I’m not going to lie…I can totally, TOTALLY be a pizza snob.
Don’t get me wrong. I absolutely love all pizza, as I’m sure you can tell. But I tend to always want to make things…fancy. I want blue cheese and pear. I want organic lamb sausage and sweet, soft caramelized onions and thinly sliced prosciutto. I want fresh corn and tomatoes on whole-wheat crust. I want breakfast on my pizza, complete with a runny egg and bacon and chives. See? Total pizza snob.
But luckily, I have someone around to keep me grounded. Pizza grounded. Someone who says, “Hey, can we quit it with the corn on the pizza?” Someone who just wants some sausage and cheese on a simple thin crust pizza. Because sometimes we pizza snobs need to be brought back down to the humble simplicity of meat and cheese and, you know, white flour. To remember there’s a time and a place for this kind of greasy goodness, and not just at 3am after a night of one-too-many-bevvies (although that will always, always be a good time).
This Italian sausage and pepper pizza is the perfect pizza to remember how good the classic combination of cheese, bread, meat (and fine, a FEW veggies) can be. The crust is phenomenal, minimally complicated and maximally flavorful, built off just a few ingredients and a 22-hour rise time.* It’s topped with a simple mixture of tomato sauce, fontina cheese, crumbly cooked spicy Italian sausage, and thinly sliced sweet and colorful peppers. It’s incredibly simple, but the flavors complement each other so well – the doughy crunchiness of the crust, the melty creaminess of the cheese, the subtle tang of the tomato sauce, the spicy meatiness of the sausage, and the sweet touch of the peppers. Sausage and pepper pizza is a classic for a reason, and this version is damn near perfect. I won’t say my pizza snobbiness is totally cured (I’m already imagining a version of this made with whole wheat flour and topped with some sort of broccolini/goat cheese situation), but I have no doubt that I will never again doubt the power of cheese and sausage to make a perfect pizza experience.
*Although Smitten Kitchen has variations for both an 18-hour and a 6-hour rise time, so there’s no excuse for not making fantastic homemade crust no matter what your timeline.
- 3 cups (375 grams) all-purpose flour
- Slightly heaped 1/8 tsp active dry yeast
- 1 ½ tsp kosher salt
- 1 ¼ cups water, plus a little extra, if needed to pull the crust together
- ¾ cup pizza sauce, homemade or store-bought
- 1 ½ cups shredded fontina cheese
- 2 spicy Italian sausages
- 2 bell peppers, thinly sliced (I used one red and one orange)
- In a large bowl, combine all ingredients and mix together with a spoon. It won’t come together perfectly and will be a little craggy, but if it’s really not coming together, add a bit (1-2 tbsp) more water. I didn’t have to do this, but just in case!
- Cover the bowl in plastic wrap and leave in a room-temperature location for approximately 22 hours, or until it has doubled in size.
- About 15 minutes before the dough is ready, preheat your oven to the maximum temperature (500 or 550°F). Cook your sausages in a medium-high skillet, stirring to crumble until cooked through. Drain on paper towels over a plate and set aside. Slice your peppers and shred your cheese.
- Once the dough is ready, flour your counter well. Turn out the dough from the bowl onto the floured counter. Flour the top of the dough, and divide in half to make two pizzas. Form them into ball-like shapes, Pick up the ball you’re using (or do this for both, if using both) and let it stretch down and ball it back up a few times before putting it on a baking sheet that has been lightly oiled. Lightly press the dough out to about a 9x13” rectangle with your fingers. If your fingers are sticking to the dough, you should flour your hands as well. And don’t worry if the dough tears, just patch it back together and keep going.
- Once the oven is preheated, spread the sauce over the pizza, leaving about a ¾ inch border around the edges. Top with cheese, then sausage, then peppers. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until the crust is golden and the cheese is all melty and blistered.
- If using cups for the flour, make sure to lightly spoon the flour into the cups, NOT scoop it from the container. That will lead to too-heavy flour measurements and mess up the ratio.
- To freeze the other half of the dough, just wrap in plastic wrap tightly and put in the freezer. To defrost, just leave in the fridge overnight, and then remove and put on the counter covered in a damp cloth for 2-3 hours before baking.
- Toppings inspired by Joy the Baker's awesome version: http://joythebaker.com/2012/09/spicy-sausage-and-sweet-pepper-pizza/
