Oh my, pizza pie!
My sisters and I learned to make pizza from our mom, who had Italian neighbors as a child and visited the pizzerias in New York as an adult. As a child, she developed such an affinity for the neighbor’s cooking, that she tried to hang around just about dinner time to finagle an invite. Evidently, her friend’s parents only spoke broken English, but Mom could still understand she was wearing out her welcome. Mom’s first taste of pizza was on Coney Island when she was 16; the experience is still fresh in her mind even now at 81. She later learned to make pizza from her sister who lived in New York for many years.
She brought her love for Italian food and pizza with her to our farm in Missouri. Making pizza became a Christmas tradition, a special time for family and friends. Everyone loved Mom’s pizza so much, there was the usual chatter at the table about how she should open a pizzeria, but she was happy to host an annual feast in her kitchen of 8 or 10 custom pies. Guests were easily beguiled by the flavors, over indulging, unaware of the “swell” that can follow pizza eaten too fast with a soda chaser. One year, my sister’s boyfriend ate so much he got sick, unwilling to heed the warning and pace himself. Like I said, everyone loved Mom’s pizza.
As we got older, we could do more than grate cheese, so we learned to make the dough by hand, mix the sauce, and eventually make the pizza at every step. Although the topping combinations changed, certain things were consistent, important to my enjoyment of pizza to this day. Regardless of toppings, each pizza was finished with Romano cheese, oregano, and a drizzle of olive oil. A sprinkle of Parmesan was fine at the table, but a generous handful of Romano crowned the pies like a delicate halo, bringing the pizza to life.
Over time, our favorites expanded beyond sausage and pepperoni or regular white flour crust to include gourmet toppings and crusts made with no flour at all. That’s one of the things I love about pizza, it is so easy to customize. This series is inspired by my mother’s lessons all those years ago, mixed with my own creativity into a virtual pizza feast, Five Pies in Five Days—a collection of pies just for my on-line friends. You are welcome to join-in with a link to your own pizza recipe—feel free to do so in the comments, or just chime-in with your favorite topping combinations.
The first pizza in this series is BBQ Chicken Pizza. This is a family favorite as well as a friend, neighbor, and just about anybody walking down the street favorite. I’ve had this type of pizza a number of times in restaurants and in my opinion, it’s never quite right. Too often the sauce is so strong it overpowers everything or there seems to be a cilantro shortage because there is barely enough to land on every slice. I think you’ll like how these flavors complement, yet allow each one to remain distinct. A mild tomato-barbeque sauce, tender chicken, smoky bacon, creamy Jack cheese, a hint of red onion, and fresh cilantro is a blend of hearty, satisfying flavors your family will ask for again and again.
Ingredients
- 4 slices bacon -- cooked and crumbled
- 2/3 cup tomato sauce
- 1/3 cup barbecue sauce
- 1/2 cup red onion -- sliced thin
- 2 whole grilled chicken breast -- chopped
- 1 cup fresh cilantro -- coarsely chopped
- 6 cups Monterey Jack cheese -- shredded
Instructions
- Make pizza dough or use a preformed crust. Salt and pepper chicken breasts and drizzle with olive oil. Refrigerate chicken for at least 6 hours, or salt and pepper just before grilling. Using a gas grill, cook chicken over medium-low heat for 4-5 minutes on each side until cooked through. Allow chicken to rest after grilling for 10-12 minutes; chop into bite-size pieces.
- Pre-heat oven to 450°. Roll out pizza dough into desired shape and size. Pre-bake pizza crust alone until set but not browned, about 6-8 minutes - this will make the crust easier to handle and crispier when cooked. Preformed pizza crusts will not need to be prebaked.
- Mix tomato sauce with barbecue sauce (more of either can be added, to taste). Spread approximately 1/2 cup of sauce over pizza crust with the back of a spoon to thinly cover the crust, as desired.
- For a medium-size (14-16") pizza crust: Sprinkle 3 cups of cheese, 1 cup of chicken, 1/4 cup of onion, half the crumbled bacon, and 1/3 cup of cilantro on top of sauce per pizza.
- Bake at 450° for 12-15 minutes until the crust is browned and the cheese is melted and bubbly.
