Pizza By the Yard!

 

 

We love pizza and I like to make homemade pizza quite often.  I always said I was going to open a pizza place, but now it just seems like too much work...lol.  I am not big on most frozen pizzas and sometimes you just don't want to order out and wait for delivery and it always ends up costing twice as much as you think it should.   This is a way to have homemade tasting pizza that is almost as quick as frozen and almost as good as real homemade and costs even less.    This recipe is so easy it's sort of silly and I almost didn't post it, but I realize that a lot of people want easy and they haven't been cooking forever like me, so maybe they haven't thought of this.

So this is what you need:

 

French bread loaf, pizza sauce, Parmesan cheese, Mozzarella cheese and whatever toppings you prefer.  I used sausage, pepperoni, mushrooms, and onions.

My family does not care for the taste of Italian sausage (I do... but I don't count) so when a recipe calls for sausage of any kind, except smoked or kielbasa, I use breakfast sausage and it works great.  I am picky about my sausage though.  The best sausage you can buy is Purnell's "Old Folks" sausage.  It just has a better taste than other sausages you buy at the super market.  If sausage doesn't render any fat in the skillet, it is not good.  Sausage is supposed to have some fat in it.  I drain if off, but it's pig people and pig fat is flavor. Purnell's is not real fatty, but it has enough that it isn't going to burn in the skillet or stick.  There is something wrong when you have to put oil in the skillet to cook a sausage patty and that is how some of the other sausages are now days.  They are genetically engineering pigs so much they are breeding the fat right out of them. Pork is not chicken, even if they do call it the other white meat...lol.  Ok, that's my pet peeve for today...yesterday it was mac and cheese!

Any who, I keep these frozen patties in my freezer and just take out what I need for recipes.  They thaw in the pan in no time and you can crumble them up as they brown.  Purnell's does make Italian sausage that comes in a roll like breakfast sausage that is wonderful also.  They are also a Kentucky company which is a bonus, but when I first started using it, I didn't even know that.

So after I brown some sausage or you could use ground beef, split the French bread down the middle with a serrated knife and lay on a big sheet pan or large pizza pan.  At this point, either toast the bread a little in the oven before adding the sauce or take slices of provolone or mozzarella and lay them down first before the sauce.  Either of these steps will keep the sauce from making the bread soggy.  Next spread each with the sauce.



Add your toppings.  I added sausage, pepperoni, mushrooms and onions (just on mine), then sprinkled on some Parmesan cheese and covered each with mozzarella cheese.  Place in a 400 degree preheated oven and heat until it is slightly brown.

Ingredients:

1 French bread loaf

2 cups pizza sauce

1lb. sausage or ground beef

1 package pepperoni (you won't need it all)

1 cup Parmesan cheese

2-3 cups mozzarella cheese

Any other toppings you like