Sausage and Olive Pizza

Pizza is a staple on my menu. It's very easy to prepare dough and freeze some for later. When I'm ready to bake the frozen dough, I allow it to de-frost in the fridge overnight. Then I remove from the fridge and allow to sit at room temperature for a half hour or so to make for easier dough handling.

I loved this combination of ingredients -- the fresh rosemary is the key ingredient.

Sausage and Olive Pizza
adapted from Everyday Food

8 oz. shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 lb. ground Italian sausage, sauteed in pan until cooked
1/4 c. sliced green olives
1/4 c. sliced black olives (kalamata olives work too)
thinly sliced red onion
chopped fresh rosemary leaves
olive oil
pizza crust - see this link if you need a recipe

Preheat oven to 500. If using pizza stone, preheat stone for about 20 minutes. Prepare pizza crust, roll out. Brush crust with olive oil. Top with mozzarella cheese, sausage, olives, red onion, and rosemary leaves. Transfer pizza to pre-heated stone placed on a lower rack in the oven. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until crust is light brown and cheese is bubbly.

I prefer to roll out my pizza on parchment paper. Once rolled out, transfer the dough on the paper to an overturned cookie sheet. Add the toppings and then carefully slide the prepared pizza from cookie sheet to the preheated stone (keep the paper underneath the dough during baking). Once finished baking, remove stone from oven and carefully pull paper with pizza to another surface like a counter or cooling rack to prevent further baking on the hot stone.