10 servings
YouTube instructional video is at the bottom.
What you’ll need
Bread flour
Instant yeast
Sugar
Olive oil
Salted butter
Tomato paste
Seasonings and spices
Salt
Dried basil
Dried oregano
Dried Thyme
Granulated onion
Granulated garlic
Fresh or dried parsley
Toppings
1 medium-sized yellow onion
Green bell pepper
Garlic
Fresh mushrooms
Black olives
Pepperoni slices
1/2-pound Italian sausage
Two 8-ounce packages Mozzarella cheese
Shredded parmesan cheese
Yellow cornmeal (Optional)
Tools you’ll need
16-inch diameter pizza pan
Cheese shredder or food processor with a shredder attachment
Rolling pin
Pastry brush
Small food processor
Preparation of ingredients
Onion, garlic and bell pepper
Step 1- Chop half of a yellow onion and half of a green bell pepper into small bite sized pieces. Press 2 cloves of garlic with a garlic press or you can chop into quarter pieces with a knife. Make sure you rinse off your bell pepper before you chop it.
Mushrooms
Step 2- Rinse off 3.5 ounces in weight of mushrooms off really well with cold water. Once done slice the mushrooms with a knife.
Mozzarella cheese
Step 3- Shred two 8-ounce packages mozzarella cheese with a cheese shredder or with a food processor with the shredder attachment.
Marinara sauce
Note- Do not preheat your fire on your stove until all the ingredients are added and incorporated.
Step 4- Add 6 ounces tomato paste, 3/4 cup water, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon dried basil, 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano, 1/8 teaspoon dried thyme, 1/4 teaspoon granulated onion, 1/4 teaspoon granulated garlic, 3 tablespoons freshly chopped parsley (1/2 teaspoon if you are using dried parsley), and to cut the acid of the tomato add 1 teaspoon sugar. Stir all ingredients with a whisk until combined.
Preheat your fire to medium heat.
Step 5- Let the marinara sauce simmer for 4 minutes stirring occasionally. Add 1/2 tablespoon salted butter. Stir until the butter has melted. Turn your fire off. Let the sauce cool for 10 to 15 minutes. You can also make the sauce one or two days in advance.
Cooking your Italian sausage
Preheat your fire to medium heat.
Step 6- Let a large saucepan or skillet get hot for 1 to 2 minutes. Add 1/2-pound Italian sausage into the saucepan or skillet. Stir all ingredients together. Let sauté for 3 to 4 minutes stirring occasionally. Once done turn your fire off and let cool for 5 minutes.
Step 7- Add the cooked Italian sausage into a mesh strainer with a shallow pan underneath it. Stir the Italian sausage while in the mesh strainer. This will allow the pan drippings to drip into the shallow pan. Let the mixture cool for and additional 5 minutes. You can also cook the sausage 1 to 2 days in advance.
Pizza dough
Step 8- Add 3 and 1/4 cups bread flour, 2 teaspoons instant yeast, 1 tablespoon sugar and 1 and 1/2 teaspoons salt into stand mixer bowl. Stir all ingredients together with a large sturdy spoon until combined.
Step 9- Place the mixing bowl onto your stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment. Add 1 and 1/3 cups warm water (Temperature of the water should be 115 to 120 degrees f.), 2 tablespoons melted salted butter and 2 tablespoons olive oil. Mix on a medium low speed or according to your stand mixer’s instructions on mixing doughs for 4 to 5 minutes. Let the dough rest in the mixing bowl for 1 to 2 minutes. Dough should be slightly sticky or not sticky at all.
Step 10- Lightly flour the surface of your table. Add the dough on top of your table. Add flour onto your hands and knead the dough for 2 minutes. After 2 minutes form the dough into a ball. Let the dough rest for 15 to 20 minutes.
Pizza pan
Step 11- Spread 2 teaspoons olive oil around a 16-inch diameter pizza pan. Sprinkle a small amount of yellow cornmeal around the pizza pan. If you don’t have any yellow cornmeal, that’s fine.
Shaping and forming the pizza dough
Step 12- Press the dough down with your hands forming the dough into a flat circle. This will release the gases caused by the yeast. Next take a rolling pin and roll the dough into a 19-inch in diameter circle. The flattened dough should be wider than your pizza pan.
Step 13- Carefully pick up the flattened dough with your hands and transfer the dough onto your pizza pan. Trim off any excessive dough hanging from the edge of the pizza pan, leaving only 1 and 1/2 to 2 inches of dough hanging from the pizza pan.
Step 14- Roll and tuck the ends of the pizza dough onto the edge of the pizza pan. This will form the crust. Make an indentation mark in the dough, 1 inch from the edge of the pizza pan.
Adding the toppings
Note- There is no specific amount of each ingredient to be added. You can add as much of each topping to your likeness.
Step 15- Spread your marinara sauce onto the flattened pizza dough as evenly as possible without adding any of it to the crust portion of the dough. Sprinkle a small amount of shredded parmesan cheese on top of the marinara sauce.
Step 16- Sprinkle a generous amount of the shredded mozzarella cheese on top of the marinara sauce. Reserve a small amount of the mozzarella cheese as were doing to add it on top of the pizza once all the toppings are added.
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
Step 17- Add, chopped yellow onion, bell pepper, sliced mushrooms, black olives, pepperoni slices, and cooked Italian sausage on top of the shredded mozzarella cheese. Once done sprinkle the small amount of the mozzarella cheese you reserved from step 16. Once the pizza is assembled, let it sit for 4 minutes before putting it into the oven.
Step 18- Place the pizza into a preheated 450-degree oven on the middle rack. Bake for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes baking time, remove the pizza from the oven.
Garlic butter mixture
Note- You can prepare this while the pizza is in the oven.
Step 19- Add 4 tablespoons melted salted butter and 2 cloves pressed or chopped garlic into a small food processor. Blend for 15 to 20 seconds.
Step 20- Brush the garlic butter mixture onto the pizza crust using a pastry brush. Sprinkle a small amount of the shredded parmesan cheese on top of the pizza crust. Let the pizza cool for 5 minutes and after that the pizza is ready to be served.
YouTube instructional video
