Recipe: Spicy Sausage and Broccoli Caprese Pizza

Homemade pizza is probably one of my favorite dinners, and once you master the basic technique, they are so simple to make! You can pick whatever toppings you like, whether they be caramelized onions, sauteed mushrooms, goat cheese, sausage, fresh mozzarella or sliced pears, the possibilities are endless. I prefer to buy the raw dough from either a local pizzeria (just call and ask for them to sell you an uncooked, rolled out pizza dough) or the bakery at Publix (these you have to roll out yourself). This is the perfect dinner to make with your husband or boyfriend too! Here is what you need to get started:

pictured: pizza dough, extra virgin olive oil, hot sausage, fresh mozzarella, locatelli cheese, steam-in-the-bag broccoli

not pictured: fresh basil, red pepper flakes, roma tomatoes, flour

Preheat your oven the 450 degrees. Flour your workspace and then add the dough on top...

In the meantime, brown your sausage - or have your husband do it :)

Back to the dough - use your fingers to kneed the dough and press outwards while spinning it in circles. Once your dough is shaped the way you want, place it on the pan that you are going to cook it on...

Drizzle a small amount of olive oil over the dough and spread with your fingers. Now your dough is ready for its toppings! For the Spicy Sausage and Broccoli Caprese Pizza, you will need to add sliced roma tomatoes, sliced fresh mozzarella, steamed broccoli, crumbled hot sausage (pre-cooked), fresh basil, red pepper flakes and locatelli cheese. It will look something like this...

Once you're at this step, I add a little extra olive oil over the top and on the crust so it will get nice and brown.

You can never have too much help in the kitchen!

Bake your pizza for 10-15 minutes until the cheese is bubbling and the crust is golden brown. You may need to put it under the broiler for a minute to get this way...

Use a pizza wheel to cut the pizza into eight slices. Now it's time to dig in! I promise you...this is amazing!!!