Easy Peasy Hamburger Pizza
I simply cannot get enough pizza in my house. I don't think my husband shares my recent obsession though.
On nights when I feel lazy, lousy, or simply just don't feel like cooking, I splurge on Domino's Pizza's $5.99 pizzas.
On evenings when I feel particularly creative, I make my own pizza with my Quick and Easy Pizza Crust recipe, my Homemade Homegrown Tomato Sauce, and the toppings of my choice.
I think my favorite homemade pizza so far has had fresh cut asparagus and fresh tomato slices on it.
You see my pizza always has huge crusts. I love it! But I always have to put the biggest crusts on my side because my husband doesn't like all of the bread. He would rather have more cheese and toppings.
Whats great about making your own pizza crust, though, is that you can make it however you'd like. You can pull dough out and have a thin crust pizza, but I would suggest cooking it for an extra 3-5 minutes or so.
You can have a deep dish pizza by instead stuffing your pizza dough into a large round pizza dish with tall sides and leaving it a little thicker. And you could have huge crusts like mine so you have some yummy breadsticks to dip afterward.
Let's get to the recipe so you can make one for yourself!
Cook Time
Ingredients
- 1 (0.25 oz) package active dry yeast
- 1 cup warm water
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 2 1/2 cups bread flour
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
- About 1 cup pasta sauce, (See my Homemade Homegrown Tomato Sauce)
- 1 pound hamburger
- 1 1/2 cups shredded cheese, any flavor
- (optional) veggies, (I used onions and red bell peppers this time.)
Instructions
- Set your oven temperature to 425 degrees F. Spray a pizza pan with cooking spray and set aside.
- Start the water running in your sink to warm it up.
- Fill a cup with warm water and pour in your yeast. Mix and allow to dissolve for 10 minutes.
- In the meantime, pour your salt and sugar into a large bowl.
- Now add in your flour and mix together.
- Mix in your olive oil.
- And finally, add in your yeast and water mixture.
- Mix first with a wooden spoon until it gets too thick to mix.
- Then switch to kneading all of the ingredients together with your hands.
- Once mixed well, transfer your dough to a clean but floured surfaced to roll out.
- With a rolling pin, roll your dough out into a large thin circle. It needs to be big enough to fit over your pizza pan with some overlap.
- When rolled, transfer your pizza dough from your rolling surface over to your pizza pan.
- I rolled the overlapping edges over to create a crust. I don't mind having large fluffy crusts. They are very light, taste great on their own, and are wonderful for dipping into marinara sauce on the side. (For a great sauce recipe, see my Homemade Homegrown Tomato Sauce.)
- Bake at 425 degrees F for 6 minutes without toppings. This initial baking firms up your crust, allows it to hold your toppings, and makes sure the entire crust is baked through when finished.
- After removing it from the oven, and allowing it to cool for a few minutes, spread your pasta sauce evenly across the top.
- Also, turn your oven temp down to 400 degrees F for your pizza.
- I wasn't paying attention (needing to take great pictures and all, lol) and then spread my hamburger down on top of my sauce.
- Then spread 1 cup of your cheese over your hamburger. (If you choose to put your cheese down first, then your hamburger, that's fine.)
- My husband then decided that he wanted some veggie son his side. I always put tons of extras on mine.
- So I spread chopped onions and thinly sliced red bell peppers across both sides.
- If you add more toppings to your pizza, I suggest you spread another 1/2 cup of cheese on top before baking.
- Pop your pizza back into the oven and bake at 400 degrees F for another 12 minutes, or until the crust is sufficiently browned for you.
- Pull out, cut into 8 pieces, and enjoy!!
- Yummy! Yummy!
Nutritional Information
| Nutrition Facts | |
|---|---|
| Serving size: 1 slice of pizza | |
| Calories | 104 |
| Calories from Fat | 18 |
| % Daily Value * | |
| Fat 2 g | 3% |
| Saturated fat 0 g | |
| Unsaturated fat 0 g | |
| Carbohydrates 19 g | 6% |
| Sugar 2 g | |
| Fiber 1 g | 4% |
| Protein 3 g | 6% |
| Cholesterol 9 mg | 3% |
| Sodium 178 mg | 7% |
| * The Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet, so your values may change depending on your calorie needs. The values here may not be 100% accurate because the recipes have not been professionally evaluated nor have they been evaluated by the U.S. FDA. | |
Last time I told you that my husband requested a thinner crust on his pizza because he thought there was too much bread underneath his toppings.
So this time I rolled it thinner for him and it just didn't turn out quite as well as it could have. I find that the slightly thicker crust holds the toppings of the pizza better.
Even after you reheat it the next day, and crisp it up in the over on low broil for a few minutes, the crust still held up well enough for you to pick it up by hand and eat it.
With the thinner crust, I couldn't even pick it up and eat it by hand the first time. lol He didn't care because he got to be messy and get tons of yummy toppings without all of the bread in the way.
From here on out, I will be making it with the slightly thicker crust. I want to be able to pick up my pizza and eat it with my hands, instead of being forced to eat it with a knife and fork.
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© 2014 Victoria Van Ness
