BBQ Chicken Pizza

Okay so I have made some pretty amazing pizza recently. Scott actually said he doesn't need CPK if I can make him that. My recipe is a little more inspired by this pizza we used to get at a place called Earth, Wind, and Flour. I don't think they are there anymore but they were in Westwood by the LA temple. They used to stay open for us when our young adult group would do baptisms once a month. They would have tables all set up with big bowls of salads, rolls and pizzas in the oven. They were so awesome to us. I miss that place a ton so this pizza is a little reminder of it. I don't have any pics but Scott's cousin requested a recipe so here ya go Liz!

First lets start with the dough. I use my ex sister in law's breadstick recipe. It is almost identical to Our Best Bites but with more sugar. It starts out the same. Mixing 1 1/2 c warm water, 1 tbsp yeast and 1 tbsp sugar. I just mix it in the bowl of my kitchen aid with a small whisk. It takes about 10ish min to get all foamy. Once the yeast is growing you add 1/3 c sugar, 1 tsp salt and anywhere from 3-4 cups of flour (possibly more?). Start at 3 and add as needed since it'll vary depending on elevation and humidity. If you've made homemade dough before you'll know what consistency you need. If not it basically shouldn't stick to you a ton. You want it to be like elastic but pull away from the edge of the bowl... if that makes sense? I have a hard time explaining that. I use the dough hook on  my mixer and it should mix on the lowest setting for about 5 min.

After that you grease a bowl (I use olive oil spray) and place the dough in and then flip it so the top side of the dough gets coated in a little oil so it doesn't dry out while rising. Let it sit in the bowl, covered with a clean dish towel, for 20 to 30 min. At this point you would usually start twisting the dough into breadsticks but this is where you start shaping. Now there are two ways to do it. I'll give you my first explanation if using a pizza pan then using a pizza stone.

So on a lightly floured surface start pushing the dough out with your fingers to form the pizza crust. If making two pizzas just divide the dough in half and shape. This dough is a high yeast dough so it will get puffy. You want to make sure you make it like 1/4 in thick. When using a pan you'll want to spray it with olive oil and sprinkle down some corn meal to keep it from sticking. Oh and you'll want the oven preheated to like 425. Once the dough is shaped and pan is prepared place the dough on the pan and fix it so its shaped in a circle. Then poke a bunch of holes in the crust with a fork. If you don't it will puff up a ton. Then brush the whole crust with olive oil (roasted garlic olive oil is really yummy for this). Then sprinkle with garlic salt (Lawry's makes a new roasted garlic salt that is divine and makes it even better than normal garlic salt). Cook for like 10ish min until its just barely cooked.

Take out the pizza and top (I'll give instructions for bbq chicken pizza below) then cook for another 10 until crust is golden and cheese melted.

Okay so now the pizza stone recipe. I don't have one yet but we used my brother's and it was amazing. Put the pizza stone in the oven and preheat for like an hour at like 525. It needs to be hot. Oh and make sure your top rack is on the highest spot. So you shape the dough on the lightly floured surface. Then you need to transfer it to a pizza pan with parchment paper. Fix your dough into a circle, poke lots of holes in crust with fork and top as desired. I brush the crusts with the roasted garlic olive oil and sprinkle with roasted garlic salt. Once its ready you need to pull the rack out of the oven and you'll slide the pizza on the parchment paper onto the stone. My brother says the parchment paper is the easiest way to do it. Cook it about 10ish min until the crust is golden brown and cheese melted. Then just grab a hold of the parchment paper with an oven mitt and slide it out back onto your pizza pan.

Now for the bbq chicken part. I just cook my chicken in the pan. I take a chicken breast or two and cook them in roasted garlic olive oil. I like to keep the pan covered while cooking it up. It makes it a little more moist. You can also just grill up some chicken if you have a bbq. Ours uses charcoal and that would take too long so I do it in the pan. Once its about cooked I brush it with some Famous Daves sweet and zesty (sold in bigger bottles, like mayo sized, for under $3 at Walmart). I set the chicken aside to cool and cut it up into small cubes when it is. I like to caramelize some onions. I cut them thin and cook 'em slow. I don't want them too sweet but just a little is good. You want them a little golden. Then I cut up some cilantro. I brush the crust with bbq sauce in place of pizza sauce. Then I top with my chicken. Then I use slices of smoked provolone over that (a pack of that is like under $4 at Walmart). Then top that with my onions and cilantro. Last but not least some mozarella (2 lbs of Frigo mozarella at Costco for like $4.29 I think). Then I brush the edge of the crust with my roasted garlic olive oil and sprinkle it with the roasted garlic salt. And cook for about 10 min until the crust is golden and cheese melted. It's pretty much heaven when its done and goes great with a nice fresh romaine salad.

It takes a little time to make but it is so worth it!