All weekend Stephen wanted to make Jambalaya. I think he’s wanted to make it for some time now. So on Friday when we went to Wegmans we picked up some vegetarian sausage. We’d never tried replacement sausage before so I quickly Googled the best brands and read that Field Roast was a winner (it definitely was). We bought the standard “Italian” flavor.
Now, last weekend when we went to Wegmans a gentleman convinced us to make our own pizza dough. We make our own pie crust, our own pretzels, and so on but we’d never made our own pizza dough for some reason. Well, we decided to heed his advice & Stephen bought some pizza dough yeast.
Late afternoon we decided to make the pizza crust but we weren’t going to have enough time to make a pizza so we deliberated on what kind of pizza we would make when we got home from a couple of meetings. Why not try to make a jambalaya inspired pizza?
Jambalaya Pizza:
- 3 1/4 Cup All-Purpose Flour
- 1/4 Cup Organic Whole Wheat Flour (a little extra for kneading)
- Pinch of Salt
- 1 1/2 Cups Warm Water
- 1 Package Yeast (2 1/4 TSP)
- 1 TBSP Brown Sugar
- Olive Oil
- 1 Green Bell Pepper, large dice
- 1 Medium Onion, slivers
- 1 Green Finger Chili, diced with seeds & ribs
- 1 Clove Garlic, minced
- 2 Field Roast Italian Sausage (vegan)
- 2 Small Tomatoes, diced (roma would work)
- Cajun Seasoning
- Dried Thyme
- Trappey’s Red Devil Hot Sauce
- Mozzarella Cheese
To prepare the dough: In a large mixing bowl combine 1 1/2 cup warm water with a packet of yeast and brown sugar. Stir gently and let sit for about 5 minutes to activate yeast. Then stir in the flours using a rubber spatula, until ball forms. Flour a flat dry surface, turn out the dough, and kneed. Add flour as necessary. Tip: flour your hands! Next oil a bowl and place dough into bowl. Allow 30min-2hour rise time, depending on climate conditions. To expedite, we covered bowl in foil and put it in front of a space heater on low!
Flour (or semolina) a pizza pan or cookie sheet. Punch down risen dough to remove air pockets. Turn out onto pan and spread with fingers to size of pan. Rub lightly with olive oil & cracked black pepper. Cook at 425 Degrees for 5 minutes or until just turning light golden.
Heat olive oil in medium/large frying pan. Add liberal amount of cajun seasoning and sizzle to bring out flavor. Sautee bell pepper & onion over medium heat until tender. Add chili and continue to sautee. Add bite-sized pieces of Italian Sausage. Add garlic & tomatoes to pan. Add pinch of dry thyme. Add plenty of hot sauce (to taste). The vinegar adds a nice kick of acidity and punches up the flavor. Turn heat down while all ingredients cook.
Spread sautéed mixture on slightly precooked pizza dough. Sprinkle with desired quantity of mozzarella cheese. We kept the cheese light this time, just using up the remaining cheese from the fridge.
Bake at 425 Degrees for 10 more minutes or until cheese bubbles and turns light brown. Remove from oven and let cool for at least 2 minutes. I know it’s hard to wait.
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