Sausage & Mushroom Pizza

When it’s Friday, it means just one thing: pizza night! While it’s awfully tempting to order delivery or takeout, making pizza at home is not just delicious, it’s an event!

On this edition of homemade pizza combos, we’re talking about a classic combo of hot Italian sausage, fresh basil, mushrooms, zesty red sauce and, of course, lots and lots of gooey mozzarella cheese. The key, as always, to making this classic combo sing is the attention to creating a perfectly crisp, salty crust with my tried and true pizza baking method. 

This pizza isn’t groundbreaking, but there's a reason why classics stay classic. They're simple, no fuss and always good! So if you're doing pizza night, you have to give this one a spin. 

Sausage & Mushroom Pizza

Ingredients

• 1 storebought pizza dough

• 1/2 pound hot Italian sausage

• 1 cup crimini mushrooms, sliced

• 1/2 cup pizza sauce

• 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

• Kosher salt

• 2 tablespoons basil, chopped

• Olive oil

• Cornmeal

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Lightly oil a baking sheet and sprinkle with a small handful of cornmeal. Gently knead pizza dough until you've formed desired pizza base. We typically go the oval/square route for more of a flatbread pizza but to each his own! Drizzle olive oil evenly over surface of pizza dough and poke a few holes in the center. Sprinkle Kosher salt around the edges and bake for about 10 minutes. 

Drizzle with more olive oil then evenly spread pizza sauce over pizza dough leaving about 1/2 inch crust. Top with mozzarella cheese, then sprinkle sausage and mushrooms evenly across cheese. Bake for another 5-8 minutes, until cheese is golden and bubbly. Top immediately with chopped basil. Let cool for about 10 minutes before slicing into squares and serving!