Sausage & Mushroom Pizza with Parmesan Cream

By Sprig Originals ✓ · cooked up in Sprig

A white pizza built on a fast cream-and-Parmesan base instead of tomato sauce: crumbled Italian sausage, deeply browned mushrooms, and mozzarella on a blistered home-oven crust. The truffle oil goes on after the pizza comes out, where a few drops read as perfume instead of the burnt, bitter note you get when it bakes.

Ingredients

• 1.5 lb pizza dough (store-bought or homemade), divided into 2 balls
• 2 tbsp semolina or all-purpose flour, for dusting

• 3/4 cup heavy cream
• 3/4 cup finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
• 1 clove garlic, grated
• 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 1 pinch kosher salt

• 8 oz bulk Italian sausage (or links, casings removed)
• 10 oz cremini mushrooms, sliced 1/4 inch thick
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp unsalted butter
• 2 sprigs fresh thyme
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 8 oz low-moisture mozzarella, shredded

• 1 tsp white or black truffle oil
• 2 tbsp grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh chives or flat-leaf parsley
• flaky sea salt

Instructions

1. Set a baking steel or pizza stone on an oven rack in the upper third of the oven and heat to 500°F (260°C) for at least 45 minutes. If you don't have a steel or stone, use an inverted heavy rimmed baking sheet. Meanwhile, take the dough out of the fridge and let it sit covered at room temperature so it relaxes and stretches easily.
2. Cook the sausage: heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium-high. Add the sausage and break it into rough 1/2-inch crumbles. Cook 6 to 8 minutes, stirring occasionally, until browned and just cooked through. Transfer to a paper-towel-lined plate, leaving the fat behind.
3. Brown the mushrooms in the same skillet: add the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil and the butter, then the mushrooms, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and thyme sprigs. Cook over medium-high heat 8 to 10 minutes, stirring only every couple of minutes, until the mushrooms have given up their liquid and are deeply golden and dry. Discard the thyme sprigs and spread the mushrooms on a plate to cool. Dry mushrooms are the difference between a crisp pizza and a soggy one.
4. Make the Parmesan cream: in a small saucepan, warm the cream over medium heat until it steams and bubbles at the edges, about 2 minutes. Off the heat, whisk in 3/4 cup Parmesan, the grated garlic, black pepper, and a pinch of salt until smooth and thick enough to coat a spoon. Let it cool 10 minutes; it will thicken further to a spreadable consistency.
5. Stretch the first dough ball on a well-floured surface into a 12-inch round, leaving the outer 1/2 inch thicker for the rim. Transfer it to a piece of parchment or a semolina-dusted pizza peel.
6. Spread half the Parmesan cream over the dough in a thin layer, stopping 1/2 inch from the edge. Scatter on half the mozzarella, then half the mushrooms and half the sausage, spacing the toppings out rather than piling them.
7. Slide the pizza (on the parchment, if using) onto the hot steel and bake 8 to 11 minutes, until the crust is puffed and spotted brown and the cheese is bubbling with a few golden spots. If the top needs color, run the broiler for the last 45 to 60 seconds, watching closely.
8. Slide the pizza onto a cutting board. Immediately drizzle with about 1/2 teaspoon truffle oil — a few drops at a time, in a thin zigzag — then shower with 1 tablespoon Parmesan, half the chives, and a small pinch of flaky salt. Let it set 2 minutes, then cut into 6 slices.
9. Repeat with the second dough ball and remaining toppings, letting the steel reheat for 5 minutes between pizzas. Serve each pizza as it comes out of the oven.

Chef's tips

Nutrition (per serving, estimated)

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