Pretzel Pizza

For the longest time I was seeing commercials for Little Caesars pretzel crust pizza. It always sounded good, but I never was willing to go their to buy it. Then one day I saw a copy cat recipe and decided to try it. I was a little surprised to see that it used a cheddar sauce and cheddar instead of the "normal" pizza sauce and mozzarella cheese. I guess I never paid that close attention to the commercials.

The recipe I used said it made one pizza and the dough came out of the oven nice and flat, but for some reason mine puffed up a lot. Not sure what happened, but it was delicious, very delicious. I loved the cheese sauce and cheddar cheese with the pretzel crust and pepperoni, plus my family loved it too.

Pretzel Pizza

Ingredients:

• 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 2 tablespoon granulated sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups warm water
• 4 cups all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup baking soda
• 2 cups warm water
• 1 cup cheddar cheese sauce
• 1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
• turkey pepperoni
• 1/8 cup shredded parmesan cheese
• dried oregano
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted, optional
• kosher salt, optional

Directions:

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer combine the yeast, sugar, salt and 1 1/2 cups warm water and stir until the yeast dissolves.
2. With the dough hook attached turn the mixer on low and slowly add the flour. Knead the dough until smooth and elastic, adding more flour if needed.
3. Place the dough in a bowl that has been sprayed with cooking spray or coated with oil. Turn the dough to coat. Cover the bowl with a clean kitchen and let rise for 1 hour.
4. Preheat the oven to 425º F. Lightly grease a pizza pan.
5. Place 2 cups of warm water in a large bowl and dissolve the baking soda in it.
6. Place the dough ball into the water and turn if needed to coat the whole ball. Remove the dough ball and start stretching and rolling to the size of your pizza pan. When the dough is close to the correct size of the pan transfer to dough to the pan and stretch it to cover the entire pizza pan.
7. Bake for 6-8 minutes or until golden brown.
8. Spread the cheese sauce over the crust within 1-1 1/2 inches of the edge. Top with the shredded cheddar cheese, pepperoni, shredded parmesan cheese and sprinkle with desired amount of oregano.
9. Bake for 3-5 minutes or until the cheese is melted.
10. If desired brush the edges of the pizza with the melted butter and sprinkle with kosher salt.

Enjoy!!!

Notes:
I used my Homemade Nacho Cheese Sauce.

Nutrition Facts
Servings 4
Amount Per Serving
Calories 751
Total Fat		21.4g
Saturated Fat		11g
Polyunsaturated Fat		1.1g
Monounsaturated Fat		1.2g
Trans Fat		0g
Cholesterol		68.4g
Sodium		1,134.8g
Potassium		160.9g
Total Carbohydrates		107.3g
Dietary Fiber		4.1g
Sugars		7.6g
Protein		31.1g
Vitamin A 12.7% Vitamin C 0%
Calcium 38.9% Iron 35.2%
*Nutritional information will vary depending on the brands you use.

*Adapted from The Gunny Sack.