Basic Pizza Crust and BBQ Chicken Pizza

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I had clipped/saved these two recipes a while back, but just haven't had a chance to get to them.  And I needed to because homemade pizza is wonderful. 

Another reason, though?  When I moved in with David there were four bottles of BBQ sauce in the fridge.  One bottle has since been used up, but when I made this pizza there were still three.  Three half empty BBQ sauce bottles.  In my fridge.  Taking up space.  Can you tell this grinded on my nerves?  I only had one bottle that I contributed.  Why did David have three bottles?  Maybe he feels like a different flavor from time to time?  They were all different brands...  I don't know.  Regardless, this recipe has helped me dwindle that number down to two bottles.  Two because I made this pizza twice.  What?  The crust recipe makes two crusts.  And it was a good pizza.  So I made it twice.  Yum.

I printed both of these recipes off the Pioneer Woman website...big shocker there, I know.  And have I mentioned that David's mother prefers the PW pizza crust to her own?  Wow.  I had to try it...soon.

Let's begin with the crust...

Basic Pizza Crust
(PW Version)

1 teaspoon instant or active dry yeast (I used active)1 1/2 cup warm water
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup olive oil

Sprinkle yeast over 1 1/2 cups warm (not lukewarm) water. Let stand for a few minutes.

In a mixer, combine flour and salt. With the mixer running on low speed (with bread hook attachment), drizzle in olive oil until combined with flour. Next, pour in yeast/water mixture and mix until just combined.  The dough will come together in a sticky mass.

Coat a separate mixing bowl with a light drizzle of olive oil, and form the dough into a ball. Toss to coat dough in olive oil, then cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and set it aside for 1 to 2 hours, or store in the fridge until you need it.

Note: it's best to make the dough at least 24 hours in advance, and 3 or 4 days is even better.  (I made my dough and baked the first pizza 2 days after making the dough, then the second pizza exactly a week later.  Both crusts came out perfectly!)

When you are ready to make the pizza, grab HALF the pizza dough (recipe makes 2 crusts) and squeeze the dough toward the bottom to form a nice, tight, pulled ball. You can roll out the pizza with a rolling pin if you'd like, but sometimes it's just as easy to throw it around and pull and stretch till it feels right. And when the crust is nice and thin, lay it on an oiled baking sheet or pizza pan (I spread mine on a round pizza stone). Drizzle a little olive oil on the dough and spread it with your fingers. Very lightly sprinkle some salt on the crust.

BBQ Chicken Pizza
(slightly altered from the PW original)

1/2 recipe for pizza crust (half of recipe listed above)
2 whole boneless, skinless chicken breasts (I used 6 tenderloins the first go-around)
approximately 1/2 cup BBQ sauce
olive oil
salt
approximately 16 ounces, weight fresh Mozzarella cheese, sliced thinly
1/2 red onion, sliced very thin

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Salt chicken breasts on both sides, then place in an ovenproof dish. Pour BBQ sauce over the breasts and turn them over to coat. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until chicken is done.

While chicken is baking, stretch out pizza crust. Lay it on a pizza stone drizzled with olive oil. Drizzle a little olive oil on the crust.

Spoon a couple of tablespoons of BBQ sauce on the crust and spread it evenly. Top sauce with half the sliced mozzarella. Sprinkle on thinly sliced red onion.

Remove chicken from oven.  Increase oven temperature to 500 degrees.

Dice the chicken into small cubes.

Top pizza with the cubed chicken, then the rest of the sliced mozzarella.


Bake for 15 to 17 minutes, or until crust is golden brown and toppings are bubbly.

Remove from the oven and let sit for 5 minutes.  Cut into slices and serve immediately.  Enjoy!