The cooler weather is ushering the Fall season in, and this rustic pizza with savory sausage, sweet potato and browned butter sage, topped with melty mozzarella and Monterey jack cheeses is a perfect pizza for the season.
The rustic crust is so easy, and the irregular edges to catch all of the delicious garlic and sage browned butter.
This pizza reheats really well, making the best leftovers.
If you prefer a healthier crust, substitute the crust in this recipe with Wheat Pizza Crust.)
The pizza toppings and pizza dough can be made a day ahead of time, for easy assembling when you're ready to bake it.
Ingredients
Instant yeast- can be added straight to the dough ingredients without "proofing". See recipe notes for using active dry yeast.
Sweet potato- frozen, diced sweet potato is perfect, but you can also use fresh diced sweet potato.
Ground sausage- country sausage, spicy sausage, or even flavored varieties like sage and maple ground sausage all add a special layer of flavor.
Sage- fresh sage leaves are preferred, especially because they fry up crispy and beautiful, but dried sage can be used in a pinch; follow the instructions the same way.
Flour- all purpose or bread flour work great for this pizza dough.
Sugar- can be substituted with sweetener of choice, including agave, stevia, and countless others.
Instructions
Combine the dough ingredients in a stand mixer using the dough hook. (See recipe notes below for mixing without a mixer.)
The dough will start out looking shaggy and sticky. It is done when it is smooth, shiny and pulling away from the sides of the bowl.
Then, place the dough in a greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap or a light towel and let rise for one to two hours at room temperature, or overnight in the fridge.
To prepare the toppings, heat a heavy skillet to medium high heat.
Fry the sausage until super crispy. Remove the fried sausage and set aside on a paper towel lined plate.
Drain all but 1-2 tablespoons of the grease.
In the same skillet, in the reserved sausage grease, add the diced sweet potato. Sauté until the sweet potato becomes tender and begins to caramelize.
Once the sweet potato is fork tender and the edges look like they are caramelizing, reduce the heat from medium high to medium.
Add the butter and sage leaves along with the minced garlic.
Stir and sauté until the butter smells sweet and nutty, the sage leaves look crispy and the garlic becomes fragrant, then remove from heat and set aside.
Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.
Roll and stretch the pizza dough out; the shape doesn't matter and can be perfectly imperfect.
Transfer crust to a pizza stone or aluminum baking sheet lined with parchment paper or sprinkled with cornmeal to avoid sticking.
Drizzle the center of the crust lightly with olive oil, and begin layering with Monterey jack and mozzarella cheeses, sausage, sweet potato, and again with cheese and sage, in that order.
If desired, sprinkle with crushed red pepper flake, and brush edges with a beaten egg.
Bake the pizza in a 425 degrees (Fahrenheit) oven for 15-20 minutes, or until edges are golden brown and cheese is melted and bubbly.
Remove from oven, slice and serve!
Notes
- If using active dry yeast, instead of instant yeast, dissolve it in the water first after heating the water to 110-115 degrees Fahrenheit. Allow the mixture to sit for 5 minutes until frothy, then mix the dough ingredients as written.
- If you don't have a stand mixer, use a heavy bowl and wooden spoon, then knead the dough on a generously floured surface for 5-10 minutes.
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Fall Pizza with Sausage and Sweet Potato
Ingredients
For the Crust
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon instant yeast
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoons sugar
- 1 tablespoon olive oil plus more for greasing bowl
- 1 cup water
For the Toppings
- 6 ounces mozzarella cheese shredded
- 4 ounces Monterey jack cheese shredded
- ½ pound ground pork sausage regular, sage or maple
- 1 sweet potato peeled, diced
- 5-6 sage leaves fresh
- 1 egg beaten, optional
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- red pepper flake optional
- salt and pepper to taste
- cornmeal for sprinkling
Instructions
- Use a stand mixer to combine dough ingredients; knead with dough hook for 5 minutes until dough forms and pulls away from the edges of the bowl.
- Place dough in a large bowl with sides greased with olive oil; turn the dough over to coat all sides, cover with plastic wrap or a towel and let rise/rest for 60 minutes (or in fridge overnight).
- In a heavy skillet on medium high heat, and fry sausage until brown and crispy. Set crispy sausage aside on a plate or bowl. Reserve 1-2 tablespoons of grease in skillet for next step.
- In the same pan, sauté diced potatoes in skillet with reserved sausage grease until browned, salt and peppering to taste.
- Reduce heat to medium, add garlic, butter and sage leaves and sauté until fragrant and potatoes are fork tender.
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Stretch dough to form crust on a floured surface.
- Beat an egg with a pinch of red pepper flake (optional), and brush onto crust edges.
- Drizzle crust with olive oil, lightly.
- Sprinkle most of the shredded cheeses over the crust, followed by cooked sausage and diced sweet potato. Add remaining cheese and sage leaves.
- Lightly sprinkle baking sheet with cornmeal, and transfer crust onto it.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until crust is light golden brown, and cheese is melted and bubbly.
Notes
- If using active dry yeast, instead of instant yeast, dissolve it in the water first after heating the water to 110-115 degrees Fahrenheit. Allow the mixture to sit for 5 minutes until frothy, then mix the dough ingredients as written.
- If you don't have a stand mixer, use a heavy bowl and wooden spoon, then knead the dough on a generously floured surface for 5-10 minutes.
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