Half Pepperoni and Half Sausage Decision
When you can’t decide whether you want pepperoni or sausage on your pizza, you can half both (pun intended)! You’ll have 1/2 pepperoni pizza and 1/2 sausage pizza. This is when you and others can have exactly what’s wanted. These two halves are among the top choices for pizza. It’s a great way to get the best of both worlds and you end the argument of pepperoni vs sausage for homemade pizza. But, if you don’t want it split between halves, and you want the mixed 2-meat pizza, go here for the homemade sausage and pepperoni pizza recipe.
Go ahead; show off! Just follow the instructions and you’ll have a delicious pizza in no time.
Half Pepperoni and Half Sausage Pizza
Equipment
Ingredients
Pizza Dough (or use premade)
- 1 cup water warm from tap
- 2 tbsp olive oil or other vegetable oil
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 2½ cups bread flour or all-purpose flour
- 2½ tbsp Vital Wheat Gluten optional for extra chewiness
- ½ tsp garlic powder optional
- ½ tsp active, dry yeast can be quick rising, instant, or bread maker yeast
Shaping Pizza Dough
- 2 tbsp flour on work surface
- 1 tbsp oil only for coating pan/sheet
- 2 tbsp corn meal or semolina flour, for reducing dough sticking
Pizza Toppings
- ¾ cup Tomato-based Sauce Sauce Choices: tomato, spaghetti, pizza, Ragu, or marinara
- ¼ lb pork sausage or Italian sausage (casing removed); cooked and crumbled
- 8 oz mozzarella cheese can replace 2 ounces with fresh Parmesan and/or Asiago cheeses
- ½ medium bell pepper optional: seeds removed, diced
- ⅓ medium onion optional: purple or sweet; diced
- 1 medium tomato optional: seeds removed, diced
- 1 tsp Italian seasonings or oregano
- 2 tbsp parmesan cheese grated (from shaker)
- 1½ oz Pepperoni Slices ready-to-eat
Instructions
PIZZA DOUGH (or use premade)
- Make pizza dough homemade or make pizza dough using bread machine. If dough is already prepared and from fridge, let it sit out at least 30 minutes; if frozen, wait at least 1 hour.1 cup water, 2 tbsp olive oil, 1 tbsp sugar, 1 tsp salt, 2½ cups bread flour, 2½ tbsp Vital Wheat Gluten, ½ tsp garlic powder, ½ tsp active, dry yeast
- About 15-30 minutes before dough is ready to shape, START to preheat oven at 500°F with a shelf at 2nd from top level. If using pizza stone or pizza steel, insert in oven now.
- Shape pizza dough as needed for your pizza pan, baking sheet, pizza stone, or pizza steel. Only if using pizza pan or baking sheet: Spray or oil pan/sheet. Sprinkle corn meal on pan/sheet, place dough, use oil or water on dough, if needed to shape it. If dough needs more rest time, can prep toppings.2 tbsp flour, 1 tbsp oil
TOPPINGS
- Cook sausage and crumble it. If using Italian sausage, remove and discard its casing; then, cut into small pieces and cook.¼ lb pork sausage
- Cut and measure remaining toppings and set aside.8 oz mozzarella cheese, ½ medium bell pepper, ⅓ medium onion, 1 tsp Italian seasonings, 2 tbsp parmesan cheese, 1 medium tomato
- Only if using a pizza peel: Ensure peel and work surface has corn meal applied. Ensure pizza shaped dough is positioned (whether on peel or work surface), is movable, and transferable.2 tbsp corn meal
- When dough is shaped and ready, add your toppings using this sequence: sauce, fresh cheese(s), veggies, sausage (only on half side), spices, parmesan cheese, pepperoni slices (only on other half side).¾ cup Tomato-based Sauce, ¼ lb pork sausage, 8 oz mozzarella cheese, ½ medium bell pepper, ⅓ medium onion, 1 tsp Italian seasonings, 2 tbsp parmesan cheese, 1½ oz Pepperoni Slices, 1 medium tomato
BAKING
- Transfer topped pizza (in pan/sheet or onto hot stone/steel) and bake it in the 2nd from upper shelf in preheated oven at 500°F. Baking TIME guidelines: pizza pan or baking sheet (21-23 minutes), pizza stone (16-20 minutes), ¼" pizza steel (12-16 minutes).
- Let cooked pizza rest about 5 minutes before slicing.
Notes
- If using a pizza wheel cutter to make pizza slices, cut from the center outward to the edge.
- If adding any vegetables you want to remain moist, e.g., spinach leaves, mushrooms, etc., add them after the sauce and before the cheese.
