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Hearty Meat Pizza

A pizza topped with a hearty mixture of ground beef, sausage, onions, peppers, and cheese, finished with tomato sauce and herbs.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 23 ingredients
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Why it works: Mozzarella cheese and romano cheese share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 62 recipes mention both. Both carry ethyl 2-methylbutyrate, which smells fruity, apple. The science ↓

The recipe

Oven425°F
Time10 to 12 minutes

Ingredients

Contains: milk, wheat (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Make the sauce

  1. Cook the ¾ cup chopped onion and garlic in 1 tablespoon oil.

  2. Stir in tomatoes, tomato sauce, bay leaf, basil, oregano, fennel seed (if using), sugar and pepper.

  3. Bring to boiling. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 35 to 40 minutes or to desired consistency, stirring occasionally. Discard bay leaf.

Make and shape the dough

  1. Meanwhile in a large bowl combine 1¼ cups of the flour, the yeast, and the salt.

  2. Add warm water and 2 tablespoons oil.

  3. Beat with an electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds, scraping bowl constantly.

  4. Beat on high speed for 3 minutes.

  5. Using a spoon, stir in as much of the remaining flour as you can.

  6. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface.

  7. Knead in enough remaining flour to make a moderately stiff dough that is smooth and elastic (6 to 8 minutes total).

  8. Divide dough in half. Cover and let rest 10 minutes.

  9. Grease two 11- to 13-inch pizza pans or baking sheets.

  10. On a lightly floured surface roll each half of dough into a circle 1 inch larger than pizza pan. Transfer to pans.

  11. Build up edges slightly. Flute edges, if desired. Prick dough generously with a fork. Do not let rise.

Bake and top

  1. Bake in a 425°F oven for 10 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned.

  2. Meanwhile, in a large skillet cook ground beef and/or sausage and the 1 cup chopped onion until meat is brown and onion is tender. Drain fat.

  3. Spread pizza sauce over hot crusts.

  4. Sprinkle with meat mixture.

  5. Top with pepperoni, Canadian-style bacon, and green sweet pepper.

  6. Sprinkle with mozzarella and Parmesan or Romano cheese.

  7. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes more or until cheese melts and sauce is bubbly.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

This recipe comes from the Recipes Wiki on Fandom and is licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Our formatting and summaries are shared under the same licence.

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Mozzarella cheese + romano cheesetop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together62 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  2. Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together29,030 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  3. Garlic + olivetop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together23,449 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  4. Mozzarella cheese + olivetop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together1,723 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (apple, fatty).

  5. Beef + oniontop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together17,091 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

All-purpose flour
Forms the gluten network that gives the crust its structure and chew.
Active dry yeast
Produces gas as it ferments, leavening the dough so it rises and becomes airy.
Ground beef and/or sausage
Adds savory, fatty richness and browned flavor to the topping.
Mozzarella cheese
Melts into a stretchy layer that binds the toppings and browns on top.
Tomatoes
Form the base of the sauce, adding acidity, moisture and body.
Pepperoni
Releases fat and seasoning as it bakes, crisping at the edges.

The step that matters

Do not let the dough rise before baking. The dough is meant to be pricked and baked flat. Letting it rise again before baking can give a puffy, uneven crust that does not hold the toppings well.

Flavor stand-ins for the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, beef, pepper, mozzarella cheese, romano cheese, garlic, olive):

  1. Tomatobetter flavor fit
  2. Capsicumabout as good a flavor fit
  3. Onionthe original
  4. Potatoabout as good a flavor fit

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, beef, pepper, mozzarella cheese, romano cheese, garlic, olive. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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