I am a huge fan of non-new-york, flat-bread style pizzas and have been dreaming about creating a version of a BBQ chicken pizza for a while now. I kept putting it off because I like to make everything from scratch and that makes this meal a very time consuming endeavor. I regularly make home-made chicken nachos and figured I could borrow the chicken and sauce from that recipe— I just needed to come up with a dough recipe and a way to marry all of the flavors. Last night I finally gave it a try and it came out amazing!
Now that I have figured it out, here is the recipe…
If you like to cook and have a little time to put this together it is well worth your efforts and is it goes great with margaritas. This one pizza is really 3 recipes in one.
before you begin pre-heat your oven to 450
- The flat bread dough:
1-1/4 oz. pkg. yeast
3/4 cup warm water- divided into 1/2 and 1/4 cup
2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp. honey (in a pinch you could use sugar dissolved in the 1/2 cup of water)Begin by activating the package of yeast in 1/4 cup of warm water, mixing well with a fork— let this rest for 5 minutes while you get the rest of the ingredients together.In a large bowl combine the flour and salt creating a small well in the middle. After the yeast has activated for 5 minutes, pour it into the well along with the remaining water, oil and honey. Mix ingredients with a spoon until the dough begins to come together, then switch to your hands working to create a smooth dough. If the dough is too loose or sticky add a pinch of flour at a time until it holds together. Once you have a good looking, not too sticky dough ball, flour your board and knead the dough no more than 2 minutes. Divide the ball into 2 smaller balls coat with a bit of olive oil and set aside (preferably somewhere warm) in individual bowls until doubled in size. (by the time you are done making the chicken and BBQ sauce the dough should be ready) - The (spicy) chicken + BBQ sauce:
STEP ONE- aye, there’s the rub
combine the following in a small bowl and mix
1/4 tsp. onion powder
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. chilis de arbol
1/4 tsp. ancho chili powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground mustard
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 tbsp. dark brown sugar
cut 1 lg. or 2 small chicken breasts into 1/2 inch cubes, drizzle with olive oil and cover with spice rub mixture, mix until all pieces are well coated.Now set the chicken aside and start getting your BBQ sauce ingredients ready:
this recipe will produce enough sauce for ONE PIZZA
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup catsup
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp. chipotle tobasco sauce
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 tsp. ancho chili powder
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp. ground mustard
1 large sweet onion, finely dicedBegin by cooking the well rubbed chicken in a lightly oiled, med-high non-stick pan until done, remove chicken and set aside. While the pan is still hot add the onions and more oil if needed, stir the onions constantly until slightly soft. Once the onions are feeling a bit soft, add the vinegar, Tabasco, Worcestershire, ancho, Cayenne and mustard and cook until the liquid reduces down. Add catsup and stir well, once the sauce begins to bubble add the dark brown sugar and stir until the sauce turns a rich dark color. Allow the sauce to thicken for 2-3 minutes and remove from heat. - Caramelized onions:
This is an optional ingredient, but the sweetness of the onions really pair well with the heat of the BBQ sauce, and their creamy texture play s well with the crispy flatbread crust— besides this one is easy, all you need is:
1 lg.or 2 sm. sweet onions cut into thin rings
1 tsp. sugar
1 tbsp. olive oil
a pich of saltadd oil to a non-stick pan over med-low heat, add onions, salt and sugar and allow to cook (and eventually to caramelize) for 1/2 hour-45 minutes stirring often. - The Main Event- This is where all the hard work pays off.
Your going to need some cheeses, but you have some choices:
I prefer goat cheese, my wife likes mozzarella and I always add a bit of shredded Mexican cheeses as well. As far as the amounts… well— I like light cheese so I use a small pkg. of goat cheese {or} 1/2 a ball of fresh mozz. and about 1/3 cup of shredded mexican cheese.Begin by punching down your dough and rolling it out until its 1/4 -1/8 inch thick (I love thin crust, so I always roll it as thin as I can) Place rolled out dough on a cookie sheet or pizza stone that has been lightly dusted with corn meal. (this helps the pizza get free later and adds a nice extra crunch). I like my pizza crispy and like to use fresh grated cheese instead of the pre-packaged stuff, so I start by cooking the dough (with out any toppings) for about 5 minutes until it starts to get slightly golden.
Remove the pizza and now its pizza building time—
start by spooning the sauce over the dough leaving the desired amount of crust. Next layer on the caramelized onions. They like to stick together so it is easiest to create a series of little piles of onions, evenly distributed over the whole pizza. Next I put on the chicken, followed by the Mexican cheese and last the goat cheese {or} mozz. The final touch is a few carefully place cilantro leaves. If you are not using a pizza stone I recommend sliding the pizza off of the tray and onto the rack in your oven to allow the crust to reach maximum crispiness. If all goes well this recipe should take about 1 hour from beginning to end.I definitely recommend margaritas accompany this pizza, but Dos equis is a good runner-up if you are not in a margarita mood.
enjoy.
