Pizza Experiment: Spicy Kielbasa and Onion

Fair warning, y'all: this recipe is written exactly as it was prepared. It is in the oven at the time of writing, and is therefore an untested experimental recipe. I make no claims for its tastiness or success at this point in the post. See the results section below for the conclusion on this pizza..

Tonight's pizza experiment: a pizza with a little more zip and spice than the traditional cheese, and a crust that (hopefully) gives a heartier and richer experiments than a plain white-flour variant. Tonight's pizza is the spicy kielbasa and onion.

Ingredients:

The Dough

• 1/4 oz active dry yeast (1 package)
• 1 cup warm water (100+ degrees)
• 2 cups bread flour
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 2 tsp chili powder
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp cajun spice seasoning
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp white sugar

The Sauce

• 6 oz jarred pizza sauce (Ragu or your favorite)
• 1/4 tsp Sriracha (Rooster) sauce

The Toppings

• 1 regular kielbasa sausage
• 3-4 oz shredded mozzarella cheese
• 2 tbsp. grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 small sweet onion
• 1/2 tsp butter
• Louisiana-style hot sauce

Directions:

1. In a small bowl, dissolve the yeast in the warm water. Let stand until creamy or foamy looking, about 8-10 minutes.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
3. In a large metal bowl, combine the bread flour, garlic powder, chili powder, cayenne pepper, cajun spice, olive oil, salt, sugar, and the yeast-water mixture. Mix and kneed well until a stiff (fairly dry) dough is formed. Cover and let rise in a warm place until the dough has doubled in volume and is puffy to the touch.
• For best results, fill a large pot with more hot water, and float the metal bowl of dough in it, covering the combination with a dish towel or two. This will keep the dough warm and help the yeast to rise.
4. While the dough is rising, cut the Kielbasa into small circles (~1/8" thick). Fry in a pan with 1/2 tsp. butter until slightly blackened around the edges and noticeably crispy. Remove from pan and drain on paper towels. Toss in a small bowl with a generous splash of Louisiana-style hot sauce.
5. Section the sweet onion into medium-size chunks.
6. Mix the pizza sauce and Sriracha in a small bowl. (DO NOT attempt to mix the sauces together on the pizza itself: it will result a normally-sauced pizza with pockets of fiery mania.)
7. Place the rough on a well-floured surface. Form the dough into a round, then transfer to a pizza pan. (In a pinch, a cookie tray will do. Especially if you like rectangular pizza!)
8. Spread sauce liberally over pizza. Apply kielbasa and onion evenly around the pizza surface, then sprinkle Parmesan and mozzarella over the top.
9. Bake until crust is golden brown and slightly crispy, 18-20 minutes.
10. Let cool a couple minutes before slicing, eating, and enjoying.

Pizza topped with lucious goodness, pre-cheese. Note the orange tint of the crust due to the chili powder.

You can never have too much cheese on a pizza.

Results:

Really, you can't go wrong with kielbasa and onions on pizza. That's just a fact. They look and taste juicy and delicious no matter what else you throw at them.

Baked 19 minutes to a slightly soft crust.

What's surprising is how much the spiciness of both the Louisiana hot sauce and the Sriracha deteriorates when you expose them to heat. Anyone who's ever tried cooking with Sriracha knows that after just a few minutes on the burner, it looses a serious amount of its firepower. But the piquant flavor of the Sriracha and the spicy creole taste of the hot sauce live on in the sauce and kielbasa respectively, and were noble additions to the flavor of this pizza.

Next Time?

I would definitely try to punch up the spicy quotient of this pizza. Some more cayenne in the crust, more hot sauce on the kielbasa. Though even now, five minutes after finishing a slice, my mouth has a pleasant tingle to it. Not a spicy, painful tingle, but the satisfying afterglow of spices doing their job.