Mac and Cheese Pizza

This pizza is so full of mac and cheese (and flavor!) you’ll barely even notice you’re eating pizza.

ingredients.

1 lb pizza dough
2 T. butter or bacon grease
3 1/2 T. all-purpose flour
2 c. heavy cream
2 c. milk
4 c. finely shredded cheese (I used sharp cheddar, Monterrey jack and parmesan)
1 to 2 tsp. coarse salt
1 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 lb bacon, cubed and cooked
1 lb pasta (elbow, shell or Orrechiette)
1/2 c. cheddar cheese, grated
1/2 c. Monterrey jack cheese, grated
2 or 3 oz fresh mozzarella cheese

directions.

To prepare sauce, melt butter in a heavy saucepan over medium heat (add bacon grease to the pan). Add flour. Cook, whisking constantly, two minutes.
Slowly add heavy cream and milk, whisking constantly. Cook until sauce thickens slightly, about 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove from heat. Meanwhile, cook noodles according to package directions except remove from heat two minutes before package directions and rinse with cold water.
Add cheese, salt, pepper and garlic powder. Stir until cheese melts, about 3 minutes. Reserve about 1 c. of the cheese sauce and toss remaining cheese sauce with cooked noodles.
Remove pizza dough from the refrigerator and let sit at room temperature for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 425 degrees and sprinkle a 16-inch round pizza pan with a small amount of olive oil. Rub the olive oil around on the bottom of the pan.
Using flour (if necessary), begin to stretch the dough out into as large of a circle as possible. Place on the pizza sheet and work the dough at the edges using the heel of your hand to press and stretch toward the edge of the sheet. This will take a few minutes. Try to make the crust of the pizza as even as possible or you’ll have pockets of thicker chewy crust when the pizza is cooked.
Once the crust is stretched all the way to the edge of the pan, pre-bake for 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool.
Spread the cheese sauce evenly over the pizza crust and top with noodle mixture. Cover with cheese and sprinkle with bacon.
Place back in the oven for about 30 minutes or until cheese is bubbling and beginning to brown. Let cool for 5 minutes before cutting and serving.

I’ve said this before, but I’ll say it again: you want a relatively thin cheese sauce for this recipe. Mine was slightly thicker than I would have liked, and I believe the pizza would have been better if the sauce had been thinner.

Also it’s important to undercook your noodles as they will continue to cook in the oven. You don’t want a mushy noodle on top your pizza.

The smaller the noodle, the better for this dish – in my opinion, but obviously use whatever noodle you prefer. I would have used small shells instead of the Orrechiette I used. Big noodles are a lot to put in your mouth along with pizza crust.

You can use your favorite recipe for pizza dough or pick some up at the grocery store. I went with Trader Joe’s pizza dough (herb flavor) – a mild flavor dough would have probably been better. The cheese sauce has enough flavor that you don’t need a fancy-flavored crust. My dad said the crust was tough to chew, which may mean you don’t need to par-bake the crust. I’d rather have a sturdy crust underneath a heavy-sauce pizza such as this one.

All-in-all, a pretty dang good pizza. So much noodle on this pie I could only eat one piece!

Recipe rating: 1/2