Wisconsin Lovers Pizza

If you're from Wisconsin, I'm sure you love at least one, if not all, of the following; beer, brats and cheese. What better way to incorporate all three together than in one of my favorite foods; pizza! Ever since I can remember, my family would have pizza every Friday night (unless of course other circumstances got in the way) and I have continued this tradition after moving out on my own. I have been experimenting with all sorts of sauces, crusts, toppings, etc. trying to perfect every one of them but this past Friday night I decided to try one that's specifically geared towards my fellow Wisconsin residents :) This sauce calls for tomato paste as well as tomato sauce since tomatoes are not currently in season. I have made sauce using fresh tomatoes and I will continue to post my different variations of pizza as I go.

For the Beer Dough (Crust)
I have seen premixed flour for this, in which you only add beer and oil, but here is one that can be kneaded by hand or put in the bread maker.
1 C. Beer (Your preference)
2 Tbs. Vegetable Oil
2 C. All purpose flour
1/2 Tsp Sugar
1/2 Tsp Salt
2 Tsp. Active Dry Yeast

Place ingredients in bread maker as called for in your manual.
-or-
Combine flour, salt, sugar and yeast in bowl. Add beer and oil while continuing to mix until it forms in to a ball. Cover and let rise for at least 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
Place half of the ball in a pizza pan of choice and try to get it as thin as possible (or as thick as desired).
Let sit for another 20 minutes. After sitting, I usually try once more to get it as thin as I can because very thin crust is my favorite.
Place in oven and let bake for 5 minutes. Remove from oven.
Side note: If not using all of the dough, you may freeze or refrigerate for later use.

For the Pizza Sauce
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
3 Cloves of garlic, minced
1 Can (6 oz) Tomato Paste
1 Can (8 oz) Tomato Sauce
1 Tsp. Red Pepper flake (May add more if a spicy sauce is desired)
1/2 Tbsp Rosemary
1/2 Tsp. Fennel Seed
2 Tsp. Thyme
2 Tsp. Oregano
1 Tsp. Salt
1/2 Tbsp. Sugar

Heat olive oil at medium low heat in sauce pan. If the oil smokes, that means it was too hot and it burned. Add the garlic and cook for about 2 minutes, making sure not to let the garlic burn. Add tomato paste and tomato sauce. Mix well to ensure there are no chunks left of the tomato paste. Add red pepper, rosemary, fennel seed, thyme, oregano, salt and sugar and mix well once again. Turn heat to low and let cook for at least 15 minutes.

For the beer brats (enough for one pizza)

1 16 oz. Beer of choice
2 Brats
1/2 Tbsp Garlic, minced
1 Tsp. Red pepper flake
A pinch of Salt and Pepper

Boil the beer on the stove and add the brats. Reduce heat to med-low. Add garlic, red pepper flake, salt and pepper. Mix well. Let cook in beer for about 15 minutes. The next step would be to brown them on the grill, but since I did not have one available at the time, I cooked them at med-high heat on the stove until all sides were brown. Set aside to let cool. Once cool, cut into very thin slices. 

 Take the pre-cooked pizza crust and add desired amount of sauce on top. Coat with 2 1/2 C. shredded pizza style cheese (a mix of mozerella and cheddar) and 1/2 C. Sharp cheddar over the pizza cheese. Place slices of brats evenly on pizza. Place on lower rack in oven and cook for apprx. 15 minutes.

Other suggestions: 
-Add caramelized onions to the top of the pizza
-Place Cheddar Cheese curds (Just as one would with fresh mozzarella balls) randomly throughout the top before cooking (In place of the 1/2 C. Sharp Cheddar)
-Add a layer of pepperoni in between the sauce and the cheese

The next day I took half of the leftover dough (Which would be 1/4 of the total made from this recipe) and was able to make an excellent version of California Pizza Kitchen's Caramelized Pear, Onion and Gorgonzola Pizza. I will be posting that tomorrow! :)