Peach Basil Bourbon White Pizza

Peach is the base layer here, not a garnish. A third of a cup of the sauce whipped into whole-milk ricotta with a little olive oil and lemon zest gives you a spreadable pale gold base that goes on the dough where tomato would. It bakes down sweet and slightly tangy under the cheese, and it is the reason this tastes like more than a plain white pie.

Peach Basil Bourbon is the bottle. The peach reads first, the basil sits right behind it, and the bourbon lands at the end, low and a little smoky against the salt in the cheese.

Bake it as hot as your oven goes on a preheated steel or stone. The base carries sugar from the fruit, so the crust colours faster than you expect. Watch it from minute six.

Time 40 min · Serves 2 · Sauce Peach Basil Bourbon · How it is used 1/3 cup whipped into the ricotta base, plus 2 tbsp warmed with honey for the finish

Ingredients

For The Base

• 1 cup whole-milk ricotta, drained
• 1/3 cup Peach Basil Bourbon Hot Sauce
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• Zest of half a lemon
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt

For The Pizza

• 1 ball pizza dough, about 250g, at room temperature
• 6 oz low-moisture mozzarella, torn
• 2 oz fresh mozzarella, in small pieces
• Semolina or flour for the peel
• Cracked black pepper

To Finish

• 2 tbsp Peach Basil Bourbon Hot Sauce
• 1 tbsp honey
• A handful of fresh basil leaves
• Flaky salt

Method

1. Put a steel or stone on the top third rack and heat the oven as high as it goes, 500F or more, for a full 45 minutes. A hot surface is most of this recipe.
2. Whip the ricotta, the 1/3 cup of hot sauce, the olive oil, lemon zest and salt until it is smooth and holds a soft peak on the spoon. Taste it. It should be sweet first and warm at the end.
3. Stretch the dough to about 12 inches on a floured peel, leaving the outer inch alone so it puffs.
4. Spread the ricotta base to that inch, the way you would tomato. Do not go thicker than a few millimetres or the centre stays wet.
5. Scatter both mozzarellas and a good amount of cracked pepper.
6. Bake 7 to 10 minutes, turning once, until the crust is blistered and the cheese has caught in a few places. Start looking at minute six.
7. While it bakes, warm the 2 tbsp of hot sauce with the honey for 30 seconds until pourable.
8. Out of the oven, drizzle the warm honey across in thin ribbons, tear basil over, finish with flaky salt, and cut it immediately.

One more thing

The whipped ricotta base keeps three days. Spread the rest on toast under a fried egg.