White Pizza with Broccolini, Fontina, and Sausage

By Leite's Culinaria
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Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds store-bought or homemade pizza dough
Semolina (polenta, or flour, for dusting)
1 tablespoon olive oil
9 ounces Italian sausage (casings removed, meat pinched into 1 1/4 inch (3 cm) pieces)
Salt
1 bunch (about 5 oz) broccolini or rapini (broccoli rabe) (trimmed and cut into thin stalks)
5 1/2 ounces fontina (provolone piccante, or Asiago cheese, thinly sliced)
4 1/2 ounces fresh mozzarella (drained, torn into pieces)
1 large garlic clove (thinly sliced)
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

  • Prep Time40mins
  • Cook Time10mins
  • Servings4
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Instructions

Place a pizza stone, baking steel, or heavy metal baking sheet on the middle rack of the oven. Preheat the oven to its highest temperature.

Dust a pizza peel, flat baking sheet, or overturned rimmed baking sheet with polenta, semolina, or flour.

In a medium skillet over medium heat, warm the olive oil and brown the sausage until cooked through, about 8 minutes. Remove the sausage from the skillet and drain on paper towel.

Meanwhile, in a large pan of lightly salted boiling water, cook the broccolini for 1 minute. Drain and refresh under cold water. Pat the refreshed broccolini dry.

Lightly dust a work surface with flour. Divide the dough into 4 pieces and keep 3 covered with a clean dish towel while you make the first pizza. Using only your fingers, stretch the dough into a 10 inch (25cm) round, lifting and turning to ensure that the dough doesn't stick to the work surface. If the dough is at room temperature, it should open and stretch easily. TESTER TIP: Don't be tempted to use a rolling pin to stretch the dough, as it will press out all the bubbles in the dough and result in a noticeably flatter, less tender crust.

Move the stretched dough to the prepared pizza peel. Scatter with one-quarter of each of the sausage, broccolini, fontina, mozzarella, garlic slices, and crushed red pepper flakes.

Carefully and swiftly, slide the dough onto the preheated pizza stone or hot baking tray. Cook until crisp on the bottom, 6 to 10 minutes, depending on your oven. TESTER TIP: If your oven is hotter at the back, be sure to rotate the pizza halfway through cooking.

While the first pizza cooks, stretch and top the next pizza and immediately pop it in the oven when the first pizza is removed. Continue for the remaining dough portions until all 4 pizzas have been topped and baked. Slice, if desired, and serve immediately. Buon Appetito!

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