A big Fat Tuesday thanks to Amelia for sending me home with some of her awesome Crock Pot Broccoli Cheese Soup! And for putting the rest of her bacon in the wrong to-go bag. 🙂 

This soup is souper awesome by itself but even way more gooey and cheesy when made into the “pizza sauce” for tonight’s pizza night.  (It’s really “clean out the fridge night”, but if you put any leftovers on a fresh pizza crust, it’s officially “pizza night”.)

Broccoli Cheddar Soup Pizza

Pizza dough (recipe follows)
1/2 cup leftover broccoli cheese soup
several slices mozzarella cheese
2 tablespoons freshly diced onion
handful of thinly sliced bell pepper
1 tablespoon fresh bacon bits (optional)
1/4 cup freshly grated cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 450 degrees and place a pizza stone, griddle or cookie sheet on the bottom most rack of your oven, then…

Sprinkle pizza peel or pan with a little cornmeal (this will act like ball bearings to slide the pizza into the oven).  On a floured surface, toss and/or roll pizza dough to desired thickness.  Place dough round on prepared pizza peel/pan.  Spread leftover broccoli cheddar soup thinly on dough, top with, mozzarella, onion, bell pepper, bacon bits and finally cheddar.

Slide pizza from peel/pan to hot griddle or pan.  Cook for around 15 minutes or until bottom is nice and crisp and center is hot and bubbling.

For the dough (or use pre-made dough if you like):

This batch will make several pizzas depending on desired size and thickness.

1/2 cup (3 oz.) gluten (“00”) flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 tablespoon yeast
2 ¾ cup (15 oz) all purpose flour
1 3/4 cup water

Using a paddle attachment on stand mixer at low speed, combine gluten flour, salt, yeast, water and 1 ¼ cup (6.5 ounces) flour until thoroughly combined (2-3 minutes). Mixture will look lumpy. Let mixture rest about 10 minutes.

Switch to dough hook and knead in remaining 1 1/2 cup (8.5 oz) all purpose flour. Let knead on low speed 6-10 minutes or until dough comes together and starts creeping up the dough hook.

The dough will be sticky. Tuck and roll into a ball and place into the bowl. Cover bowl with a towel and let rest and rise in a warm place for around one hour. If not using the dough right away, place into a Ziploc bag and store in the refrigerator. (This dough is actually better after a day or so in the refrigerator.) Dough keeps well in fridge or freezer indefinitely. Make sure to proof your dough until room temperature before using.

Eat Well!

Trish