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Saturday, May 15, 2010

Spicy Chicken Supreme Pizza

So that leftover chicken from the tacos I told you about here... was just what I needed to re-create on of my favorite pizzas. The spicy chicken works perfectly with a mix of mozzarella, Parmesan and sharp cheddar cheeses. Add some roasted piquillo peppers, green bell pepper strips, and red onion and its my idea of a perfect pizza. If you're like my husband, go ahead and throw some black olives on too.


This pizza crust is a great homemade crust, the addition of white wine and oregano make for a really flavorful crust. It makes enough for 2 large pizzas, but it does require a little advanced planning. The dough has to rise once and then be refrigerated over night and rise again. I actually prefer to freeze it between rises. I think the dough becomes a lot easier to work with after being frozen. I let the dough rise once, divide it in half and wrap in plastic wrap. Slide each disc into a freezer-weight Ziploc and then the day I want to use it, I pull the dough out in the morning and refrigerate. When I get home from work, I heat a mug of water in the microwave for 3 minutes and then put the dough in with the mug and let it sit for about 2 hours. Remove the dough, reheat the water, and let rise 1 more hour. At that point, I knead it a bit and it stretches perfectly for me.

The other big key to this pizza is a pizza stone. Pizza stones make for a fantastic crisp crust because they pull absorb any moisture from the bottom of the pizza so you don't end up with a soggy crust. By heating the stone while your oven preheats, the crust starts cooking immediately when transferred to the hot stone. If you have a pizza peel, make your pizza on that and transfer to the stone, if not use a piece of parchment paper on top of a large cutting board, just transfer the pizza, parchment and all to the stone and bake. A pizza stone can be purchased for under $20 at places like Target or Bed Bath and Beyond. Of course there are other models which cost more, but I've found my Oneida version works great for me. These stones can also be used to bake bread, rolls and even cookies.



Spicy Chicken Supreme Pizza

6 oz cooked chicken (recipe here), roughly chopped
1/2 cup pizza sauce
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced
1/2 small green pepper, thinly sliced
2 roasted piquillo peppers, thinly sliced
1/4 cup black olives, sliced
1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, shredded
1/4 cup sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
1 T fresh oregano, finely chopped
1/2 - 1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 pizza crust (see recipe below)
1 tsp olive oil
Cornmeal

Place pizza stone in cold oven. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Dust a pizza peel or parchment paper over a cutting board with cornmeal.

Lightly dust countertop with flour, knead dough for about a minute. Stretch crust into circle or square by draping the dough over your knuckles and letting it hang to stretch, rotate your hands stretching the dough as you go.

When shaped as desired, transfer to prepared peel or paper. Brush outside 1/2" ring of crust with olive oil. Smooth pizza sauce over the crust. Sprinkle with minced garlic.


Add Mozzarella cheese, top with chicken, peppers, onions, and olives. Sprinkle with remaining cheeses. Bake for approximately 15-20 minutes until crust is lightly browned and cheese is bubbly. Sprinkle with oregano and crushed red pepper flakes. Let the pizza sit about 5 minutes before cutting and serving.



Pizza Crust
Recipe from The Way The Cookie Crumbles

2 T olive oil
1/2 tsp dried oregano
22 oz bread flour (approx. 4 cups)
1 3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 packet instant yeast
1/4 cup white wine
1 1/2 cups water

Heat oil and oregano in a small saucepan over medium heat about 5 minutes, add water and wine and stir to combine. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with dough hook, add flour, salt, sugar, and yeast. Mix about 30 seconds. Pour in the liquid ingredients and mix until all the dry ingredients are mixed in. Continue mixing on medium low speed about 8 minutes to knead, until dough is smooth and elastic. Add more flour if necessary, dough should not stick to the sides of the bowl when kneading but will still be sticky.

Grease a deep bowl with non-stick spray or olive oil. Form dough into a ball and transfer to bowl, turn once to coat with oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let rise about 1 hour in a warm place. Divide dough into 2 equal portions, pat into a disc, wrap in plastic wrap and slide into a freezer weight Ziploc. Freeze at least overnight or until ready to use. Transfer to refrigerator the morning you want to use. Once thawed, let rise at least 3 hours and then stretch and top as desired.

2 comments:

  1. I just happened upon your blog. Love the recipes and the super photos.

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  2. @Moogie -- thanks so much, enjoy reading!

    ReplyDelete