Gingerlocks' Kitchen

Italian Sausage Sandwiches With Homemade Buns

These pictures are not very pretty. Being a good photographer is not something I would sign my name to for sure. This thought I had was confirmed this week when I found others thought the same. I followed a link that was creating some popular traffic to my blog. It was a Pinterest board titled "Worst Food Photography." I have to admit, it made me giggle a touch.

I frequently tell people who eat my food "It's not pretty, but it really does taste good." For the most part they agree with me on this. These sandwiches were one of those things. These pictures do this sandwich no sort of justice. They are even uglier in person, but they are crazy tasty. I start with my super easy Magic Bread recipe for the buns. Then I add in some good sausage, tomato sauce and plenty of cheese. It's the kind of sandwich that causes all kinds of goodness to drip to your elbows but you don't care because you really want to swim in it anyways.

Ingredients

Magic Bread dough, ready to be baked or store bought hoagie rolls

1 pound of spicy or sweet Italian sausage

1 jar of your favorite tomato sauce

2 cups mozzarella cheese, divided

If you are using the crazy easy Magic Bread recipe, make sure it has risen for at least 12 hours. Roll it around in some flour to get rid of most of the stickyness.

Divide the dough into four different balls. Roll them into little clouds of happiness by smoothing over the top and pinching the bottom part together. Preheat the pan in a 400 degree oven for about 20 to 30 minutes. Then throw them in the oven for about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, it is sauce time!

Brown the Italian sausage over medium heat until there is no pink left. Then add in the sauce and allow this to simmer.

Here is what the sauce looks like before you add in the cheese. Just let this hang out while the buns cook. The flavors really develop as this simmers.

This is what the buns should look like when they are done. If you want them to be a bit more browned, just continue to bake them without the lid. I toast my buns before I make the sandwiches, so this is perfect for me.

When the buns cool off enough for you to touch them, split them in half.

Then place about 1/4 cup of the cheese on each top half. Put this back into the oven on an oven safe place to get melty and toasty. It should be plenty hot enough in there to melt this up nicely.

While the cheese fairy is in your kitchen, go ahead and have her add the remaining cup to the sauce mixture. Make sure this is on low or else the cheese will get too stringy.