Last night we challenged ourselves to a new pizza recipe inspired by Classico’s pizza sauces from their ‘Elevate Pizza Night’ challenge they sent out to us. Generally speaking, I had never been a fan of Classico sauce. If I used a can sauce it was Prego for quick family pasta or something that I could mix and add a ton of my own flavor to before it went on the table. But I had three little bottles of pizza sauce to taste test and give a go at….
And let me tell you, it that little jar of pre-made store bought pizza sauce was shockingly good. So much so that that’s how I wanted to approach this whole post – Shockingly Good Sauce by Classico. Box, canned and prepacked things just don’t often live up to my expectations any more. (I am not saying that with my nose in the air – I am totally down with Hamburger Helper and there is totally a frozen dinner just chilling in my freezer waiting for a night when I’m just too tired, but once you find a good home-made recipe to replace it, there’s simply no going back). We used the white pizza sauce. I had envisioned something a little more classy for my elevated pizzas, but Handsome had the idea of turning his cheesesteaks into a pizza topping and I kind of ran with it, while making it week night simple. So we came up withe this Philly inspired Thin Crust Cheesesteak Pizza.
We took one bite, and let’s just say, it was money baby.
(Truth, this pizza was made on Halloween eve. We were busy handing out candy to trick-or-treaters all night and keeping the dog from getting too excited. Proof is in the pudding, this meal works on a busy weeknight!)
Ingredients
- 1 packet (2 1/4 teas) active dry yeast
- 1 cup lukewarm water
- 1 tbs honey
- 2 1/4 – 2 1/2 cups flour
- 1 teas salt
- 1/2 teas garlic powder
- 1 teas oregano flakes
- 2 tbs olive oil, divided, plus more for greasing the bowl
- 1/2 onion, sliced
- 1/2 green pepper, sliced
- 2 round cheesesteak patties (the kind that break apart – message me for where to get these – they rock the pants off of steak ums)
- 1 tbs Worcestershire sauce
- 2 tbs steak sauce
- 1 jar Classico White Pizza Sauce (which currently isn’t listed on their website. Demand it! Hunt it down! It was really good…)
- 6 to 8 slices provolone cheese
Preparation
Add the honey and yeast to the water and stir to combine. Let stand for 7 to 10 minutes, while the yeast gets foamy.
Whisk the flour, salt, garlic powder, and oregano flakes in a large bowl. Make a little hole in the middle and pour in the yeast mix and 1 tbs olive oil. Stir to combine. Knead with your stand mixer or by hand until the dough forms a ball. Knead for 10 minutes. Turn out and form into a tight ball.
Place dough into a well greased bowl. Top with greased plastic wrap and let sit until doubled in size, about 1 hour, in a dry warm spot. (I set the bowl on top of my oven as it preheats or in the microwave depending on how warm my house is).
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees for at least 40 minutes before cooking. Slide a rack to the bottom-most slot.
Preheat a skillet over medium high heat. Add the remaining 1 tbs olive oil and swirl to coat pan. Sautee the onion and pepper for 5 to 7 minutes until soft. Push the veggies off to the side and add the steak patties. Cook according to directions seasoning with Worcestershire and steak sauce. Remove from heat.
Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and divide into 2 parts. Roll one at a time into a 1/8? round disk, sprinkling with more flour if needed to keep from sticking. If the dough pulls pack while rolling and doesn’t seem to want to create a disk, let it sit 5 minutes longer.
Slide the pizza dough onto parchment paper. Spoon the white sauce over the pizza, leaving 1/2 border for the edges, sprinkle half of the peppers, onions, and steak meat over top. Tear the provolone slices in half and place on top as well. Using the parchment paper, transfer the pizza to your baking sheet, or preheated pizza stone in the oven and bake for 10-13 minutes until edges are golden brown and cheese is browning. Carefully, remove the pizza from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes before slicing and serving.
Repeat with remaining dough and ingredients.
Adapted From
Pizza crust: BevCooks.com
Leave a comment for a chance to win a coupon to taste test one of these kicking jars of flavor yourself!
(Winners will be picked at random, though I am always open to bribes)
The fine print: PasstheSushi.com partnered with Classico for this post and was given products to test for the brand, however the recipe, photographs and opinions expressed in this post are 100% mine and I was not paid for participating in this program.
Ooo, this is so much better than a simple pepperoni pizza! Love this idea and want it for dinner!
Could not love this anymore!! Incredible!
Oh gosh, these looks delish! I’m kind of moving away from eating beef, but the idea and look of this pizza just drew me in… 🙂 I make my own spaghetti sauce (family recipe from a great aunt that takes all day and makes my house smell like an Italian restaurant – yum!) but the white sauce pushes it over the edge into unresistable-land. Can’t wait to try it!
This combines two awesome things – looks fantastic!
We love Philly CheeseSteaks! What brand of shaved steak were you referring to?????? Thanks …………………..Patti
Promise not to judge? Walmart has a store brand that comes as disks that break apart and make great cheesesteaks instead of the thin strips that most companies use. If we are going quick (And not shaving out own rib eye)this is what we use. If you know a great brand to try, I’d love to give it a go! 🙂
Oh heck ya girl, that pizza looks delicious to me! With my crazy schedule during the week, I am always looking for short cuts to my dinner. Adding the sauce would give the steak a perfect flavor combo. Yum, Hugs, Terra
I very rarely use a jarred sauce anymore. I usually make and freeze my sauces. You convinced me to give this one a try. This pizza is calling my name, and I know Squirrel wouldn’t turn it down. I think Handsome was onto something.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for mentioning cheesesteak patties and their amazingness over steak-ums! Steak-ums are fine if you really have NO other choice but to use them. But cheesesteak meat – real and authentic – beats all. This pizza makes me so happy because it uses the real stuff. And because it looks delish, of course. 🙂
MMM cheesesteak pizza? I’m coming over for dinner. Leave the porch light on for me! I’m bringing cinnamon rolls and cookies.
Oh man, drooling over this pizza!! I can’t wait for pizza night now, yum!
This lookia amazing. For a quick meat, I use shaved roast beef from the deli instead. I saute onions then add the beef which I chopped into thin strips. I would use one of meat for four steak sandwiches. I am anxious to try to make this in a pizza very soon.