For the meatballs:

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F / 205 degrees C. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and reserve to the side.
2. In a mixing bowl, combine the ground sausage, ground beef, panko, egg, parsley, basil, oregano, salt, and pepper until combined fully. Shape into 18 balls (or 9 if halving the recipe) transferring each to your reserved baking sheet, evenly spaced apart.
3. Bake for 18-22 minutes or until the meatballs reach an internal temperature of 165 degrees F / 74 degrees C.
4. Remove the meatballs from the sheet pan. Slice each in half and reserve to the side.

For the rest of the pizza:

1. Raise your oven temperature to 500 degrees F / 260 degrees C and set a baker’s half sheet to the side.
2. Shape your dough. If you prefer a classic pie-shape with a thicker crust compared to the center of your dough, I suggest hand-stretching your dough. If you prefer your pizza to be an even thickness, I suggest rolling your dough out with a rolling pin.
   • If you are hand-stretching your dough:
     1. I like to rub a small amount of olive oil into my hands first; this allows me to shape the dough easier without it ripping accidentally from friction.
     2. Press the dough down with the palm of your hand into a disk shape, then use your fingertips to gently press down on the dough disk, further flattening it.
     3. To further extend the dough, I prefer to press one palm on top of one side of the dough and with the other hand lift the alternative side of the dough and gently work the dough outward, pulling very gently with the tips of my oiled fingers (like a very discrete “come hither” motion) to slowly stretch the dough out. Rotate slightly and repeat until the dough is shaped and stretched to your liking. If you find that the dough starts to snap back or is beginning to tear, allow the dough to relax for a minute or two before proceeding again. Transfer your stretched dough to a sheet of parchment paper.
   • If you are using a rolling pin:
     1. I prefer to place my dough between two sheets of parchment paper to avoid the dough sticking to my rolling pin, but if you prefer you can also sprinkle a bit of flour over the dough ball as well as wiping some over your rolling pin by hand to prevent sticking instead. Once the dough has been rolled to your preferred size and shape, peel the top layer of parchment paper off (if using). The bottom layer that the dough is resting on can be utilized for your baking sheet. If you find that the dough starts to snap back or is beginning to tear, allow the dough to relax for a minute or two before proceeding again.
3. Transfer your shaped dough to the reserved baking sheet.
4. Brush olive oil onto the pizza dough lightly and evenly. This can be done with a pastry brush or the back of a spoon
5. In a small bowl combine tomato sauce and garlic powder (if using). Pour over the top of the pizza dough and using the back of a spoon spread the sauce out evenly over the dough.
6. Top the pizza with the slices of mozzarella, spacing them out evenly, then top with spoonfuls of ricotta, spacing those out evenly as well. Sprinkle with 1/4th tsp optional dried oregano, if desired. Finally, top with the halved meatballs.
7. Bake for 16-22 minutes or until the crust has reached your preferred level of crispness and the mozzarella cheese is beginning to brown and blister. I find that pizzas that have a thinner topping layer take less time to bake and heavier-topped pizzas generally take a bit longer to bake so watch your pizza closely after the 16-minute mark and adjust as desired.
8. Top the finished pizza with fresh basil, slice into desired pieces, and serve warm.