Italian Sausage, Tomato, and Caramelized Onion Pizza

I spend a lot of time looking at TasteSpotting and reading great food blogs! This pizza was inspired by a post I found on Vicarious Foodie. I followed her idea of using a cast iron pan, but used the whole wheat pizza dough from Culinary in the Desert. I also carefully followed her directions for draining the tomatoes well so that the crust would not get soggy. I have to say, this pizza came out really well despite my yeast not rising... I think there's something wrong with the yeast at Safeway. The crust was crisp on the outside, chewy on the inside, and substantial enough to stand up to over a pound of toppings. I also really liked the hot Italian sausage and the sweetness of the caramelized onions. Overall, one of the best pizzas I've made and definitely worth making again (which I will have to do since I didn't take any pictures this time)!

Hot Italian Sausage, Tomato, and Caramelized Onion Pizza

Ingredients
1 Lb. Raw Pizza Dough
1 Lb. Hot Italian Sausage
1 Can Diced Tomatoes with Herbs and Garlic
1 Large Onion, Halved and Sliced
2 C. Mozzarella Cheese
1/2 C. Parmesan Cheese
Dry Thyme
Onion or Garlic Powder

Method
Prepare your pizza dough according to recipe. While the dough is rising, brown the sausage and drain in a colander, patting dry with paper towels. Add the canned tomatoes to the sausage and shake to release excess liquid. Add the onions to the sausage pan over medium heat. If you don't have enough fat from the sausage, add a tablespoon or so of olive oil. When the onions have started to wilt and soften, lower the heat to low. Cook for approximately 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. The onions should then have reduced and taken on a light brown color. Add the onions to the sausage and tomato mixture and add a dash of thyme and onion powder to the mixture. Stir this well before assembling the pizza.
When you are almost ready to eat, preheat the oven to 500 F. Stretch your pizza dough into a circle roughly the size of your cast iron pan and stretch the dough up the sides of the pan as far as you can go. Make sure that your dough is fairly even in thickness all the way around. Add about half of the two cheeses to the bottom of the dough and top with half of the sausage mixture. Spread the remaining cheese over the top of this and finish with the remainder of the sausage mixture. When the oven is fully heated, bake the pizza for 15 minutes, then reduce the heat to 400 F and bake for an additional 5 minutes, or until the crust is golden. Allow the pizza to rest out of the oven for at least 5 minutes. I found it easiest to remove the pizza from the cast iron (with two spatulas) and cut it on a regular baking sheet.