Milanese Oregano Sausage Pizza

Makes 1 x 12 inch pizza

If you have ever had the amazing opportunity to travel to Italy you will undoubtedly have noticed how the Italians really love sausage. What is even more incredible is how those sausages vary depending on the region you are visiting.

Milan and the Lombardy region within which it resides are no different and it’s a region where herbs also play a big part and where Oregano flourishes in the foothills of the alps.

Oregano is just delicious on pizza, whether it’s added to infuse the tomato sauce or the featured herb within products like the Italian-style sausage we’re using to build our pizza, the bold and aromatic flavour pops through adding to an incredible sensation while you’re eating.

We made two variations of this pizza, the first with caramelised red onion, where the caramelisation of the onion binds with the fat of the sausage before the herby aroma of the oregano comes through. The second includes artichoke hearts, the salty bitterness again provides the perfect balance to the herb and rich sausage meat.

It’s incredible how two completely different ingredients will deliver such completely different results when they are the only ingredient that has been altered.

Ingredients

1 Great Balls of Flour pizza dough ball or gluten free dough ball
Flour and semolina mix
75g Great Balls of Flour Pizza Tomato Sauce
60 – 70g of Italian Fior di Latte Mozzarella
120g Milanese Sausage Meat or 1 Milanese Sausage
30g caramelised red onion (optional)
2 artichoke hearts in olive oil, leaves squashed out and broken apart (optional)

Method

Ensure you have prepared your Great Balls of Flour pizza dough ball so it is rested and has got up to temperature. This will make it really easy to press and stretch your dough ball into the pizza base.

Fire up your pizza oven and leave it to heat up in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions or, if using your kitchen oven, set it to its maximum setting (250ºC) waiting until your stone or steel has had sufficient time to get to temperature (around 15 minutes). Remove your Great Balls of Flour Pizza Tomato Sauce from your fridge and allow it to warm for 45 minutes before building your pizza. Drain your Burrata to ensure it will not be too watery when cooked. Allow at least 30 minutes for this, but more than an hour is good.

Sprinkle your work surface with flour and semolina mix and roll your dough ball lightly covering it all over to ensure it doesn’t stick to the surface. Spread and stretch like in this video

Sprinkle your pizza peel or parchment paper with a light dusting of flour and semolina mix to stop the dough ball from sticking. Transfer to your pizza peel, or parchment paper if cooking in a conventional oven. Remember to shuffle the pizza base a couple of times throughout the building process to ensure your base doesn’t stick to the peel/parchment paper.

gLuTeN FREE

If making this pizza using a GBOF Gluten Free Dough Ball. Defrost the ball in the fridge overnight and follow the same resting period as for gluten based dough balls, ensure you keep this dough ball separate from any containing gluten. When coming to press out the ball, place between two sheets of parchment paper, dusting the paper on the bottom with Gluten Free Flour and Rice mix. To begin, gently press out the dough using your fingers until the base is around 6″ in diameter, then place the second parchment sheet on top and, using a rolling pin, roll the base out rotating to ensure an even thickness. Stop rolling once the base has reach 12″/30cm.

Cooking guide

Pour over the tomato sauce and spread it all around the base with the back of a spoon, leaving a gap around the edge of around 1 – 2cm, this will give you the perfect airy crust like in the image above, if using caramelised red onion or artichoke hearts now is the time to add them on to the pizza, then drop your Mozzarella on top, ensuring an even distribution. Break your sausage meat into thumbnail sized pieces, removing skins if using sausages, then place on top of the pizza. There is no need to pre-cook the sausage as the heat of your oven will bake it. You’ll know when the sausage is cooked as it will develop its own caramelised crust on top as it crisps in the heat.

Note: Cook as per the guide for your preferred pizza cooking method. Remember to rotate frequently if using an Ooni or similar style of oven or rotate after 3 minutes if using a home oven and cook for a further 3 minutes.

Check our how to video tutorials for help and guides on getting the best from cooking in your oven.