2 cloves garlic, minced
4 tbsps butter
1/2 lb. beef sausage
1/4 lb. mushrooms, chopped
2 tsps vegetable
1/2 lb. fresh spinach
pinch salt to taste
2 lbs. pizza dough (I use this pizza dough recipe)
6 oz. mozzarella, cut into 48 pieces
2 cups pizza sauce for dipping
Place the garlic and butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. When the garlic
begins to brown, remove the pan from the heat. Brush a bundt or tube pan with some of
the garlic butter and set aside. Brown the beef sausage in a sauté pan. Add the
mushrooms and sauté until cooked (if the sausage is lean, then you can add a little
vegetable oil to help cook the mushrooms). Remove the sausage and mushrooms to a
bowl. Heat the vegetable oil in the same sauté pan that you used for the sausage and
mushrooms. Add the spinach when the oil is hot. Sprinkle salt to taste over the spinach
and sauté until the spinach is wilted. Add the spinach to the sausage and mushrooms
and mix together.
Pinch off 2/3-ounce lobes of pizza dough which should give you 48 balls of dough. You
can do this as you go or you can pinch them all off in one go. If you do the latter, cover
the dough balls with a damp cloth or paper towel to prevent them from drying out.
Flatten a dough ball into a 3-inch diameter round. Place a tablespoon of filling and a
piece of the mozzarella in the center of the dough (or less if it won’t all fit). Wrap the
dough around the filling, pinching the ends together to seal the ball. Brush the ball with
the garlic butter and place it in the bundt pan. Repeat for all of the balls of dough,
distributing the balls evenly in the pan. Cover the pan and let rise for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 400°F about 10 minutes before the rise is done. Bake for 35
minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and let sit for 10 minutes. Invert the monkey
bread onto a plate. Serve with heated pizza sauce for dipping. Makes 48 delectable
pizza balls.
Adapted from recipe at: http://userealbutter.com/2013/04/24/italian-sausage-pizza-monkey-bread-recipe/
