Meat Lovers Pizza
Howdy folks, and thanks for stopping by the website. This week’s recipe is Meat Lovers Pizza. Now, why would I make a pizza from scratch when it’s fast and easy to just have one delivered? Well, there are two reasons. The first one is that it’s really easy to make my own quick pizza dough that tastes way better than fast food pizza dough.
The second reason I prefer to make my own pizza is that I control what goes on the pizza and how much of it there is in each bite. Don’t you hate spending darn near $20 dollars on a pizza only to have nothing but some rubbery cheese on every other slice? Well, so do I.
The tips and tricks that will make this easy, delicious pizza recipe are all here on the website, so stick around even if you are watching the video first.
Prepare the Toppings
Normally, when baking something with dough, you want to start with the dough. For this pizza, though, you do not need to let the dough rise. You’re going to put the toppings on the pizza about 5-10 minutes after you start this recipe, so get all of your toppings cooked and ready to go.
Everyone can pick the toppings they love the best (another plus for making your own pizza!) – and of course the Cowboy loves a lot of meat on his pizza. For mine, I browned up some 80/20 Certified Angus Beef, some thin-cut steak called ‘Milanese cut‘ from the butcher, and about five slices of crispy bacon. Even the pepperoni is thin-sliced. Season the steak and the ground beef using Original Seasoning or salt and pepper.
Tip: Always use thin-sliced meat on pizza – it has a short cooking time and you don’t want cold toppings!
After the meat is all cooked and sliced and ready to go, prepare the vegetables. Dice the bell peppers and onion and shred the cheese. I prefer my pizza to bite back a little, so I’ve added a jalapeno and about 1/2 cup of pepper jack cheese to the mix. Set all this aside and get ready to make some dough!
Delicious Pizza Dough
Earlier, I mentioned that pizza dough does not need to spend a lot of time rising. This is true. Start with about a cup of warm water and a packet of rapid-rise yeast. Add a teaspoon of sugar- the sugar acts like a catalyst to the yeast and really gets it going – and stir. In a little while, bubbles will form on the top of the water. The bubbles indicate that the yeast is proofed and ready to go.
Tip: When bubbles form on the top of the yeast mixture, it’s proofed and ready to use.
In a separate mixing bowl, mix up the flour, garlic powder, onion powder, kosher salt, Italian seasoning, and course ground black pepper. Make a little well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour the yeast mixture in the center. Add olive oil and fold the dough over and around with a wooden spatula until the dough is just mixed.
Tip: Dust the rolling pin with flour to prevent the dough from sticking and tearing.
Generously sprinkle flour over a clean, flat surface for kneading. Knead the dough by hand for five minutes. Cover your rolling pin in flour so that it won’t stick to the dough as you roll it out to your desired thickness.
Put the Pizza Together
Kids love this part best, y’all. Sprinkle corn meal on your baking sheet or Dutch oven. This will prevent the dough from sticking to the pan and having the pizza become a big melty mountain of soggy bread and cheese.
Tip: Spread corn meal generously over the pizza pan/cooking surface to prevent sticking.
Cover the dough with whipped cream cheese. Spread tomato sauce on top of the cream cheese, followed by half of the cheddar and mozzarella. Next, add thin steak slices, pepper jack cheese, bacon, ground beef, onion, bell pepper, pepperoni, and jalapenos. Add anything you like, really. Cover over with more cheddar and mozzarella and it’s time to put the pizza in the oven.
Bake the Pizza
If you’re inside the house, put that pizza pan in a pre-heated 425F oven for 15-20 minutes or until the cheese on the edge is golden brown and the cheese in the center is bubbly and starting to brown.
If you’re outside and using a Dutch oven, put it on a trivet and shut the lid tight on top of it. Cover the lid with hot coals, and spread more hot coals in a ring just outside the bottom legs of the trivet. You want good airflow under the Dutch oven to allow that heat to circulate underneath and crisp up the bottom of the pizza.
Tip: When cooking on hot coals, about 1/3 of the way through, rotate the lid of the Dutch oven one way and the bottom the other way to ensure even heating all the way through
Meat Lovers Pizza – Cowboy Kent Rollins
Ingredients
Topping
- ½ pound 80/20 ground beef browned
- 4 ounces Milanese cut beef sliced into 1 in strips
- 1 tbsp Kent Rollins’ Original Seasoning or all-purpose seasoning of your choice
- dash Worcestershire Sauce
- 5 slices bacon cooked
- ½ cup red, green, and yellow bell pepper diced
- ½ cup onion diced
- Pepperoni for topping sliced
- 1 cup mozzarella cheese shredded
- ½ cup pepper jack cheese shredded
- ½ cup cheddar cheese shredded
- 1 large jalapeno sliced thin
- 4 to 6 ounces whipped creamed cheese
- 4 tablespoons tomato sauce
Crust
- 1 cup warm water
- 1 packet dry rapid rise yeast
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 2 ½ to 3 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 3 teaspoons garlic powder
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- ½ tablespoon Italian seasoning
- ½ tablespoon coarse ground black pepper
- 2 ½ tablespoons olive oil
Instructions
- In a mixing bowl add the water, yeast and sugar. Mix well and let set for about 5 minutes.
- In a separate mixing bowl, add the flour, onion powder, garlic powder, kosher salt, Italian seasoning, and black pepper and mix well.
- Make a shallow well in the flour bowl and pour the yeast mixture in. Add the olive oil and with a wooden spoon or spatula, combine until a shaggy dough appears.
- Dump out on a floured surface and knead for about 5 minutes. Add more flour if it is too sticky.
- Roll out to desired size. Cover the Dutch oven or pizza sheet with corn meal to prevent sticking. Lay the crust out over the corn meal and prick the crust all over with a fork.
- Spread the cream cheese on the crust, followed by the tomato sauce, then a layer of mozzarella and cheddar cheeses.
- Add the steak slices, a layer of pepper jack cheese, the onions, bell peppers, bacon, ground beef, and pepperoni. Top with another layer of mozzarella, any leftover cheddar, and pepperoni.
- Top with jalapeno slices and bake in a preheated 425 degree F, oven for 15 to 20 minutes. Remove and cool for about 5 minutes. Slice and serve.