pizza

Saturdays are usually a day for a casual lunch.  Today I decided to make a family favorite, beef and  pineapple pizza.  I’m a lover of beef and all things tropical so this works for me.  Being that I was born in a tropical climate I’m naturally biased when it comes to anything with tropical flavors(pineapple, coconut, mangoes), so pineapple on my pizza is the absolute best topping.   One of the things I love about pizza, besides being yummy or cheesey, is the fact that you can top it with whatever you like.

When I decided upon pizza for lunch I realized I needed find a great crust.  In the past I’ve tried recipes that came out tasting too “yeasty”.  I searched online and wasn’t satified so I turned to my collection of cookbooks and I came across my The Best of Gourmet cookbook and they had this great pizza crust recipe.    I decided to try it and was pleased, in my opinion this is great pizza crust.  I’m no Italian mama so I didn’t have a pizza stone or a brick oven, so I made my on a round pizza pan in mine oven and the results were great.  Enjoy!!

 

Beef and Pineapple Pizza

Pizza crust adapted from The Best of Gourmet

1 (1/4 oz) package active dry yeast (2 1/4 tsp)

2 cups all purpose flour

3/4 cup water

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp extra-virgin olive oil

1/2 lb ground beef

1/2 tsp crushed garlic

1/2 tsp italian seasoning

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 lb mozzarella sliced or shredded

1/2 cup pizza sauce

1/2 cup pineapple tidbits

1/3 pint grape tomatoes, halved

To make dough stir together yeast, 1 tbsp flour and 1/4 cup warm water and let stand until it foams, about 5 minutes.  If the mixture doesn’t foam, discard and use fresh yeast.  Stir 1 1/4 cup flour and salt in a large bowl.  Add yeast mixture, oil and 1/2 cup warm water and stir until smooth.  Add remaining flour and stir together.  This dough will be wetter than other pizza doughs.  Knead dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth and elastic, about 8 mins.  Lightly flour hands to prevent sticking while kneading.  Place in a bowl, cover with a towel and allow to double, about 1 1/2 hour.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. To make crust, don’t roll the dough, stretch the dough with your hands until the dough forms a 14 inch circle.

To make topping, mix ground beef, Italian seasoning, crushed garlic, salt and pepper together.  Brown meat in 1 tbsp of olive oil.  Stir meat to break up into smaller pieces.   Spread spaghetti sauce over the top of the pizza dough leaving a 1 inch border.  Spread mozzarella cheese over the spaghetti sauce, then sprinkle ground meat,  pineapple and grape tomatoes.

Bake until golden brown and cheese is bubbling about 15 to 20 mins.

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