Preheat the oven at 475 degrees. Place a 12″ cast-iron skillet into the oven. Once the oven preheats to 475 degrees, leave the skillet in the oven for an additional 10 minutes so it heats up nicely.

Slice the mushrooms.

Heat up a castiron skillet, once hot, add oil followed by the mushrooms, salt, and black pepper to taste. This will take about 5 minutes.

Once the water in the pan evaporates, mushrooms are done. Turn off the stove.

In a small mixing bowl, add ricotta cheese, garlic, red crushed pepper, and a little salt.

Mix well. Set aside.

I used store-bought dough, I love Trader Joe’s plain pizza dough, alternatively, you can use whole-wheat pizza dough.

Leave the dough out for an hour. Split the dough in half so each half is 8 ounces.

Flour the dough.

Roll out the dough in a round shape to the best of your ability, thin is out so it’s about a 1/4 inch thick.

Using kitchen gloves, carefully remove the castiron skillet from the oven. Brush the skillet with a little olive oil. Use a good quality olive oil, I love Lucini.

Carefully place the pizza dough onto the castiron skillet stretching out the dough. Be careful you do not touch the castiron skillet. The dough will begin to sizzle immediately.

Add half of the sauteed mushrooms to the pizza leaving about 1/2 inch from the crust.

Add dollops of half of the prepared ricotta mixture. Reserve the remaining half for the second pie.

Tear off chunks of fresh mozzarella cheese and top over ricotta mixture.

Drizzle half tbsp of olive oil over the pizza. Brush a little olive oil on the crust.

Top with chopped fresh thyme leaves. Place into the oven at 475 degrees for 9 minutes and broil for 2 minutes (2 1/2 minutes max). Watch closely to avoid the pizza from burning.

Pizza is done. Gently use a fish spatula and remove pizza from the castiron skillet. It should be effortless.