BBQ chicken pizza

I never buy pizza anymore.  Why bother when the pizza I make at home is way cheaper, tastes better, and is super easy.  Unless I desperately need pizza in under an hour, I make it.

The secret is good crust.  Pizza needs a solid foundation.  If the dough sucks, the pizza can only be OK, not awesome.  You can make whatever thickness you want, but I personally like my crust to be thick enough to support my massive amount of toppings, while still being crispy and chewy.

My favorite pizza dough recipe isn't actually mine.  It belongs to The Pioneer Woman.  BTW, she and her recipes are amazing.  I have 2 of her cookbooks.
Check her out at the pioneer woman.

Also, as you might have noticed, I'm a bit of a novice at taking pictures of food.  I'll figure it out eventually.  I hope.  :)

 Bake chicken breasts and dice to put on pizza

All the ingredients you'll need: dough ball, BBQ sauce, mozzarella, gouda, chicken

When the crust has browned and the cheese has melted your pizza is done.  Let it sit on the counter for a few minutes so the cheese can firm up a bit.  This will make cutting into the pizza much easier.  Don't worry, pizza retains its heat quite well.  It will still be hot.


pizza dough
ingredients:
1 1/2 C warm water
1 tsp dry yeast
4 C AP flour
1 tsp salt
1/3 C extra virgin olive oil

directions:
1. combine water and yeast to combine.  Let sit about 10 minutes, until bubbly.
2. in a stand mixer combine flour and salt.  Slowly add in olive oil, then yeast mixture.  Mix on low until the dough forms a ball.
3. Cover mixing bowl and let the dough sit 1-2 hours, or until doubled.  If you want to make the dough ahead of time it can really sit out all day.
4. preheat the oven to 500 degrees.  Divide the dough in half and using your hands or a rolling pin roll the dough out onto a baking sheet covered in non-stick spray.  Each pizza will be about the size of a commercial large unless you want really thick crust.
5. add toppings and bake for 12 minutes.  Enjoy.  Makes for great leftovers eaten cold, if any leftovers exist. They might not.  Wouldn't surprise me.


BBQ chicken pizza

ingredients:
chicken breasts (I use 2 small breasts for each pizza)
2 C mozzarella
1 C gouda
1 C BBQ sauce, divided

directions:
1. defrost chicken breasts if necessary.  Bake at 400 degrees for 40 minutes with 1/4 cup BBQ sauce brushed over them.
2.  Let chicken cool and dice.  Mix the pieces with an additional 1/4 cup BBQ sauce.
3.  after rolling out dough stab all with a fork to keep the dough from rising and puffing up too much.  Spread the last 1/2 cup BBQ sauce over dough.  Cover in both cheeses.  Spread chicken on top.  Bake at 500 degrees for 12-15 minutes until the edges of the crust are very lightly golden.
4. if you can, wait a minute or so for the cheese to firm up before cutting.  Then enjoy!

My pizzas normally aren't pretty because I'm never able to roll them out perfectly round, but really, who cares?  Besides, the finished product tastes so yummy that the pizza disappears in about a minute anyway.