If you've ever wanted to bring the soul of an Italian pizzeria out to your backyard cooker, this is the pie that gets you there. We start with a proper "00" flour dough, build a rich homemade sausage right in the pan with ground pork, roasted garlic, and San Marzano tomatoes, then crown the whole thing with fresh mozzarella, sweet basil, and a tangle of slow-caramelized onions. Cooked hot and fast on a screaming-hot stone, the crust blisters and chars in all the right places while the toppings melt into something downright crave-worthy.
WHAT YOU'LL LOVE
- Built entirely from scratch, no shortcuts: Mixing your own "00" flour dough and browning homemade pork sausage right in the same pan as the sauce means every component is made deliberately — this is a genuine from-scratch pizza, not an assembly job.
- Caramelized onions add a sweet counterpoint: Cooking the onions low and slow until they're fully caramelized gives the pie a sweetness that balances the savory sausage and bright San Marzano sauce — a layer most quick pizza recipes skip entirely.
- Deglazing with white wine captures every bit of flavor: Using wine to lift the browned fond left behind by the sausage means none of that deep, savory flavor goes to waste — it all ends up in the sauce.
- You control every layer, so the result is exactly what you want: Because each component — dough, sausage, sauce, onions, cheese — is built individually, you can dial in the exact balance of flavors you're after rather than working with a pre-made base.
Pizza Italiano
Tom Jackson
Rated 5.0 stars by 1 users
Category
Entree
Cuisine
American
Servings
4
Prep Time
30 minutes
Cook Time
1 hour
Calories
663
The magic here is in the layering. Caramelizing those onions low and slow coaxes out their natural sweetness, while browning the pork and building the sauce in the same pan means every drop of flavor gets put to work — a splash of white wine lifts the fond right off the bottom and ties the garlic, tomatoes, and Italiano seasoning together. Go easy on the sauce, spread your sausage and cheese with a steady hand, and let that 500°F heat do the rest. The result is a balanced, bubbling pie with restaurant character and pure backyard pride.
Ingredients
-
500 g Antimo Caputo "00" pizza flour
- 325 g water
-
10 g salt
-
5 g dry active yeast
- 1 lb ground pork
- 1/4 cup white wine
- 1 tbsp roasted garlic purée (smashed roasted garlic)
-
2 tbsp Cattleman’s Grill Italiano Seasoning
-
1 cup San Marzano tomatoes or crushed tomatoes
- Fresh Basil, chopped
- Fresh Mozzarella
- Caramelized Onions
Pizza Dough
Toppings
Directions
Make the pizza dough
Combine all the dough ingredients in a mixer bowl. Mix on low until the flour is incorporated, then turn it up to medium for 30 seconds to one minute.
Transfer the dough to an oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let it rise until doubled in size.
Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and divide into three. Roll each third into a ball, place in an oiled container, cover, and refrigerate until ready to use.
Build the sausage italiano toppings
Slice the onions thin and cook them over low heat with olive oil, stirring occasionally, until caramelized.
Brown the ground pork in a 12-inch pan over medium heat. Remove the pork, toss it with 1 tablespoon of Italiano Seasoning, and set aside. Pour most of the remaining oil into a heatproof container.
Reduce the heat to medium-low. Add the white wine to deglaze the pan, loosening the fond, then add the roasted garlic, tomatoes, basil, and the remaining 1 tablespoon of Italiano Seasoning. Break up the tomatoes and reduce the mixture until a spatula pulled across the bottom of the pan doesn't immediately fill in the void. Remove from heat to cool.
Assemble
Place your pizza stone in the cooker if you have one, and preheat to 500°F. Roll out and then stretch the dough, allowing it to rest briefly. Dust your pizza peel with cornmeal or flour to prevent sticking if using a stone; otherwise, lay your dough out on a pizza pan or baking sheet.
Spread a small portion of sauce onto the dough — too much sauce will cause the toppings to slide off when you bite in. Spread the sausage evenly across the pizza, followed by the onions and cheese.
Cook
Transfer the pizza to the stone, or place your pan in the cooker.
Check the bottom of the pizza every 2–3 minutes, turning if necessary. On a stone, the bottom can cook very rapidly.
Pull the pizza and let it rest for 3 minutes to let the toppings set before cutting. If adding any extras like sliced olives, add them before slicing.
Recipe Note
Recipe FAQ
What temperature should I cook Pizza Italiano at?
Preheat your cooker and pizza stone to 500°F. At this heat the crust blisters quickly, so check the bottom every 2 to 3 minutes and turn the pizza as needed, since a stone can cook the base very rapidly.
Why shouldn't I use too much sauce?
Spread only a small portion of sauce onto the dough. Too much sauce makes the toppings slide off when you bite into the pizza, so a light, even layer keeps everything in place.
Can I make the pizza dough ahead of time?
Yes. After the dough doubles in size, divide it into three balls, place them in an oiled container, cover, and refrigerate until you are ready to use them.
Why deglaze the pan with white wine?
After browning the pork, adding white wine loosens the flavorful fond stuck to the bottom of the pan. That deglazing step pulls all that savory flavor into the sauce along with the garlic, tomatoes, basil, and Italiano seasoning.
Can I make this indoors?
3 out of 5 — Works indoors with adjustments. A home oven with a pizza stone or steel, preheated as hot as it will go, can produce a good result, though the bottom won't cook quite as rapidly as it does on a true outdoor pizza stone at 500°F. The dough, sausage, and sauce are all entirely stovetop with no changes needed — the grill is recommended primarily for the final bake.
Recipe Highlights
Caramelize the onions low and slow — don't rush this step: Cooking sliced onions over low heat with olive oil, stirring occasionally, takes real time to coax out their natural sweetness. Turning up the heat to speed things along risks burning the edges before the onions have a chance to fully caramelize, which produces a bitter note instead of the sweet counterpoint this recipe is built around.
Brown the pork, then build the sauce in the same pan: Removing the cooked pork and tossing it with Italiano Seasoning while the pan is still hot, then deglazing with white wine, means every bit of browned flavor left behind by the meat gets incorporated directly into the sauce. Don't wash the pan between steps — that fond is doing real work.
Reduce the sauce until it holds its shape: The directions specify reducing the tomato mixture "until a spatula pulled across the bottom of the pan doesn't immediately fill in the void." This visual cue matters more than a fixed time — an under-reduced sauce will be too wet and will make the crust soggy once it's on the pizza.
Check the bottom every 2–3 minutes on a hot stone: At 500°F, a properly preheated pizza stone cooks the bottom crust very fast — faster than the toppings might suggest. Lift and check frequently rather than relying on visual cues from the top alone, and rotate the pizza if one side is browning faster than the other.
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Nutrition
Nutrition
- Nutrition Serving Size
- 14.57 oz
- per serving
- Calories
- 663
- Carbs
- 102 grams
- Protein
- 43 grams
- Fat
- 7 grams
- Sodium
- 1175 milligrams
