’re not talking about chucking on a few raw slices of button mushrooms here, no, no, no. Choose a mixture of earthy varieties such as chestnut, oyster, and shiitake mushrooms. It’s all in the prep when it comes to mushrooms. They’re made up of over 70% water, which is not only bad from a flavour perspective, but also we all know how moisture is the enemy when baking dough. Sauté the mushrooms off first with plenty of butter, garlic and your favourite herbs. You’ll notice how much water is extracted from the mushrooms as they sauté down before taking on a golden colour and developing an umami flavour.

Potatoes

Not so common on pizza here in the UK, but actually very common in Italy. Either thinly slice or cube potatoes and roast off in your pizza oven with plenty of olive oil, herbs and spices. We like to keep it simple by tossing the potatoes in smoked paprika, rosemary and plenty of sea salt. The wood-fired oven ensures the potatoes crisp beautifully on the outside like a classic roast potato, while staying soft and tender on the inside.

Final Thoughts

We think autumn is a great time to fire up your Igneus Oven and experiment with bold, seasonal flavours. The beauty of thinking seasonally with pizza toppings is that not only are the ingredients at their absolute best in terms of taste, but they’re also readily available. So, next time you fire up your pizza oven, turn off autopilot and don’t reach for the pepperoni or, dare we say it, pineapple chunks. Rather, think outside the box and experiment with amazing seasonal produce.

Of course, if you’d like to learn more about the range of Igneus Pizza Ovens, or have any questions you need answering, our friendly team is here to help. Call us on 01423 575885 or explore our full range of ovens and pizza oven accessories here.