Deep Dish Bacon Cheeseburger Deluxe Pizza

I'm feeling good...good enough to make homemade pizza on a weeknight! The other night we had bbq hamburgers for dinner. Then yesterday morning I was thinking, what can I make for dinner tonight? I left the house thinking I was going to make Shrimp Po' Boys. I left my office 8 hours later and it hit me that I could make pizza and use the leftover hamburger. The outcome was Bacon Cheeseburger Deluxe Pizza! I wanted to use up that last hamburger instead of letting it sit in the fridge for a few days and then end up tossing it because nobody wanted it.

I've made a bacon cheeseburger pizza before way back in the beginning of my blogging days. I thought about the sauce and what could I do that would go well with what I wanted to make. The pizza I made before had a ketchup-y sauce. I decided it couldn't be a cheeseburger pizza without that kind of sauce. So, I decided that I would make a sauce the way Grumpy would eat his burgers and then, after mixing the ingredients, decided to toss a little of the flavor I used when making the burgers themselves. The result was yummy! Grumpy, he ate his pizza naked. Me, I had to make it deluxe!

Deep Dish Bacon Cheeseburger Deluxe Pizza

For the crust:

To make the crust, combine the whole wheat pastry flour and 3/4 cup of white flour with the salt, sugar, and yeast. Pour the warm water and tablespoon of olive oil over flour mixture and stir to combine. Mix in remaining 1 cup flour. Turn dough out onto lightly floured surface and knead until smooth, adding more flour as needed. Spray a mixing bowl (I usually use the one I mixed the dough in - I just wash it out first) with cooking spray. Place dough in bowl and then turn over. Cover with a towel and let rise approximately 45 minutes or until dough doubles in size.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Punch down dough and let rest for 10 minutes. While dough is resting, make sauce. Mix together in a small bowl the ketchup, mustard, Merlot sauce and mayonnaise.

Spray a 9 x 13 pan with cooking spray. I use a glass pan, I like how the crust turns out crispy in this dish. Sprinkle with cornmeal. Place dough in pan and press the dough out, making sure to have the dough go up the sides of the pan to create the dish effect.

Spread sauce over top of dough. Layer toppings as follows: Sprinkle with 1 cup of mozzarella cheese, spread broken up hamburger over top of cheese, sprinkle with remaining mozzarella and then lastly top with cheddar cheese.

Bake in oven approximately 20 minutes or until crust is browned and topping begins to brown lightly. Remove from oven and top with bacon pieces. Garnish with lettuce, tomato, onion and more bacon if desired.