Meal Occasion: Winter

• 2 white or brown mushrooms, very thinly sliced
• 1 pork & fennel sausage (casing removed, broken into small pieces)
• 1 can peeled whole tomatoes
• 1 garlic clove (½ for sauce, ½ optional for base)
• 1 egg
• Fresh mozzarella
• Low-moisture mozzarella
• Parmigiano Reggiano, grated
• Olive oil
• Fresh basil
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• Pizza dough (store-bought or homemade) see recipe and ingredients below

---

Method:

Make the Tomato Sauce

1. In a bowl or stick blender cup, add the canned tomatoes, ½ grated garlic clove, 1 tbsp olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste.
2. Blend very briefly—just enough to break the tomatoes up but still keep some texture.

Assemble the Pizza

1. Preheat your oven (or pizza oven) to its highest temperature.
2. Stretch out your pizza dough to your desired size.
3. Spread a thin layer of tomato sauce over the base.
4. Top with Parmigiano Reggiano, sliced mushrooms, crumbled sausage, fresh basil, fresh mozzarella and low-moisture mozzarella.

Bake and Add the Egg

1. Place the pizza in the oven to bake.
2. About halfway through the bake, remove the pizza and carefully crack the egg into the centre.
3. Return the pizza to the oven and bake until the egg white is set and the yolk is still slightly runny (or cooked to your liking).

Finish and Serve

1. Remove from the oven and season the egg with salt and pepper.
2. Drizzle with olive oil and serve immediately.

Theo Loizou’s Pizza Dough
Ingredients 

400g Tipo 00 flour 

75g bread flour

25g Wholegrain flour

100g active sourdough starter 

12g salt

5g olive oil 

290g water plus 60g water for when salt is added 

 
Method

1. In a mixing bowl of a stand mixer add water then starter and mix with a wooden spoon until broken up
2. Add flours and mix on low speed until combined well – about 4mins 
3. Let dough rest for 30mins then add salt and half the remaining water and mix on medium speed for 4mins 
4. After 4mins the dough should be smooth, check the temp with a probe you don’t want the dough to reach higher than 28° – aim for between 25° and 28°C (this will depend on your environment, if it’s very hot where you are you will need to start the mix with cold water and vice versa if you are in a cold climate 
5. Next with the machine running add the olive oil and if the dough needs more water add the remaining water (this is done by eye and feel, the more you do it the easier it will become to know what hydration is right for you)
6. Mix for a further 4mins then remove from the mixing bowl and place in a lightly oiled container or bowl to bulk ferment for around 2hrs (again this is determined by your environment)
7. After the bulk fermentation dump the dough on a bench and divide into equals portions or 280g balls 
8. Shape into a tight ball and place in a flat container with a cover to proof. 
9. You can at this stage place them in the fridge and use them the the next day or let them proof at room temperature and bake the same day – the balls should increase by 1/3 or so before baking 

Note – if you don’t have a mixer you can mix the ingredients by hand and halfway through the bulk fermentation stage give the dough a set of folds (take the dough and pick up one side of it and fold it over to the other side and keep doing this until the dough cannot take any more tension) or you can perform a set of coil folds (take one third of the dough and stretch it up as far as it will allow then fold it under the rest of the dough, do that 2 more times)