Italian Sausage Bread

Ingredient Notes and Substitutions

Sausage. I usually make my homemade ground sausage mix using a homemade mixture or my Sweet Italian Sausage Seasoning if I'm in a rush.

I try to avoid using big brands like Johnsonville or Premio mainly because I just don't enjoy their sausages. A lot of good butchers will have decent sausage too. Every sausage is different though because you can stuff it with whatever flavors you want.

I make homemade sausage and freeze it every year. I also make an Italian Ring Sausage that has a good mixture of flavors that you can use for this sausage too!

Dough. I use the pizza dough from Sip and Feast but instead of splitting it into 4 doughs, I split it in two. You're going to want a pretty big pizza dough for 1 lb of sausage. When I lived in New York I would just buy the dough directly from a pizzeria, which was very convenient.

You can get your dough from anywhere. Trader Joe's sells doughs, but they're a little smaller, so keep that in mind. Usually, my dough is about 2 lbs. I think Trader Joe's sells a 1lb dough, so adjust accordingly.

Step-by-Step Directions

Step 1: In a large pan on medium-high heat. Brown the sausage until no pink remains. Set it aside and let the sausage cool slightly. Don't worry about cooking the sausage completely through because it's going to get cooked again.

Preheat oven to 375℉.

Step 2: Roll out your pizza dough on a heavily floured surface until it is about ¼ inch thick in the shape of a pizza.

Step 3: Layer your slices of mozzarella and provolone across the pizza so that they cover as much of the dough as possible. Then sprinkle the parmesan across the dough.

Step 4: Add your cooled crumbled sausage and spread evenly across the dough.

Step 5: Pull the edges of the dough so there is some space between the cheese/meat and the edge of the dough. Pull the dough edges and start rolling the dough. Fold the edges of the dough in as you roll to make sure everything stays contained.

Step 6: Brush the bread with the egg. Season the top of the bread and place on an oiled baking pan.

Step 7: Bake in the oven for 30 minutes or until the bread is golden brown. Let the bread cool for 5-10 minutes. Slice and serve with your favorite marinara sauce!

Ways to switch up the recipe!

• One of our favorite additions to the recipe is olives. We love to add black olives to the recipe for extra flavor, but not everyone loves olives. Usually, we have one olive loaf and one regular loaf.
• You could also add broccoli rabe to the loaf by replacing about half of the sausage with cooked and chopped broccoli rabe.
• My dad loves to make bread with Swiss cheese and garlic-sauteed broccoli without any meat!
• You could also use cold cuts instead of sausage like in our pepperoni stromboli! Or try it with broccoli and spinach like in our Veggie Stromboli.
• I also love to switch up the sauce that we use for dipping. Try dipping in a creamy red pepper sauce or a pink sauce for more flavor!

Recipe FAQs

Storage and Reheating

I like to only cut what we are going to eat. Albeit, we usually eat the entire loaf at most family functions. But in some cases, I slice up half the bread and once the other half is cooled, I wrap the entire thing in aluminum foil and store it in the fridge or freezer. It will stay fresh in the fridge for 4-5 days and in the freezer for 3 months.

For reheating, I place individual slices on a baking tray lined with aluminum foil and bake in the oven at 350 degrees. If you're removing it from the freezer, allow it to defrost in the fridge overnight for best results.

Eating these as leftovers is sort of like reheating pizza. It's just as good on day two. I highly recommend not putting this in the microwave, as it will just get moist and gooey.