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–+ servings

Butternut Squash Pizza with Crispy Sage & Hot Honey

5 from 1 review
This perfect-for-fall pizza recipe makes two pizzas, which is great, because you'll probably (definitely) want at least two. This creamy white pizza has a nutmeg béchamel, is topped with thinly shaved butternut squash and red onion, an finished with melty goat cheese. The hot honey is optional, but supremely delicious.
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
Dough Resting Time 1 hour
Servings: 2 16-inch pizzas

Equipment

Ingredients

For the pizza dough
  • 1 cup and 6 tablespoons warm water (between 95°F and 110°F), 338 grams / 12 ounces
  • 2 1/4 teaspoon active dry yeast, 8 grams
  • 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, 500 grams / 17.6 ounces
  • 1 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt , 8 grams
  • 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil , 12 grams / 0.4 ounces
For the béchamel (yields just under 1 1/2 cups)
  • 3 tablespoons salted butter
  • 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 cups whole milk
  • 3/4 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
For the toppings
  • 1 pound butternut squash
  • 1/2 large red onion, 141 grams / 5 ounces
  • Extra-virgin olive oil
  • Diamond Crystal kosher salt
  • 1 cup sage leaves, 28 grams / 1 ounce
  • 3 small garlic cloves
  • 8 ounces goat cheese
  • Hot honey, for drizzling

Instructions 

Prepare the pizza dough
  1. In a large bowl, whisk together the yeast and the water. Let this sit until foamy, about 4-5 minutes.
  2. Add the flour and salt to the bowl and mix into a shaggy dough. Try to get the dough as smooth as possible, although it will be a bit sticky.
  3. Drizzle in the olive oil and begin to knead the dough in the bowl. Transfer the wet dough to a clean work surface and begin to knead it for 7-10 minutes. (You can also mix the dough in a stand mixer for 5-7 minutes, for a less intensive process).
  4. The dough will be sticky, but try to resist flouring the surface. Lift and slap down the dough to knead it, rotating your hands 45 degrees before lifting it up for the next slap-and-fold. You'll start to see the dough pull together into a smooth ball. This will take the full 7-10 minutes to build up the gluten.
  5. When the dough ball is smooth, poke it with a finger. If it bounces back completely, the dough has enough gluten and is ready to proof.
  6. Lightly oil a new clean bowl and place the dough in it. Cover and let rise for an hour, or until doubled in size.
Prepare the béchamel
  1. While the dough is proofing, prepare the béchamel.
  2. Set a large pan over medium heat and add the 3 tablespoons of salted butter. Allow the butter to fully melt.
  3. Add the flour and mix it with the butter to create nearly a paste. Reduce the heat to medium-low, and begin adding the milk in 1/4 cup splashes.
  4. Mix the milk into the butter mixture until it is completely smooth, then add the next round of milk. Continue this until you have a smooth sauce, season with 3/4 teaspoon of salt, 1/2 teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper, 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg. Mix, and then turn off the heat.
  5. Set the béchamel to the side.
Prepare the pizza toppings
  1. Use a vegetable peeler to peel the squash. Then either continue to use the peeler to shave it into pieces, or use a mandolin. Add these pieces to a large bowl.
  2. Thinly slice half a large red onion and add it in with the squash.
  3. Drizzle the vegetables with 2 tablespoons of olive oil, season with 1/2 teaspoon of Diamond Crystal kosher salt and mix to combine.
  4. Set a small pan over medium heat and coat the bottom of the pan with olive oil, about 2 tablespoons. When the oil has heated up for a few minutes, add the sage leaves. Make sure no sage leaves overlap, and let them sizzle for 1-2 minutes, or until they have darkened a shade but are not brown. Transfer them to paper towels to drain and set aside.
  5. Pour the oil the sage was fried in into a small bowl, grate in 3 garlic cloves and season with a pinch of salt and black pepper. Reserve this for the crusts.
  6. Crumble the goat cheese.
Prepare the pizzas
  1. Add a pizza stone or cast iron griddle top to the center rack of the oven. Preheat the oven to 500°F.
  2. When your pizza dough has risen to twice its size, punch down the dough, then portion it into two pieces.
  3. Shape the two pieces of dough into two 16-inch wide pizzas. Add them to a well-floured pizza peel, or to the back of a baking sheet, just something that you can slide the pizza off of and onto the pizza stone.
  4. One at a time, top the pizzas with the béchamel, the squash and red onion, and dot with the goat cheese. You don't want them to sit on the peel for too long, or else they risk sticking.
  5. Slide the pizza onto the pizza stone. Bake for 12-15 minutes at 500°F, rotating halfway through.
  6. When the pizza is out of the oven, brush the crusts with the sage garlic oil, crush the fried sage on top, and drizzle with the hot honey. Repeat with the second pizza, then serve!