- Dough snaps back from trying to stretch it out: Handle it and stretch or roll out what you can. Then, let it rest 15 minutes, and repeat further stretching and rolling out. The longest wait time is 2 of these 15 minute wait sessions.
Nutrition
SOURCE
DarnGoodRecipes.com™
Specialty Pizza Pies
Split Pepperoni and Sausage Pizza
This recipe is when you don’t mix the two meats across the entire pizza. There’s another recipe for that. In the meantime, your OTHER toppings (not the meat) could technically be the same across the entire pizza. That’s what makes this recipe so easy.
Pizza Homemade Recipe From Scratch
Here are the steps summarized visually for making the best homemade pizza recipe, which starts with making your own pizza dough.
- The first step is to make the dough. You can use store-bought dough and unroll it out, or make your own dough from scratch. If you’re making your own dough, be sure to allow enough time to make, which is mostly rising time totaling about 1-1/2 to 2 hours for the entire process.
- While the dough is rising, you can prepare your toppings, measured, and cut.
- Just before the dough is ready, you can start to preheat the oven and set aside the prepped toppings.
- Once the dough is ready, you can roll or stretch it out for shaping.
- You’ll add your toppings to the dough and transfer it into the oven, baking on your preferred pizza cooking surface.
This recipe covers some good options and notes for each type of pizza cooking surface such as a pizza pan, a baking sheet, a pizza stone, or a pizza steel. If you happen to have your own pizza oven, you’re best to follow those baking times instructions because you’re baking at a much higher temp than our 500°F oven, which is what our recipe follows.
Pizza Dough Recipe Making and Shaping
With homemade pizza, here are 2 separate recipes with details of how to make and shape the pizza dough. You can make it from scratch by hand or you can make it using a bread maker. If you use a mixer with a dough hook, you can decide how to modify the one from scratch, although no long kneading is required. Check them out for any details for your first few times in making pizza dough.
To prevent each type of pizza recipe from being excessively long, the basic pizza dough creation and shaping details are covered separately in their own recipes.
Note that each specific pizza recipe will still have ingredients for pizza dough. While they may or may not change from the base dough recipes, there might be one or more changes due to the type of pizza being made. So, it’s always best to follow the specific pizza recipe for its own dough ingredients listed. In the meantime, the below pizza dough recipes cover a very good foundation for making just about any kind of pizza.
Adding the Pizza Toppings in Order
While each side has different meat, you can have all the rest of the pizza the same. That makes this recipe so easy. However, there’s nothing stopping you from changing any added toppings on either meat side.
Usually toppings go in this order: sauce, cheeses, meat (except pepperoni) & veggies (any order), spices, parmesan cheese sprinkling, and finish with pepperoni (if called for).
In summary, it’s usually: sauce, cheese, toppings, spices.
The main rule to follow is that, on the pepperoni side, those pepperoni slices go on the very top. The sausage side has the meat not on top. Here are some ideas for toppings that might go best with each side, in case you decided to changing each half.
Optional Toppings on Pepperoni Half
- Onions
- Mushrooms (sliced or diced)
- Bell Peppers (Green, Red, or Yellow)
- Tomatoes (diced, thin sliced, or sun-dried)
- Extra Cheese
- Red Pepper Flakes
- Fresh Basil
Optional Toppings on Sausage Half
- Onions
- Mushrooms (sliced or diced)
- Bell Peppers (Green, Red, or Yellow)
- Black Olives (diced or sliced)
- Tomatoes (diced, thin sliced, or sun-dried)
- Spinach (fresh, chopped)
- Extra Cheese
- Red Pepper Flakes
- Fresh Basil
Conventional Oven Instructions
Depending on what you bake your pizza on (pan, stone, steel), you’ll place the pizza in the regular oven baking at 500°F. The timings are listed in the recipe for each type of baking surface you might use. You’ll remove it shortly after your cheese is melted and the crust is golden brown.
What to Serve with Pizza
A simple green lettuce salad or spinach salad are super and healthy sides. Or, even celery and carrot sticks are good crunchy things to munch on. Those sides, or something similar, can offer lower fat and calorie intake for the meal. They help give some fiber and other nutrients to go along with the meaty protein of the main course.
And, like the restaurants do, you could also have some cookies on hand for the after meal. I believe the popular kind is chocolate chip.
Nutritional Facts Information
Here are the nutritional values that show the daily values for this pizza. It shows all the key metrics, including carbs. And here are values from purchased pepperoni and sausage combined pizzas, generally smaller in size.
Conclusion
In conclusion, this recipe is the perfect way to satisfy those who want either pepperoni or sausage pizza. It is easy to follow and results in a delicious, homemade pizza. Plan for it now!
