Sauerkraut and Summer Sausage Pizza

Ball park flavors in a home made pizza. This pie takes the sausage & sauerkraut combo and tops it with smoked mozzarella for a new twist on pizza night. If you've got holiday leftovers you're nearly ready to bake.

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In addition to the chocolate oranges, My Mother's Lefse and the Swedish meatballs, another traditional holiday food is a beef stick or summer sausage. If I don't get one, I pick one up at the store. A quick snack of a few slices of sausage + cheese + crackers + fruit is a welcome treat this time of year.

The sauerkraut is a slightly different topping for pizza. I was inspired to use it watching the folks at Dewey's Pizza make a ball park pizza using mustard as sauce and topping with bratwurst and kraut. It tasted pretty darn awesome, and I wanted to make a version at home. When I learned that folks around the region eat sauerkraut during the holidays and at New Year's, I figured I had my topping combo for a pizza. Getting a marked down ball of smoked mozzarella from the fancy cheese counter was just bonus, you know?

Note--make sure your sauerkraut is very dry for this pizza. I recommend using a salad spinner to remove liquid, but wrapping in a towel and squeezing works as well.


For more pizza ideas, please see my Visual Pizza Recipe Index. I've broken it down into pizza doughs, vegetarian pizzas, savory pizzas using fruit, and pizzas with meat. You can check it out here. I've also got a Friday Night Pizza Night! board on Pinterest if you're a fellow pinner!

Why yes, I am using a chicken fryer to cook this pizza. Doesn't everyone?

Sauerkraut and Summer Sausage Pizza

Ingredients

• 1 pound pizza dough of your choice (here are some suggestions)
• about 2 Tablespoons olive oil
• about 2 Tablespoons mustard (I prefer a stone ground for this, not yellow)
• 1 cup sauerkraut, spun dry in a salad spinner
• 1 cup thickly sliced summer sausage or similar spiced cured meat
• 1+½ to 2 cups shredded smoked mozzarella cheese

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit, and if you have a pizza stone leave that in the oven so it is good and hot, at least 30 minutes.
2. For a thin crust pizza, spread dough out on a lightly oiled piece of parchment paper. For a deep dish pizza, press the dough into an oiled 12 inch cast iron skillet.
3. Mix oil and mustard (I don't measure, but the ingredients above are an approximate) and spread across crust.
4. Spread sauerkraut evenly across pizza. Top with pieces of sausage. Cover entire pie with shredded cheese.
5. To bake a thin crust pizza, transfer the parchment paper onto the pizza stone (or use a cookie sheet). Bake for 5 to 8 minutes, then shimmy the parchment out from under the crust and bake directly on the stone (or cookie sheet) another 3 to 5 minutes until the cheese is bubbly.
6. To bake a deep dish pizza, reduce heat to 400 degrees and transfer the skillet to the oven. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until the cheese is bubbly and edges are browned.
7. Either method, remove pizza from oven and cool on a rack for a few minutes. Slice and serve. Good with beer.