It’s Friday…woot woot! We made it y’all! The weekend is here! Well, in a few hours it will be at least. I’m looking forward to a three-day weekend, since I took Monday off to go to the circus!! Yes, I’m 33 years old and I’m excited about going to the circus. It’ll be my first time, I get to see the elephants, and we’ll be going with my bestie and Godson…what could be better?? Squee! (Did I mention that I’m really a five-year-old trapped in a 33-year-old body?)
Well, maybe to un-infantalize myself, I should tell you about this “grown-up” pizza that we had last weekend, eh? J much prefers my homemade pizza to the store-bought varieties, so when we saw this one, I put in on the menu with my own modifications already in mind.
J also loves marinara sauce and the original recipe didn’t call for any sauce…?!?!? Fortunately I still had some of mine in the freezer so I opted to sauce up the pizza. J had never had chicken sausage before and back in the day, my friend and old roomie used to buy different stuffed varieties for dinner…so delicious! I used a chipotle and mozzarella stuffed variety for this pizza, but you can use whatever kind you fancy…regular italian, gouda and apple…whatevs. Mmm…now I want some more chicken sausage.
The recipe for the dough I was not a fan of…while it said it needed less time to rise, it just didn’t turn out very well, so I will stick with my tried-and-true wheat crust recipe (with the addition of rosemary!) thankyouverymuch. It’s Friday, and Friday seems to be a very popular “pizza night” for many folks…so you should make this your pizza to try. If not tonight, definitely tomorrow!
Chicken Sausage and Herb Wheat Pizza
Adapted from Pampered Chef: Make it Healthy, Make it Fresh
Ingredients
For the dough
- 1 cup lukewarm water
- 1/4 cup olive oil, plus extra for coating the bowl
- 1 tsp honey
- 2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
- 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1 cup whole wheat flour (or white whole wheat flour)
- 1 1/2 Tbsp fresh rosemary, finely chopped
- 1/4 tsp kosher salt
For the sauce
- 3 mince garlic cloves
- 3 Tbs olive oil
- 1 can tomato puree (29 oz)
- 1 can crushed tomatoes (28 oz)
- 2 Tbs brown sugar
- 2 Tbs dried oregano
- 2 Tbs dried basil leaves
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
For the pizza
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 1/2 Tbsp fresh rosemary, finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 6 oz cooked chicken sausage (Italian, or your other variety)
- 1/2 cup chopped tomatoes
- 2 oz shredded Mozzarella
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1/4 cup basil leaves, thinly sliced
Preparation
To prepare the dough
- Mix the water, honey & oil in a bowl. Sprinkle the yeast on top and let sit until it gets foamy.
- In another bowl, combine the flour, rosemary & salt. Add the water mixture 1/2 cup at a time until fully incorporated. If the dough is sticky, add more flour; if it is stiff, add more water. Continue to mix until it feels elastic. Spread onto a lightly floured surface and knead until the dough is smooth and easy to work with. Do not overwork or it will be tough.
- Oil a third bowl, and place the dough in it, turning to coat all sides. Drizzle a little extra oil over the top of the dough. Seal tightly with plastic wrap and set in a warm place to rise, about an hour. Dough will double in size.Punch the dough down and knead on a slightly floured surface until smooth.
- Sprinkle a little flour onto your rolling surface, and roll out your dough. You can use a rolling pin, or just stretch it into your desired shape by hand. I usually roll mine out as thin as possible, 1/2 inch or so. It doesn’t have to be perfectly round…I actually prefer it to be a little odd-shaped. Gives it more character!
While the dough is rising, prepare your sauce
- In a large pot, saute garlic and oil for 2 minutes.
- Stir in all remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer about 30 minutes.
To prepare the pizza
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees F and line a large baking sheet with foil (or you can use a pizza stone if you have one…I don’t.) Place your rolled out dough onto the baking sheet.
- In a small bowl, combine the oil, garlic, and rosemary. Brush this mixture evenly over the dough and place in the oven. Bake for about 8-10 minutes, or until the crust is gold brown.
- Remove the crust from the oven and spoon your desired amount of pizza sauce on (J likes extra sauce). The top with chicken sausage, tomatoes, and a healthy layer of cheese.
- Bake for 6-8 minutes or until the crust is a deep golden brown and the cheese is melted.
- Remove and top with black pepper and sliced basil.
This was one tasty pizza folks…and purdy healthy as far as pizza is concerned!
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