This Butternut Squash Pizza with Crispy Sage & Hot Honey is the perfect bite to welcome in the fall. With the days beginning to cool, it’s time to crank the oven as hot as it’ll go and enjoy a cozy night in. Pizza dough can sometimes be time consuming, but I’ve mastered getting it done in a little bit over an hour with my Perfect Pizza Dough, making for a satisfying dinner any night of the week.
For this cozy fall pie, sweet butternut squash is thinly sliced allowing for it to get extra soft in the oven and complement the creamy béchamel sauce and tangy goat cheese. Crispy fried sage and a delightfully chewy crust provide great texture with every bite that is rounded out with a sweet and spicy kick from a drizzle of hot honey.
While ordering a pizza from your favorite shop is always an option, there’s nothing more satisfying than customizing your perfect pizza with your favorite toppings, and this butternut squash pizza uses up the best of what these colder months have to offer.
Table of contents
Ingredients for this Butternut Squash Pizza
To keep things simple, I will give you the exact measurements for all the components here:
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 sauce:
- 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
How to know your yeast is alive
First things first – yeast is a living thing! And, like all living things, it needs to be properly taken care of in order to do thrive and do its job.
You’re going to want to dissolve the yeast in a bit of water to make sure it’s still going strong in order to get the lift we want out of our baked goods. If your water is too hot, it will kill the yeast whereas if your water is too cold, it might take a long time for anything to happen. The ideal temperature should be between 95°F-105°F. A good way to test this without a thermometer is by sticking your finger into the water — It should feel just a tiny bit warm, but not hot (consider the human body rests around 98.6°F, so if it feels hot to you, it’s definitely too hot for the yeast).
After dissolving your yeast, you may notice it starting to foam a bit — this is great! Your yeast is alive and starting to form gas (though it will need to feed on the starches in your flour to really get going). If there’s no foaming happening, your yeast might be on its last legs.
One way to help keep your yeast alive for longer is to store it in the freezer where it will lie dormant indefinitely until its ready to take on its yeasty duties.
How long should it take for my dough to rise?
The dough should double in size after about one-hour, however this can vary depending on a variety of factors.
If your yeast was a little older (but still alive), it could take a bit of time for it to kick into gear. Similarly, if your kitchen runs cold it can really slow down the fermentation process. On the other hand, if your kitchen is very hot, the fermentation can happen much faster. Also, at higher altitudes, yeast can rise much faster!
The best way to check if your dough is ready is to see that the dough has doubled in size. You can also poke at the dough to test if its ready. A properly proofed dough will hold the shape of your finger where you poked but lightly spring back into shape, whereas an underproofed dough will almost immediately return to form and an overproofed dough never will.
What if I only want one pizza?
Since the pizza dough is measured out by weight, you could always halve the recipe, but there will come a time when you want that second pizza, and you might not want to make more dough.
After punching down the dough and dividing it into two, take one of the dough blobs and lightly form it into a ball. Drizzle it all over with olive oil and tightly wrap it in plastic wrap. Throw the wrapped-up dough ball into the freezer and it’s good to hang out there for three months.
When you’re ready to fire up that second pizza, let the dough ball defrost in the fridge overnight. By dinner, you should be able to stretch the dough ball out into a 16-inch pizza that’s ready for the oven whenever you are.
Can I make this Butternut Squash Pizza using a pizza oven?
Absolutely! This is a traditional Neopolitan-style dough, meaning that in an 800-1000°F oven, it will be able to cook in minutes.
If you are using an oven like a Gozney or an Ooni, follow the recipe instructions as written, but then bake the pizza for 2-3 minutes, rotating halfway through.
In a traditional brick pizza oven, you can follow the same method!
What is béchamel?
Béchamel is one of the five French mother sauces. It’s a milk-based sauce that adds creaminess and a touch of sweetness to any dish.
It typically begins by making a roux, or cooked mixture of fat and flour. Then, you slowly stream in milk, whisking away any lumps to ensure you have a silky smooth sauce.
French cooking purists only like to use nutmeg and salt to season this sauce because the flecks of black pepper impede on the stark white, but this is my béchamel and we like to use a little bit of nutmeg AND black pepper here.
Béchamel is a great canvas for other additions as well! Melting cheese into the sauce transforms the creamy béchamel into a mornay sauce while adding some pureed sautéed onions creates a rich soubise sauce.
Looking for other butternut squash recipes?
Here are a few favorites from the blog!
And that’s it for this Butternut Squash Pizza with Crispy Sage & Hot Honey!
If you make it, please tag me on Pinterest or Instagram so I can see! It’s my favorite thing to scroll through stories and see what you all are making.
And of course feel free to leave any questions, comments or reviews! This is the best place to reach me, and I’d love to hear from you <3
Butternut Squash Pizza with Crispy Sage & Hot Honey
Equipment
- 1 large bowl
- 1 mandolin or vegetable peeler
- 1 large sauté pan
- 1 bench scraper
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
- In a large bowl, whisk together the yeast and the water. Let this sit until foamy, about 4-5 minutes.
- 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.
- 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).
- 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.
- 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.
- 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
- While the dough is proofing, prepare the béchamel.
- Set a large pan over medium heat and add the 3 tablespoons of salted butter. Allow the butter to fully melt.
- 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.
- 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.
- Set the béchamel to the side.
Prepare the pizza toppings
- 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.
- Thinly slice half a large red onion and add it in with the squash.
- Drizzle the vegetables with 2 tablespoons of olive oil, season with 1/2 teaspoon of Diamond Crystal kosher salt and mix to combine.
- 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.
- 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.
- Crumble the goat cheese.
Prepare the pizzas
- Add a pizza stone or cast iron griddle top to the center rack of the oven. Preheat the oven to 500°F.
- When your pizza dough has risen to twice its size, punch down the dough, then portion it into two pieces.
- 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.
- 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.
- Slide the pizza onto the pizza stone. Bake for 12-15 minutes at 500°F, rotating halfway through.
- 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!
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I’ve never left a reply to a recipe before, this is stunning and so good for fall. Easy to make, no notes.
Wowow THANK YOU for this compliment! I really appreciate it and I’m glad you enjoyed it.