Years ago a friend of mine introduced me to a little pizza shop located in the Shenandoah Mountains, near the Virginia/West Virginia border. This quaint little ‘mom and pop’ parlor served up some of the best pizza I have ever eaten and their taco pizza left me wishing that I lived a little closer!
While I can’t do justice in comparison, I decided to try my best to recreate the taco pizza with some pretty good results. It is actually super easy to make. Check it out for yourself…
First things first. Whip up some pizza dough.
This has been my go-to pizza dough recipe for many years. It is simple to make, uses few ingredients, and you don’t have to wait for the dough to rise very long.
Make sure to use lukewarm water when mixing it with the yeast. The warmth will help activate the yeast but if its too hot, it’ll do the opposite and kill it. After standing for five minutes or so, the yeast mixture should appear foamy and smell like ale. If this doesn’t happen, your yeast isn’t good anymore. TIP: Keep your yeast in the freezer until ready to use. No thawing necessary and it’ll keep much longer.
After mixing up the dough and letting it rest for ten minutes, roll it out on your pizza stone. I’ve found that a rolling pin works perfectly to roll the dough out directly on the stone. Gently roll past the edges of the stone and the overlapping dough will make a perfect edge.
Spread with taco sauce, some prepared taco meat, and shredded cheese.
Bake until the cheese is nice and melted.
Top with your preferred toppings. I used shredded lettuce, tomatoes, crushed corn chips, sour cream, and some more taco sauce.
Taco Pizza
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 tsp active dry yeast (or 1 package)
- 1 C lukewarm water
- 1 T sugar (use 1 tsp if wanting to reduce sugar amount)
- 2 1/2 C all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 T vegetable oil
- 1 lb ground beef
- taco sauce (I used mild)
- 1 package of taco seasoning
- shredded Mexican cheese blend
- shredded lettuce
- corn chips (crush over pizza with your hand)
- sour cream
Instructions
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
For the dough: Mix water, yeast, and sugar together. Let sit for five minutes or until slightly foamy on the top.
Add the flour and salt to your mixer bowl. Make a well in the center and pour in the oil and yeast mixtures. Using a dough hook, mix on med-low until dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl and forms into a smooth ball.
With slightly floured hands, remove dough hook and place the bowl in a nice warm spot. Cover with a towel and let rest for 10 minutes.
Brown the ground beef. Drain and add the taco seasoning. Prepare according to the package instructions by adding about 1/3 C of water and cooking until the liquid reduces.
Roll or press the dough out onto a pizza stone.
Spread an even amount of taco sauce over the dough. Top with the seasoned ground beef and shredded cheese.
Place in the oven and bake for approximately 15 minutes or until cheese is melted and dough is cooked through.
Top with lettuce, corn chips, sour cream or any of other desired toppings.
