sausage pizza Archives - Kimbesa's Homemade Pizza

Homemade Pizza Rules

Posted on September 18, 2011September 26, 2013 by kimbesa

Your own homemade pizza can beat the pants off anybody’s. IMO.

Saw Hoda and Kathie Lee tasting Naked Pizza on the Today Show this past week.

It didn’t look naked to me. It looked pretty good, with a crust that looked whole grain and some good toppings. Best I could tell from TV.

But they’d just had some wine, which they were excited about. Apparently it was aged in stainless barrels. So the pizza was not getting their full attention.

I understand convenience. Well-made homemade pizza can be just as convenient. The notion of “naked” pizza, as in “just plain pizza” appeals to me. I just put it through the lens of “homemade.”

Homemade pizza that rules them all

Make your crust with the balance of whole grains and flours that suit your taste
Select your toppings the same way: massive mushrooms or sausage sensation, or…
Bake it round, square or any other shape
Serve it HOT from the oven, no transport delays

Homemade pizza: well topped and always tasty!

Homemade Sausage Pizza | Inspired by Castle

Posted on September 12, 2011March 26, 2015 by kimbesa

Homemade sausage pizza is a favorite at my house. I’ve written about it several times, and how much I love our local pizza sausage.

Add fresh basil? Sounds good. Let me get some green on my pizza.

Here’s how:

Choose fresh basil leaves
Rinse the leaves and pat dry
Stack several leaves together
Roll the stack
Use a sharp knife to thinly slice the leaves (cut across the width)

This will give you long thin strips of fragrant and tasty basil, what chefs call a chiffonade. Then arrange on your pizza, after the Parmesan and sausage, before the mozzarella.

Some people like to put on the whole leaves, but I like to have the dusky flavor spread out, so that every slice has some.

I used 8 medium sized leaves for my 14-inch pizza, and this was the ordinary basil variety that is common in farm markets and specialty groceries. You could experiment with other varieties, as you wish. I used smell as my guide, and I wanted to be sure and get an herb that would complement (and not overpower) the sauce and sausage.

I’ve seen recipes for basil on sausage pizza before. But what pushed me to try it?

I got the idea from an episode of [popup_product]Castle[/popup_product], and it just struck me as something that would be delicious. Castle is one of my top three favorite TV shows. It was a program from Season 3, “A Slide of Death.” This is the episode where the plot plays out against the intense rivalry between four New York pizza restaurants, with names so similar it adds another layer to the mystery.

In the end, Castle goes “across a bridge” to get a special sausage basil pizza for his daughter. He’s such a good dad! (I’ll forgive him not making it himself.)

Any night that Castle is on is a good night for homemade sausage pizza, too!

Best Flour To Use For Homemade Pizza Crust

Posted on September 12, 2010September 19, 2017 by kimbesa

I love bread flour for pizza crust. Guess we’re fortunate at our house, because no gluten allergies here. (I am exploring gluten free pizza crusts, for future use. Why should an allergy get in the way when you love pizza?)

Got some bread flour from Hampshire Farms at the Royal Oak Farmers Market.

This is a whole grain bread flour, milled locally from local wheat. One of the photos shows a comparison, regular bread flour to this flour.

I found that ¼ cup, up to not more than ½ cup of this flour in my usual pizza crust recipe worked well to give the crust some more “tooth” which makes the pizza even more satisfying in this cooler weather. My recipe for pizza crust is on this page.

The corner pieces are almost like a slice of pizza with a bread stick on the side. Something crunchy to munch. I could see making this crust into a batch of bread sticks and using the pizza sauce to dip. Could be a good game-day buffet item. Just keep the sauce warm in a small crock pot or chafing dish.

In the quest for a great pizza crust, the importance of having a hot, pre-heated oven comes up over and over. Give your oven 10 or 15 minutes to heat up, so that the pizza goes in to a fully hot oven. As for temperature, it’s 500 degrees in my case. That’s as hot as my ordinary home oven goes.

As I write, I’ve got another batch of dough for pizza crust rising in the kitchen. I can already smell the yeasty goodness. Ultimately this will be a sausage pizza, of course. Another tasty pizza coming up soon, crust and all!

Sausage Pizza – Saturday Night

Posted on August 14, 2010March 26, 2015 by kimbesa

Homemade sausage pizza is so good, it could take me years to get tired of it.

A hot, homemade pizza just hits the spot, especially on Saturday or Sunday night, for a causal meal, easy to eat while relaxing or watching some television.

It’s easy to make homemade dough for the pizza crust ahead of time, even the day before, and allow it to rise in the refrigerator.

Let your dough warm to room temperature before stretching it out on your [popup_product]pizza stone[/popup_product] or baking sheet.

Frying the fresh sausage (destined for pizza) is definitely the way to go, if you have the time. Browning develops the flavor and you have more control if you work in a skillet.

