Ketchup, Mustard, Pickles on pizza? ....WTF! (Would Taste Fantastic, of course.. )

First off, let me show you a picture of what we are making today- then I will give you the background story and the how-tos. Ready? You may need to steady yourself. Drum roll....Bacon Cheeseburger pizza!

I was cleaning the house this morning.( I have that kind of time now that the college degree is complete.) And listening to the TV playing in the background. Some famous pizza place that we don't have in the area was advertising it's Cheeseburger Pizza. I looked up briefly and saw pickles... yes PICKLES, on the surface of the pizza and in that instant I knew I would have to make it. I LOVE pickles and how could this be wrong?
I collected all of the ingredients that I like on a really guilty, really, really good cheeseburger. The hamburger was seasoned and then browned all the way through in fairly large chunks and left to cool a bit. Now, I am a fan of the bacon cheeseburger, and as most of you know, I made my own a few weeks back. Out that came, and I clipped it into small pieces and warmed it through. I put all of the other ingredients out on the counter- because pizza making is a fast and swift thing to accomplish. If you let that stretched pizza dough stick on the peel a minute too long well, it welds itself to the peel. I promise that the first time you have to try to take an unbaked loaded pizza off the stuck peel and drop the soggy raggedy mess into the oven... you don't ever do it again. So lets start with the pictures, while I explain.
I am going to confess- with all of the house cleaning, and a longer than expected trip into town to get supplies; I didn't have enough time to make a Wolfgang Puck pizza dough batch, which is superior. (And, if this pizza was sooo good using store-bought, I shudder in delight to think what the next time will be like! Can't wait!) So, shamefully, I bought a store frozen blob of "dough".
I rested on the floured board for about 5 minutes, then started stretching it out, finally making it to a ten inch circle. It was pretty thin at this point and I didn't want to stress it even more.

I always use a peel to make my pizzas on. It feels more traditional and because I like to slide them directly on a stone- this is the way to go. Mine dusted with a good amount of corn meal.

Then, because I like the crust to be flavorful ( for when I dip it in Bleu Cheese dressing, a Consler tradition), basil-infused olive oil was brushed along the outer crust along with a sprinkling of garlic powder.

The sauce, the sauce..what to do? I had looked at one recipe where the chef used thousand island dressing to mimic a local big box franchise. Umm, I don't like thousand island dressing on really anything, and the look on the hubby's face when I told him- well, we didn't go that route. He had suggested pizza sauce, which I had bought over the objections of the nagging inner chef voice in my head. But, I had an light bulb moment at this point and mixed together ketchup and mustard, adding until I liked the taste and on the pizza shell it went!





Cheese next, a taco blend that I had in the fridge, mainly for the mix of cheddar in the cheese.












The hamburger















The bacon- my own. (Had to put that in, I feel so high-falutin' when I say that!)

Dried onion. Okay so I know that you foodies- you know who you are, just sighed and slowly shook your heads back and forth. I did that the first time I tried it- but it is great! It re-hydrates with the cheese grease and tastes spectacular! Try it, go on, I dare you.








Sliced dill pickles. It felt a little weird putting these on, I will admit. And, because I was hesitant- not enough got on the pizza. Pizza dill pickles ROCK! I can't imagine not making them an ingredient on all sorts of other pizzas! Many more will go on the next time.














For my own little slice or two of heaven- I added roasted red pepper strips, I just love the things.

















A little more cheese of the mozzarella type. It just isn't pizza without mozzarella stringy action going on.
And here it is, ready for the oven.














Now when I say oven in relation to pizza, at our house that makes it special. A few years ago, my parents (who know our love of pizza) gave us a gas grill pizza oven accessory for our grill. It is great! Not only do we make pizza in it, but I bake hearth breads in there too. Here is a picture
The pizza oven had been patiently warming while I made the pizza so it was at a balmy 500 degrees.






I slid the pizza in and off the peel- catching the timing just right, it was just starting to stick. The pictures slowed me down a bit. LOL
Ten minutes after it went in, I rotated the pizza by 180 degrees. I could tell the bottom was getting crispy because the peel slid under the pizza perfectly.








About 7 minutes later, out it came!
It was delicious. I invited the sister over to try it- she loved it as much as us.
So thoughts on next time: My own dough, more pickles, and some chopped tomato. Sis talked about some cold shredded lettuce, but I will have to think about that and try to convince the inner chef who is negating that idea strongly at this point.
So that is it- go out there and get on this! Summertime pizza time is just starting, and just pepperoni is not an option in this house!

As always,
Live Peacefully. Cook Fearlessly.

Till next time,
Chris