Summer Sausage Pizza

Today is pizza day! Do you like pizza? Maybe you don’t like those mushy pizzas. But there is nothing like a homemade crispy pizza! I will show you the way I make my own pizza. You can even make your own dough. It’s not difficult. I will show you how you can do it.
I will make a Summer Sausage Pizza. Of course, you can choose your own ingredients. That is one of the good things of making a pizza. Let’s get started.

Ingredients:

Dough,

1 cup and 1 tablespoon water
¼ cup olive oil
1 tablespoon sugar
½ tablespoon salt
3 ¼ cups flour
½ tablespoon yeast

Toppings,

Some flour
Some olive oil
½ cup tomato sauce
Summer sausage slices
1 chopped mushroom
¼ cup cubed squash
¼ cup cubed dill pickle
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
¼ cup chopped green onions
¼ cup chopped green olives
1 tablespoon roasted chopped red pepper
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon rosemary
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon thyme
Salt to taste
½ cup shredded mozzarella cheese
¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
¼ cup grated romano cheese

First we will make the pizza base. I use a bread machine to make my pizza but, of course, you can knead your dough by hand. Doing it by hand is hard, so, as I have a bread machine, I use it to knead my dough. You can use a stand mixer as well.
Using my bread machine, I put the ingredients in this order: water, oil, sugar, salt, flour and yeast. I select the program just to knead the dough and turn the bread machine on. The machine will do its job and then it will let the dough grow. If you want to make your dough by hand, you can do it placing the flour on a table making a well with the water inside. Add the rest of the ingredients and make the dough. And then you will have to knead the dough properly. Knead and knead till the dough is elastic. Let it rise in a bowl covered by a wet cloth.
Once we have kneaded the dough, either by hand or with a machine, we will shape the pizza with a rolling pin. Remember that a floured work surface is always important. With that amount of ingredients you can make two pizzas. What I do is dividing the dough into two parts. I make a pizza with one portion and I use the other one to make bread rolls. You can make two pizzas if you want, of course.
Using a pizza stone will make your pizza crispier because these stones distribute the heat evenly. Nonetheless you will have to preheat the oven earlier and maybe use a pizza peel to transfer your pizza to and from the oven. I haven’t tried the pizza stone yet but I am planning to get one. I think the results must be good. Anyway, if your oven is powerful, your pizza will be good.
Let’s go to the oven. Preheat it to 450ºF. I hope you will have your toppings ready because now you will have to add them to your pizza base. If you use a pizza stone, put some semolina on the stone. If you use a regular oven tray, make sure it is greased.
First we will paint the pizza with a little olive oil. Then spread the tomato sauce. On top of that put the summer sausage, the mushroom, the squash, the pickle, the garlic, the green onions, the green olives and the red pepper. Do this evenly. Now we will add the spices: black pepper, rosemary, thyme and oregano. Add some salt if you want. I do not add any salt as the dough and some other ingredients already have some. Then I finish the pizza with cheese. You should always use mozzarella cheese in your pizzas. I add parmesan and romano cheese as well, as I like the combination of these three cheeses. And your pizza is almost ready. You will only have to put it in your oven. Let it cook for about 15 minutes. Wonderful pizza!