Work in batches so that you brown the sausage rather than steam it
Allow to drain on a paper towel to remove excess grease
Cool the sausage so you don’t burn yourself when adding it to your pizza

Pizza is so versatile that you can add more or less of your favorite ingredients, or try some new ones. Black olives are on my list for this.

And a brain wave – next time I order my favorite pizza sausage from Hollywood Markets, have them leave it in bulk instead of stuffing it in casings. I’m just going to take it out of the casing anyway.

I’d prefer not to freeze it, but buying in bulk (casings or no) I can’t use the quantity before it would spoil, unless I’m making pizza for a serious crowd.

Should I fry it before or after freezing? This is a question for my friend Chef Lynn, to be determined. I want to preserve the wonderful flavor of the seasonings, and freezing can alter them.

Meanwhile, time to enjoy another fresh hot pizza Saturday night!

About the plate: Pfaltzgraff buffet plate in the Seychelles pattern. Generous size for two big pizza slices.

Homemade Sausage Pizza Revisited

Posted on July 18, 2010 by kimbesa

Pizza with saussage

I revisit my favorite sausage pizza often. I never was much for a meat lovers pizza, until I discovered this locally made pizza sausage.

My friends are probably tired of me raving about my favorite pizza sausage from Hollywood Markets, a local chain of seven supermarkets.

You won’t find this exact product outside suburban Detroit. It’s made in the back at the butcher counter at my local store. I have my eye out for some other products or alternatives that might be available to friends in other parts of the country, and I’ll report on those when I find them.

This sausage is a bit more savory than the Sweet Italian, and not overtly fiery like the Hot Italian Sausage. It’s savory with the right spice blend for pizza. I say oregano, garlic, salt and black pepper, and a bit of red pepper flake. There are probably a few more secret ingredients.

I’ve tried both frying the pizza sausage to cook it ahead (after taking it out of the casings) and baking the sausage for my pizza in the casings. Either way, the sausage meat ends up in pieces to be sprinkled on the pizza after the sauce, Parmesan cheese and mushrooms, and before the mozzarella cheese.

My favorite is frying. I like the crispy edges. Browning brings out more flavor in the sausage. But baking it often very convenient. Just put a few links in the oven, go off and do other things, and come back when they’re done. Over time, I’ve decided that baking the sausage for about an hour at 375 is optimal.

This sausage has turned me into even more of a pizza lover than I was before. Easy homemade pizza, very satisfying and handy to make regularly.

More sausage pizza – a savory supper

Posted on January 28, 2010October 11, 2010 by kimbesa

Another great sausage pizza

I’ve been baking my sausage ahead of making my pizzas. I’ve been using the oven for roast pork and other things, so it has been easy to add an extra ovenware dish with some sausage in it.

This is very convenient when it comes time to make a pizza and has been working out well.

My favorite Hollywood Markets pizza sausage comes in the large links, and five of them is enough for three pizzas, each with a generous helping of sausage, and room for mushrooms, too.

Again this time I baked the sausages in their casings, and put them in the refrigerator to get cold, so they would be easier to work with.

Instead of slicing the them, however, I just cut chunks off in somewhat smaller pieces than last time. I really like this, because it helps the sausage get a little browner in the oven, and makes it even more tasty for that.

So handy to pull out some sausage from the fridge and cut it while the dough is rising, ready to add to my pizza right after the mushrooms.

This is my third pizza in a week, and it went down very well. I could make thinner round slices of sausage, but this method is less fussy and full of flavor.

Good thing I got 10 pounds of pizza sausage, to last me until my next special order!

Big Chunks of My Favorite Pizza Sausage

Posted on January 20, 2010October 11, 2010 by kimbesa

Homemade sausage pizza

I love the pizza sausage that comes from Hollywood Markets, one of our local grocery store chains. Hollywood is known for its meat, and one of the guys in the meat department mixes this up. The last time I got some, I ordered 10 pounds.

This sausage has a great mix of spices that complement everything on your pizza. It does have some red pepper flake, but not too much. I perceive it as savory, not hot. Kinda like Cinderella eating porridge, this one’s just right.

Usually I take the sausage out of the casing, but this week I left it in the large links, and cooked them in a skillet with a lid on top. Then I let them get cold in the fridge, sliced them and put them on the pizza.

I like this method, because I can cook the sausage ahead and keep it in refrigerator for a few days, then use it when I’m creating my next pizza.

That looks so good, I’m going to have to make another one!

PS… I’ve been making pizza at home now for more than 30 years. I guess I know what I’m talking about, because this week I found another person who liked my articles so much that they wanted to “borrow” one of them. Here’s my original article, Homemade Pizza – Great Food as Close as Your Kitchen, on Ezinearticles, an article directory where I am an expert author.