Big Little Mac Pizza and Julia

Hi Friends! Welcome to Pizza and a Movie. This week’s pizza is inspired by a pizzeria I have never been to. Maker Pizza is a Toronto-based pizzeria. I became aware of Maker Pizza through Matty Matheson who partnered in creating the pizzeria with owner, Shlomo Buchler. Anyway – their pizzas are mesmerizingly beautiful and inventive. And because I don’t live in Toronto to try it myself, I decided to recreate one of their famous pizzas, The Mac. As you might imagine, this is basically the pizza version of a certain famous American hamburger. Are you ready for this? Let’s do it!

While I can’t be totally, 100% sure how Maker does their Mac Pizza, I can make some approximations and get pretty close. We have ground Beef, cheddar and American Cheese, dill pickles, a super special sauce, shredded iceberg lettuce and thinly sliced onions.

Back in October, my Husband Alex did a guest post for his Djalali Cooks 2 column called How 2 Make 2 Classic Burgers. One of these classic burgers was a Big Mac Clone. In that post he made a Super Special Sauce that I am using here. You can find the recipe below, in the recipe card.

Building the Big Little Mac Pizza

I am going to build and bake this pizza in layers, with the shredded lettuce and the sliced onion going on after the final bake, so they stay fresh and crisp.

Start by preheating the oven to 450 degrees F with a pizza stone or steel. For the first round in the oven, I have grated white cheddar cheese and ground beef that I browned earlier in the day, seasoned with Kosher salt and pepper. That’s all we will have going in to the oven at first. So let’s start there: roll, spin or stretch your pizza dough to a roughly 12 to 14-inch round.

Spread about 1 cup of grated cheddar cheese and top that with your browned and seasoned ground beef. Top the beef with the remaining 1/4 cup of grated cheddar. Bake the pizza until the cheese is melted and the crust is only lightly golden, about 8-10 minutes. Pull the pizza out of the oven and we will continue with more toppings.

Now top the pizza with dill pickle chips. Top the pickles with slices of American cheese – use as many slices as you want!

Now, pop the pizza back in the oven and bake just until the American cheese is melted and gooey. About 4-5 minutes.

Finishing Touches

The baking is done, so now we will top with the finishing touches that make this a Big Little Mac Pizza. Spoon on the Super Special Sauce, use as much as you like!

Now, top the Super Special Sauce with the shredded iceberg lettuce…

…and top with thin onion slices.

Without tasting the Maker Pizza version of The Mac, I know there are some differences, namely they use a cheese whiz-type sauce, rather than American Cheese slices. And I don’t know if they use cheddar cheese as a base, since The Mac is no longer on the menu. I am sure my Super Special Sauce recipe is a little different than what they came up with…but for the most part, this pizza is undoubtedly a Big Little Mac Pizza!

Movie Night: Julia

We have our Big Mac Pizza ready, so let’s get to the movie! I couldn’t wait to watch this documentary on Julia Child, so I splurged for the $19.99 streaming price. Are there any people out there who do not love this woman? I, like a gazillion other home cooks, can honestly say that she is a woman after my own heart. Not one bit pretentious about food and cooking, Julia Child sought to demystify French cooking. She did this in a totally relatable way because she wasn’t hiding the flaws, the flubs and the sometimes not-so-perfect landings. Through her cookbooks and TV show she made cooking, in general, less intimidating. Her enjoyment of food, and her love of cooking is infectious and inspiring.

These days, there are so many chefs on TV and YouTube – but Julia was the first. And she did it at time when there wasn’t such a thing as a celebrity chef, there were hardly any women in professional kitchens or on TV, and America’s taste for packaged food was all the rage. A remarkable woman, indeed! This film is an inspiring look at her adventurous and travel-filled life, Julia is a must-see. Available to stream on Apple TV, Vudu, Google Play, and YouTube.

Thank you all so much for joining me today for Pizza and a Movie. I do hope you try this Big Little Mac Pizza! Thank you to Maker Pizza for inspiring this pizza, it’s a new Djalali favorite! And if you happen to be or live in Toronto, please go to Maker and enjoy a pizza for me! Have a wonderful weekend, everyone. Take care and be well, xo Kelly

At Home Pizza Tools

Print Recipe

Big Little Mac Pizza

(2 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

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Dinner, Main Course – American

By Adapted from Maker Pizza – Serves: 2-4

Prep Time: 50 Minutes (includes Special Sauce and hamburger cooking time) – Cooking Time: 15 Minutes – Total Time: ~1 Hour

Inspired by Maker Pizza's The Mac, this Big Little Mac Pizza has all the flavors of the famous hamburger, but on a pizza, it's even more special!

Ingredients

• Super Special Sauce
• 3 tbsp. Mayonnaise
• 1 tbsp. Sweet Relish
• 1 tbsp. Yellow Mustard
• 1 tbsp. Caramelized Onions
• 1 Clove Garlic, grated
• 3/4 tsp. Paprika
• 3/4 tsp. Sugar
• 3/4 tsp. Pickle Juice
• Big Mac Pizza
• 1 Prepared Pizza Dough
• 1 lb Ground Beef, browned and seasoned with Kosher salt and pepper
• 1.25-1.5 cups Grated Cheddar Cheese
• 1 cup Dill Pickle Chips
• 4-8 Slices American Cheese Singles
• 1/4-1/2 cup Super Special Sauce
• 1/2 Head Iceberg Lettuce, shredded
• 1/4-1/2 White Onion, sliced 1/8-inch thick

Instructions

Super Special Sauce

1

Add all ingredients to bowl, mix, and refrigerate until ready to use.

Big Mac Pizza

2

Start by preheating the oven to 450 degrees F with a pizza stone or steel.

3

Roll, spin or stretch your pizza dough to a roughly 12 to 14-inch round.

4

Spread about 1 cup of grated cheddar cheese and top that with your browned and seasoned ground beef. Top the beef with the remaining 1/4 cup of grated cheddar. Bake the pizza until the cheese is melted and the crust is only lightly golden, about 8-10 minutes.

5

Now top the pizza with dill pickle chips. Top the pickles with slices of American cheese.

6

Now, pop the pizza back in the oven and bake just until the American cheese is melted and gooey. About 4-5 minutes.

7

When the pizza comes out, spoon on the Super Special Sauce.

8

Top the Special Sauce with the shredded iceberg lettuce.

9

Layer the thin onion slices on top of the shredded lettuce.

Notes

Super Special Sauce recipe makes a little more than 1/4 cup of sauce, for more double the recipe and you will have some leftover for another recipe. Leftover sauce will keep for about one month in the fridge, in an airtight container.