tomato basil pizza with a crispy crust

The first time that we made this, we piled the ingredients on the pizza crust and baked it all together.  But this is a pretty wet pizza with sauce, tomatoes, and the veggie.  The crust was a bit soggy.  So we switched and partially baked the crust before loading the goodies on so that it would not be soggy.


Ingredients

1/2 pound Italian sausage
1/2 sweet onion such as Vandalia, sliced
3 cups fresh spinach, washed and stemmed
3/4 cup alfredo sauce
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
salt and pepper
3 medium tomatoes, sliced
1 package pizza dough or pizza dough mix, prepared

Directions

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

  1. Cook the sausage and drain the grease.  Place the sausage on a paper towel to absorb any remaining grease.
  2. In the pan used for the sausage, lightly sauté the onion slices until crisp-tender.
  3. Unroll the pizza dough into a 14 inch pizza pan pressing the dough to the edges of the pan.
  4. Cover the dough except for the edges with the alfredo sauce.  Scatter the meat and onions on the sauce.  Spread the spinach over the sauce and meat layer.  Top with tomato and onion slices.  Sprinkle with pepper and salt.  Cover with mozzarella cheese.
  5. Bake for 5 to 8 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly and the crust has browned.

Baker’s note:  This method cooks the tomatoes.  If you prefer the tomatoes not cooked, add them right after you remove the pizza from the oven. 

Recommended Recipes

Join us at the “How to Bake Cooking Club” for more like this.

Learn more at the Pizza Resource Center.

Follow us.If you would like to follow us and receive more articles and offers,tell us where to send them.

Share this with your friends who love to cook and bake!

Print This Post Print This Post