Notes
This recipe makes 2 medium pizzas that can easily be frozen once all the toppings are placed and baked at a later time. To freeze, wrap with plastic wrap and then with aluminum foil. Freeze until ready to bake, do not thaw to bake.
There is a wide range of opinions about pizza crust—thin, hand-tossed, pan pizza, low-carb, gluten-free—we will highlight several of these throughout the week. One thing I think we can all agree on is, the crust is important, so choose the one that you fancy the most and go with it. At our house, we avoid using white flour, so this pizza is shown with a hand-tossed, sprouted wheat crust. Of course, you can always make it with whatever flour you choose, or check out this pizza crust recipe too. Either way, I recommend using a seasoned pizza stone or dark pan for pizza, shiny or light colored pans do not allow the crust to reach the desired golden brown color or crispness.
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
- 1 cup warm water (110°)
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 1/2 - 3 cups sprouted wheat flour
Instructions
- In a large bowl or in the bowl of a stand mixer, sprinkle yeast over warm water and honey. Let stand for 5 minutes to soften.
- Stir in olive oil, then add salt and 1 1/2 cup of the flour. With a large spoon or mixer, mix until dough is elastic, about 5 minutes. Let dough rest 20 minutes.
- Mix-in remaining flour 1/2 cup at a time until dough forms a soft ball of dough. Although the dough will be more shaggy than regular white flour dough, if it appears to be too soft or won't hold its shape, add 1/4 cup more flour.
- Place in a greased bowl; turn dough to grease top. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about an hour.
- Roll into desire shape or press into pan for pizza.
Notes
In order to create a more crisp texture, pre-bake the crust 5-6 minutes before topping, then top and bake as directed. This crust can also be pre-baked and frozen for future use. Bake 5-6 minutes at 450° until dough is set, but not browned. Let cool completely on wire racks, then cover completely with plastic wrap. If you can't lay the crust on a flat shelf, wrap a piece of cardboard with aluminum foil and lay the pizza on the cardboard for support before wrapping with plastic wrap. When ready to prepare the pizza, place the pre-baked crust on a pizza pan, add toppings, and bake.
Shared on the following Blog Hops:
Hearth & Soul Hop
Real Food Forager Fat Tuesday
Mom Trends Friday Food
Real Food Whole Health Fresh Bites Friday
Wow, I will definitely follow this series. That pizza looks so good, that cheese makes it even more tempting
Raymund recently posted..Guest Post : Geni from Sweet & Crumby featuring Slightly Tipsy Cherry Chocolate Brownies
For our birthdays, we always got to choose the supper menu. I ALWAYS asked for pizza so I’m delighted to see this series! You’re first pizza is a great start! Love it!
mjskit recently posted..Salted Pecan Chocolate Ice Cream
This is such an important series of recipes for you.. how precious are our childhood memories of food. Your gram sounds like such a lovely lady and how awesome is it that she brought pizza of all things to a farm in the Missouri.. I love that! xx
Just A Smidgen recently posted..Lost Words…
Any tradition that includes eating pizza is one I fully support!! Love addition of bacon to this pie Judy and am looking forward to all five recipes.
Jed Gray (sportsglutton) recently posted..Monday Morning Humor
I can so identify with your Mom. As a boy, depending upon what was being fixed for dinner, I would “hang around” my Zia’s kitchen hoping for an invite. This series will be a winner, for sure, especially if the next 4 are anything like today’s recipe. Cannot wait to see what’s next, Judy!
ChgoJohn recently posted..Hey, Bella! I’ve got Mozzarella!
Wow, that’ looks divine! The only chicken pizza I’ve ever made was chicken-bacon-ranch.
I can’t wait to try BBQ chicken!
This pizza looks amazing! I can’t wait to give this a try on a gluten-free crust.
Alea recently posted..How to Batch Grill Chicken with Different Marinades
This looks delicious! I love to make pizza as well. Oddly enough, I’ve never made or eaten BBQ chicken pizza but I hear about it all the time. I really need to give this a try. By the way, I featured your recipe on my top 5 today. Also, I’m glad you’re doing ok after all of that fire madness that was happening.
Elsa recently posted..Hearth and Soul with Elsa Cooks 7/17