Pip's Plate

This is what Keldon and I will be having for dinner tonight. It’s a pretty healthy pizza considering there’s next to no fat in this entire recipe. Use cheese sparingly to keep it healthy. I know it’s hard, but you can do it.

I barely had lunch so I’m getting pretty hungry. I’ve made this pizza many times, but I usually use a prepared crust like Boboli. Well, because it’s Sunday I guess I decided to make my own pizza dough. I’ve done that many times.

But this time… many things went wrong. I had to make the dough three times today. Bah! Talk about a comedy of errors.

This is what I learned today when making your own pizza dough:

1. If you’re using a food processor, make sure all the liquid goes in first. If you put it on top of the 5 1/2 cups of flour, it spills everywhere causing you to start over.
2. If you’re using a food processor, don’t blend the ingredients for 2 minutes like I did. It gets sort of soupy and becomes beyond repair. Instead, pulse 2 or 3 times … or until it forms into a ball.
3. Have several dough recipes on hand in case the first or second just doesn’t work out.
4. Have plenty of flour and yeast on hand for times such as today.

But, alas, I finally got it on the third try.

Barbecue Chicken Pizza
makes: 8 slices

Ingredients
1 pizza dough (either purchased or made from scratch – see below for recipe)
1/4 cup of your favorite BBQ sauce (I love love love Kowalski’s brand – a local Twin Cities grocery store)
1/4 small red onion sliced
1/2 pound hormone-free skinless, boneless chicken breasts: cooked & cubed OR you can pull it
1/4 cup sliced pickled peperoncinis
1/2 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

2. Put your pizza dough on a baking sheet (stoneware is preferred). If you’re using your own pizza dough or a refrigerated dough, roll it out to the shape you desire (circle, rectangle, etc.)

3. Spread the BBQ sauce evenly over the dough to about 1/2-inch to the end. If you like your pizza saucy, go ahead and add some more.

4. Top the pizza with chicken, onion, peperoncini, and cheese.

5. If you’re using fresh pizza dough, bake pizza for about 18-20 minutes or until the edges of the crust are lightly brown and the cheese is bubbly.

If you’re using store-bought par-baked pizza crust (such as Boboli), bake pizza for 10-13 minutes or until cheese is lightly brown and bubbly.

Serve this with a Greek salad of mixed greens, feta, kalamata olives, cucumber, and lemon/olive oil vinaigrette.

Pizza Dough Recipe
makes enough dough for 1 pizza

Ingredients
1/2 teaspoon dry active yeast
1/4 cup hot water (not boiling)
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon olive oil
3 – 4 Tablespoons water

Directions
1. Mix yeast and hot water in a small bowl until the yeast dissolves – about 2 minutes.

2. Combine flour, salt, sugar, and olive oil in a medium bowl. Add yeast mixture and stir the mixture with a wooden spoon. Add additional water by the tablespoon as needed. The dough should be sticky, but it should form into a ball and want to stick to itself (it gets a little grabby).

3. When the dough is completely sticking to itself, put it on a clean dry surface sprinkled with flour. Knead the dough for about 2-3 minutes or until the dough is elastic.

4. Coat a glass bowl with olive oil, put the ball of dough in the bowl and turn it over so all surfaces are covered in oil. Put a kitchen towel over the bowl and let it rise for 1 hour. Punch it down, and your dough is ready to be pizzafied!