by Susan Hanna
This pizza from Epicurious is savoury and hearty. Top pizza dough with cheese, rosemary, hot pepper flakes and salt and then add mozzarella, cooked sausage, onions and mushrooms. Bake until the crust is brown and then garnish with more cheese and parsley. Cook’s note: A pizza wheel may drag the toppings off the pizza, so try a large sharp chef’s knife instead.
Makes 2 pizzas.
Avoiding Additives and Preservatives
If you are buying the pizza dough, check for preservatives. If you are making your own, look for a recipe using unbleached all-purpose flour, traditional active dry yeast, salt, sugar, olive oil and water. Genuine Parmesan cheese is additive free. Check the hot pepper flakes to make sure they don’t contain colour or anti-caking agents. Look for sausages without additives or preservatives, such as PC Free From brand hot Italian sausages. I used No-Name pizza mozzarella, which is additive free. For more recipes using all-natural ingredients, visit Eye For a Recipe.
Ingredients:
- 1 16-ounce (454 g) ball purchased or homemade fresh pizza dough
- 2/3 cup (165 ml) finely grated Parmesan cheese
- 2 ¼ teaspoons (12 ml) finely chopped fresh rosemary, divided
- ½ teaspoon (2.5 ml) dried crushed red pepper
- Coarse kosher salt
- 1 ½ tablespoons (22.5 ml) olive oil, divided
- 2 ½ hot Italian sausages, casings removed
- 1 small red onion, thinly sliced
- 7 ounces (198 g) fresh wild mushrooms (such as stemmed shiitake, oyster, and chanterelle), thickly sliced
- 1 ¾ cups (438 ml) coarsely grated whole-milk mozzarella cheese (about 7 ounces), divided
- Chopped fresh parsley (optional)
Preparation:
- Position 1 rack in top third and 1 rack in bottom third of oven and preheat to 450°F (232°C). Lightly flour 2 baking sheets. Place dough on work surface; let stand until room temperature, about 20 minutes. Divide dough in half. Press and stretch each piece out on lightly floured surface to 5-inch round. Sprinkle each with 1/3 cup (85 ml) Parmesan cheese, ¾ teaspoon (3.75 ml) rosemary, and ¼ (1.25 ml) teaspoon crushed red pepper; sprinkle with coarse salt. Roll each piece of dough out to 10-inch (25.4-cm) round, pressing in seasonings. Transfer dough rounds to prepared baking sheets.
- Heat 1 tablespoon (15 ml) oil in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add sausage. Sauté until brown, breaking into ½ -inch (1.25-cm) pieces with back of spoon, about 5 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer sausage to bowl. Add onion to skillet. Sauté until crisp-tender, about 2 minutes; transfer to plate. Add remaining ½ tablespoon (7.5 ml) oil to skillet. Add mushrooms and remaining ¾ teaspoon (3.75 ml) rosemary; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Sauté until brown, about 5 minutes. Leaving ½ -inch (1.25-cm) plain border, top each dough round with ¾ cup (185 ml) mozzarella, then onion, sausage, and mushrooms.
- Bake until crust bottoms are crisp and brown, reversing sheets after 10 minutes, about 20 minutes total. Using large spatula, transfer pizzas to work surface. Sprinkle each with 2 tablespoons (30 ml) mozzarella, then parsley, if desired.
from Epicurious