I’ve made a lot of pizzas at home in my day, but this is the first time I attempted to make one completely from scratch – even down to the pizza crust and sauce. The end result? Besides a few flubs along the way, I was pleasantly surprised with the final result.
Few notes to make: it’s important to pre-bake fresh dough before you start to add your sauce and toppings, otherwise it never really cooks all the way through – learned that the hard way. Secondly, don’t be like me and top the pizza with basil, before baking, for a photo opp, and then forget to remove said basil before baking. Also learned that the hard way.
This Spicy Sausage Pizza reminds me of a pizza I get at Garage Bar, but I get to enjoy it from the comfort of my own home (without swarms of bros) so I’m able to enjoy it a little bit more so.
Spicy Sausage Pizza
Ingredients
Crust
- 1 1/2 tsp. salt
- 3/4 cup warm water
- 1 tsp. active dry yeast
- 2 cups flour
Sauce
- 28 oz. whole tomatoes
- 2 tsp. balsamic vinegar
- Olive oil
- Salt
- Pepper
- Red pepper flakes
- 5–6 garlic cloves
Toppings
- Sausage
- Mozzarella
- Basil leaves
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 500 degrees.
- Add yeast to warm water, whisk to combine.
- Add salt and flour and mix until rough dough has formed.
- Transfer to floured service and work with hands, adding in more flour as you go, until dough is no longer sticky.
- Place dough back into bowl, cover with towel, and allow to rest for 30 minutes.
- Once rested, divide down into two equal segments and roll into desired shape and size.
- Transfer to parchment paper lined baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes.
- While crust is baking, combine tomatoes, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes in food processor and blend until sauce has formed.
- Top crust with desired amount of sauce, then top with sausage and mozzarella, bake for an additional 10 minutes, rotating half way through.
- Top with fresh basil, red pepper flakes, and enjoy!
Food Photography by Josh Johnson
Before you go.. Like what you see?