Some of my pizzas just can’t leave well enough alone with toppings that are really out there (uhh, like this one or this one). I haven’t made a traditional-ish pizza in such a while but this one was soooo good and the little touch of crunchy breadcrumbs became the best part. About a year ago Mr. J got a sausage & ricotta pizza from a place down the street. Since then, he hasn’t been able to have it since! They’ve been out of ricotta! Foiled! Making it at home was long overdue.

Ingredients:

pizza dough
2 links Italian sausage
1-1 1/2 cup tomato sauce
1 cup shredded mozzarella
1 cup ricotta
1 cup panko breadcrumbs
1 tsp butter
1 tsp truffle oil

Directions:

Preheat the oven and pizza stone if using one to 500-degrees.
Sear the sausages in a skillet over medium heat turning to cook through.
Spread the pizza dough out onto the pizza stone or pan and bake for about 10 minutes, until cooked a bit and beginning to brown. Then remove from the heat and cut into slices.
Top the dough with sauce, mozzarella, dollops of ricotta and slices of sausage.

Bake for 5 minutes until the cheese melts and ricotta warms through.
While pizza is baking, melt butter in a small skillet over medium low heat and add in the panko. Drizzle in the truffle oil and cook for 3-5 minutes to toast the breadcumbs lightly.

Remove pizza from the oven. Sprinkle the breadcrumbs over the top of the pizza.
Slice and enjoy!

The pizza itself was SO good. I used more dough than usual and cooked it a bit more to get it really crunchy. I really love the flavorful sausage with creamy ricotta. I feel like a Project Runway contestant saying my design needed hard and soft.

The truffle breadcrumbs MAKE this pizza from so one I liked to an amazing pizza. I’ve added truffle breadcrumbs to top pasta. Truffle breadcrumbs for everyone!