Buffalo Chicken Pizza

I much prefer homemade pizza to takeout or delivery - maybe I'm in the minority but to me, its much better to be able to put whatever toppings you want on the pizza and its a lot cheaper.  If you keep dough on hand in your freezer and thaw it out the night before you want to make pizza, it can also be faster than delivery.  I typically make a double batch of dough so I always have an extra crust available.  You can thaw the dough in the refrigerator and then all you have to do is roll it out and prepare your toppings.  I made this using my favorite pizza crust from The Way The Cookie Crumbles - which is awesome - but using half whole wheat flour, half bread dough to make it healthier.

So Buffalo chicken pizza was what I came up with when I thought I was all set for pizza night only to discover I had no pizza sauce.  I didn't even have any tomatoes on hand to make some pizza sauce.  But I know I've seen Buffalo chicken pizza on other food blogs with a ranch dressing type of sauce.  Of course, I didn't have ranch dressing either - that bottle got thrown away the last time I cleaned out the fridge to get rid of anything containing high fructose corn syrup.  But I had buttermilk and sour cream so making my own dressing was easy.  Adding some Frank's Red Hot, shredded chicken, onions and a combination of mozzarella and sharp cheddar completed the pizza.

It turned out to be a great improvisation and the pizza was delicious. 

Buffalo Chicken Pizza

Crust:
From this recipe with 1/2 of the flour replaced with whole wheat flour.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Place pizza stone in oven to heat.  When oven is preheated, transfer shaped pizza dough on a pizza peel or parchment paper to hot stone dusted with cornmeal.  Cook about 15-20 minutes until crust begins to brown.  Meanwhile prepare toppings.

Sauce:
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup buttermilk
1/2 tsp lemon juice
1 clove garlic, minced
1 T fresh parsley, finely chopped
1 T fresh chives, finely chopped
1/4 tsp dried dill
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/2 - 1 T Frank's Red Hot or other hot sauce

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl and whisk together until smooth.  Top pizza crust with a thin layer of dressing.

Toppings:
2 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
Frank's Red Hot, to taste
1/2 white onion, sliced into thin strips
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Toss chicken with one to two tablespoons of hot sauce.  Top pizza with shredded chicken, cheese, and onions and return to oven.  Bake 15-20 minutes until cheese is bubbly and golden brown.