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Why It Works
- Prepping the sliced onions and floor beef forward of time ensures they’re cooked and cooled sufficient to pile excessive on the pizza, eliminating extra liquid and stopping the pie from changing into soggy.
- A combination of ketchup, mayonnaise, and mustard creates a candy, tangy sauce for the pizza.
- Utilizing a mix of low-moisture mozzarella and cheddar creates a melty, flavorful cheese layer that has simply the appropriate sharp taste and does not have extra grease.
The great thing about pizza is its versatility—the artistic potentialities are infinite. That flexibility lends itself to loads of scrumptious mash-ups that recreate the flavour profiles of classics like Philly cheese steak, barbecued hen, and, my private favourite: the cheeseburger pizza. In my early 20s, I keep in mind seeing cheeseburger pizza on the menus of chains like Pizza Hut and Papa John’s. To me, this dish was genius as a result of it made it attainable for me to get pleasure from two of my favourite meals on the identical time.
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I’ve seen many iterations of the pizza: Some pizzerias supply the pizza with a sesame seed-covered crust, whereas others high the pie with sliced tomatoes and shredded iceberg lettuce. However in each variation I’ve seen, there’s at all times floor beef and loads of melty, gooey cheese.
The recipe I am sharing right here delivers a cheeseburger pizza that I feel is even higher than the one I keep in mind from my 20s. Not like these sometimes-greasy (however nonetheless scrumptious) renditions, this one has simply the correct amount of floor beef and onions, a candy, tangy sauce, and many cheese. Learn on to study concerning the strategies I exploit to create the final word cheeseburger pizza, and to get the total recipe.
The Key Components of a Nice Cheeseburger Pizza
Begin with a powerful sauce. For many individuals, a burger is simply pretty much as good as its sauce. (Shake Shack’s shack sauce, for instance, has a faithful following.) The identical goes for pizza. To construct a sauce that evokes the flavour of my favourite cheeseburgers, I combine collectively ketchup, mustard, and mayonnaise—the three condiments I really like on a burger—for a tangy, creamy base.
Brown your beef with the onions. Cooking the bottom beef on medium-high warmth permits the Maillard response—a sequence of chemical reactions that happen when warmth transforms proteins and sugars, leading to extra advanced flavors and aromas—to happen, leading to a extra flavorful topping. Browning the meat and onions beforehand additionally eliminates extra liquid, stopping your pizza from changing into a soggy mess. Plus: You can also make the topping forward of time in order for you, making assembling and cooking the pizzas a breeze.
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Layer your toppings thoughtfully. Simply as a superb burger requires cautious meeting, it’s essential to be considerate when layering the pizza’s elements, because the layering course of not solely supplies construction, however ensures you get totally different flavors and textures in each chunk. The identical goes for cheeseburger pizza. Keep away from concentrating the bottom beef and onions within the middle of the pie—spreading out the toppings as evenly as attainable ends in a extra evenly cooked pizza, and ensures that every chunk has all of the flavors and textures of the sauce and toppings. As soon as your dough has been stretched and positioned on a pizza peel, you will unfold the sauce combination over the dough, evenly sprinkle cheese throughout, high it with the bottom beef and onions, then high it with much more cheese.
Use a mix of cheeses. I exploit each shredded cheddar and low-moisture mozzarella right here. Whereas cheddar is the traditional alternative for a cheeseburger, it usually incorporates 35% fats, and topping a pizza with simply cheddar ends in a pie that’s each too sharp and overly greasy. Pairing it with low-moisture mozzarella, which incorporates about 21% fats, creates a extra balanced taste and prevents the pizza from being excessively oily.
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Crank the warmth. As a result of I want cooking pizza in my outside pizza oven, I developed this recipe utilizing a dough that is formulated for my oven. But when you do not have entry to an outside pizza oven, you may also use a New York-style dough—and even store-bought pizza dough—and bake it on a pizza metal or stone in your oven. Simply you’ll want to crank it to the very best temperature to assist your pizza get that superbly blistered crust.
