“Sausage” Pizza

“Sausage” Pizza by Squeedle

I made a delicious vegetarian pizza.  Here is the recipe.  It is considerably simpler if you do not make your own crust and pizza sauce, as I did.   Don’t be scared off by its length as I always go into great detail to make sure I’m clear:

I made the pizza sauce by taking an 8 oz. can of tomato sauce, adding dried parsley, basil and oregano, 1 clove of pressed garlic, and some black pepper, mixing it together and letting it sit at room temperature for about an hour.

I decided to try simulating the flavor of sausage (because meat + cheese = unkosher): I took some tempeh and crumbled it up, sprayed it with a little olive oil, then added salt, black pepper, some dried basil, and Hungarian paprika. Then tossed it to make sure all the bits were coated. I let that sit at room temperature for about an hour.

So while you are letting the sauce and “sausage” sit and absorb its delicious seasonings, make the crust. I used the recipe for crust from the Cuisinart cookbook, except I didn’t use the Cuisinart:

1 pkg active dry yeast
1 tsp sugar
2/3 cup warm H2O
1 2/3 cups flour
2/3 tsp salt
2 tsp olive oil

Stir yeast and sugar into warm water and let stand until foamy. While you are waiting, mix the flour & salt in a big bowl and mix it with a wooden spoon. Mix in the water/yeast until it starts to hold together. Then flour your hands and work it into a ball with your hands, kneading, until there are no dry bits or other bits stuck to the bowl. Pour the oil in and use your hands to squeeze it through the dough at first to get it mixed in a bit, then continue kneading until it’s sort of shiny and elastic, and likes to hold its shape well. Cover with a damp towel and let this rise for 30 mins. Punch it down, knead it a few more times, cover again and let rise another 30 mins. Punch down, roll out, scatter a light layer of cornmeal on a lightly oiled cast iron pan (oil it, then spread it & wipe it out gently with a paper towel), and put the pizza dough on the pan.

On the pizza the ingredients went in this order:
pizza sauce (duh)
Two large sprigs of basil, chopped coarsely
A handful of sliced Kalamata olives.
Half a bag of Trader Joe’s Shredded 3 Cheese blend (K.D.)
an entire small, ripe tomato, sliced thin
An entire shallot, sliced thin and browned in a cast iron pan with 1 tsp. olive oil
the tempeh “sausage”
the rest of the cheese
some Parmesan cheese.

Put in an oven heated to 450°F, and immediately after putting the pizza in, throw a cup of water in the bottom of the oven and close the door again. Let it bake for 20 minutes. DON’T open the DOOR; you’ll let the steam out.

Result: The crust was very tender and light, but it had a delicate crispy crust, and was really good. The cheese was perfectly melted – brown at the edges and melted in the center. The tempeh tasted so much like actual sausage that I was impressed. The Kalamata olives actually help with this. Having put the basil on before the cheese allowed it to stay flavorful instead of getting crispy.