I know you all were anxiously awaiting part 2 of this saga. Part 1 was just SO exciting I had to wait a little while. I don't want you to overdose on excitement. We try to keep things safe over here in my kitchen, except for the times that I burn myself on hot things because I'm ~~(a) too stupid to know its hot, (b) too excited to eat the food to care that its hot, or (c) too distracted by the N'sync blasting from my iPhone~~ not paying attention.

This pizza was inspired by one I had at a restaurant in Ballard called The Hi-Life. I meant to write a review on them, because my friends and I LOVE THEM. Buttttt we all know about how difficult it is for me to not procrastinate.

But, anyway, this pizza is just really, really yummy. You won't even notice/care that you're eating kale. It's probably the fact that the kale is overshadowed by the sausage, cheese, and the kick from the sriracha in the tomato sauce. And, the kale gets crispy like kale chips on top. Ugh, it's just so good. I'm drooling. It's a problem. Someone get me a napkin.

We all know I'm not a huge fan of cheese. I think that's obvious by now. But, the amount of cheese is so small that I didn't even get sick from it! Obviously, if you're one of those strange alien cheese-loving people, you can up the cheese amount. I am not an alien. So I did not. (I know that I am actually the strange one for hating dairy, but it makes me feel better to call you all strange.)

Also, the dough that I use to make this pizza is the same as the dough used for the Kale, Ham, and Meyer Lemon Pizza. This dough is just really good. I'm thinking about making it into bread sticks. I don't know, we'll see what happens. But, I just know I got compliments on the crust of the pizza.

The cool thing about having the dough be the same, is that you can half the recipes for the toppings and make two of each pizza (which is what I did). It worked out really well. There was variety and excitement… just not enough excitement to overdose… maybe next time!

Spicy Sausage & Kale Pizza

Serves: 4 Servings Prep Time: 2 Hours Cook Time: 25 Minutes

Ingredients

dough:
1 packet active dry yeast (approximately 2 1/4 teaspoons)
1 1/8 cup warm water
1 tablespoon blackberry honey (or plain honey)
1 1/2 cups bread flour
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon salt

pizza:
2 mild italian sausage links
2 teaspoons of sriracha sauce
1 can of tomato sauce (Hunt's 8 oz can Basil, Garlic, Oregano)
2 cups of kale, torn
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon garlic
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese

Procedures

dough:
In a large bowl, or kitchenaid mixer, combine water, yeast, honey, and olive oil. Stir and allow the mixture to sit for 10 minutes, until foamy. Mix in 2 1/2 cups of flour and the salt until the dough comes together but is still sticky. Add in the remaining flour and either need by hand or using your kitchenaid mixer dough hook.

Remove the dough and coat the bowl with olive oil. Return the dough to the bowl and turn to coat. Cover with a towel and allow the dough to rise for about 1 1/2 hours.

After the dough has risen, punch it down and turn it out onto a floured surface. Divide the dough into four even pieces. Using a rolling pin, flatten each piece out and place in pizza stones, or on baking sheets. (If you chose to make one large pizza, don't divide the dough and use a rolling pin to create your desired shape.)

Allow the dough to sit for ten minutes.

pizza:
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

Remove casings from the sausage links. Crumble and cook the sausage in a frying pan over medium heat until no longer pink, approximately 5-10 minutes. Set aside.

Combine tomato sauce, garlic, sriracha sauce, and olive oil. Stir to mix sauce.

Spread 1/8 cup of sauce over each piece of pizza dough (if making one large pizza spread 1/2 cup) and sprinkle cheese on top. Evenly distribute the crumbled sausage between the pizzas. Finally, layer the top with torn pieces of kale.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until crust is golden. (If making one large pizza you may need to bake for 25-30 minutes).