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Make the Final Cheeseburger Pizza at Residence—No Supply Required
Cook dinner Mode
(Preserve display awake)
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1 recipe pizza dough for an outside pizza oven or 1 recipe New York-style pizza dough, divided and risen not less than 2 hours (see notes)
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1 tablespoon (15ml) vegetable oil
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1 small white or yellow onion (4 ounces; 113g), peeled and sliced
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8 ounces (225g) 90% lean floor beef
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Kosher salt and freshly floor pepper
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2 tablespoons (30ml) ketchup
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2 tablespoons (30ml) mayonnaise
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1 tablespoon (15ml) yellow mustard
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3 ounces shredded low-moisture mozzarella cheese (85g; 3/4 cup)
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2 ounces shredded cheddar cheese (56g; 1/2 cup)
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All-purpose flour, for dusting
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1/4 cup recent arugula
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Sliced dill pickles, for serving
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For the Beef and Onion Topping: In a big skillet, warmth oil over medium-high till shimmering. Add onions and cook dinner, stirring sometimes, till tender, about 5 minutes. Add floor beef and cook dinner, utilizing a picket spoon to stir and scrape backside of skillet, till beef is nicely browned and damaged into small crumbles, 6 to eight minutes. Season to style with salt and pepper. Utilizing a slotted spoon, switch beef and onion combination to a medium bowl, permitting any extra grease to drip off. Let cool to room temperature, about 10 minutes; put aside.
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For the Sauce and Cheese: In a small bowl, stir ketchup, mayonnaise, and mustard to mix; put aside. In one other small bowl, mix shredded mozzarella cheese and cheddar cheese.
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If Utilizing an Outside Pizza Oven: Take away one ball of pizza dough from fridge. Relaxation in a proofing container, lined, at room temperature for 1 to 2 hours earlier than baking. Dough temperature ought to attain 60ºF (15.5ºC) earlier than stretching and baking; precise timing will rely on the ambient temperature of your kitchen. Preheat pizza oven to 800ºF (425ºC).
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Flour dough ball generously on each side with flour and place on well-floured floor, seam facet down. Gently press out dough into tough 8-inch circle, leaving outer 1-inch larger than the remaining. Gently stretch dough right into a 10- or 12-inch circle (remaining dimension is dependent upon measurement of your oven) about 1/4-inch thick by draping over knuckles and gently stretching. Switch to floured picket or steel pizza peel.
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Utilizing an offset spatula, unfold all the sauce evenly over floor of crust, leaving 1/2-inch border alongside edge. Evenly unfold 1/2 of cheese combination over sauce. Spoon sufficient floor beef and onion combination to evenly cowl cheese and high with remaining cheese.
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Utilizing a steel peel, switch assembled pizza to oven and bake, rotating pie recurrently with peel for even cooking, till rim is frivolously charred and backside is crisp, 90 to 180 seconds complete. Retrieve pizza with steel peel and switch to a chopping board. Sprinkle arugula over cooked pizza, high with pickle slices, and serve instantly.
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If Utilizing a Typical Oven: 1 hour earlier than baking, regulate oven rack with pizza stone or metal to center place and preheat oven to 500ºF (260ºC).
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Flour dough ball generously on each side and place on well-floured floor, seam facet down. Gently press out dough into tough 8-inch circle, leaving outer 1-inch larger than the remaining. Gently stretch dough right into a 10- or 12-inch circle (remaining dimension is dependent upon measurement of your oven) about 1/4-inch thick by draping over knuckles and gently stretching. Switch to floured picket or steel pizza peel.
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Utilizing an offset spatula, unfold all the sauce evenly over floor of crust, leaving 1/2-inch border alongside edge. Evenly unfold 1/2 of cheese combination over sauce. Spoon sufficient floor beef and onion combination to evenly cowl cheese and high with remaining cheese.
Critical Eats / Deli Studios
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Utilizing picket or steel peel, slide assembled pizza onto pizza stone or metal and bake till cheese is melted with some browned spots and crust is golden brown and puffed, 12 to fifteen minutes. Fastidiously switch pizza to chopping board. Sprinkle arugula over cooked pizza, high with pickle slices, and serve instantly.
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Particular Tools
Outside pizza oven or pizza stone/metal (if utilizing typical oven), picket or steel pizza peel
Notes
If utilizing New York-style pizza dough: No less than 2 hours earlier than baking, take away dough from fridge. Divide dough into 3 equal elements; form into balls by gathering dough in direction of backside and pinching shut. Flour nicely and place 1 dough ball in a medium mixing bowl. Cowl tightly with plastic wrap and permit to rise at heat room temperature till roughly doubled in quantity. Place every remaining dough ball in a zip-top freezer bag, refrigerate, and reserve for an additional use.
Retailer-bought pizza dough may be substituted for do-it-yourself dough.