07 May, 2021
Makes one 30cm pizza
Ingredients:
One 450g ball pizza dough
110g tomato puree
2 tablespoons olive oil
½ teaspoon dried basil
¼ teaspoon dried oregano
115g button or chestnut mushrooms, sliced
115g hot Italian pork sausage
230g fresh mozzarella cheese, thinly sliced
3 tablespoons Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, freshly grated
8 to 10 fresh basil leaves
Directions:
Remove the dough from the refrigerator 1 to 2 hours before forming the pizza. Position a rack in the lower third of the oven. Place a large pizza stone on the rack, and heat an oven to 260ᵒC, allowing at least 30 minutes for the oven to heat completely.
Make the sauce while the oven is heating. Combine the tomato puree, 1 tablespoons oil, basil and oregano. Set aside.
To prepare the toppings, heat the remaining oil over medium-high heat in a large frying pan. Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring, until they give off their juices and are browned, about 8 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and season with salt and pepper. Add the sausage to the pan and cook over medium-high heat, stirring and breaking it up with a wooden spoon, until no longer pink, about 10 minutes. Transfer to the bowl with the mushrooms. Set aside.
Place the dough ball on a lightly floured work surface. Roll, pat and stretch the dough into a 30cm round. Generously dust a baking sheet with flour. Transfer the dough to the sheet and reshape into a round as needed. Lightly spread the sauce over the dough, leaving a 2cm border uncovered. Top with the mozzarella and mushroom-sausage mixture.
Slide the pizza off the baking sheet onto the hot stone and bake until the crust is golden brown, about 8 minutes. Using a wide spatula or a rimless baking sheet, remove the pizza from the oven and transfer to a cutting board. Sprinkle with the Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese and scatter the basil leaves on top. Cut and serve immediately.
Pair with a glass of rich, velvety Dark Horse Malbec.
