It's Pizza Night!

Do you have pizza night at your house?  We do and it's usually on Fridays.  I've learned to make good pizza dough and sauce, and we're happy with just about any combination of toppings.  I shared one of my favorite meatless meals, a margarita pizza here, along with a recipe for a basic sauce and dough.  When I was in Utah, I had pizza with Jeannee and picked up her recipe for BBQ Chicken Pizza.  Man, oh man, is it good!!  She makes her pizza dough with a mixture of cooked grains added into the flour and I loved the texture and taste.  I came right home and tried it myself and was pleased with the way it turned out.  The pictures below were taken in Jeannee's kitchen.  While watching her make pizza, I picked up some good tips and a wish list for a few things that might make my pizza a little better.  I hope to get a pizza peel and baking stone, along with those cool parchment paper sheets that she used. Parchment paper that doesn't roll up while you're trying to use it is a brilliant idea!

Here's her recipe for pizza dough which she mixes in her Bosch bread machine.  You could mix it by hand if you didn't have a machine.  She cooks the grains in a crock pot for a few hours (cover grains with a couple inches of water), until they are tender, cooking a good amount and freezing what she doesn't use.  Then it's easy to pull the grains out of the freezer, defrost and add to your dough whenever you're ready to make pizza or hamburger buns.  What?  I didn't tell you she makes her own hamburger buns too?  Yep.  They're amazing!  That's the next baking project I'm going to undertake.

Pizza Dough

In a bread mixer:

1 1/2 cups warm water

1 1/2 T. honey or sugar

1/2 T. dough enhancer (optional)

3/4 cup cooked cracked grains (any combination of kamut, oat groats,

wheat, whole millet, quinoa, etc.)

1 1/2 cup flour

1 T. yeast

Mix well.  It will be a little runny. 

 Let it sit and sponge for 10-15 minutes and then pulse to release air.

Add:

2 T. olive oil

1 cup flour

On top of flour add: 1 t. salt

Mix and knead.  Add flour a little at a time while mixer is kneading

until the dough pulls away and cleans the sides and bottom of mixing bowl.

Knead for 10-15 minutes.  Form into a ball.  Oil top of ball if you want and

let it relax for 5-10 minutes.  Place on a piece of parchment paper and roll

to desired size and thickness.  Let it rise a bit, then put toppings on.  

Bake pizza at 450- 500 degrees on oven stone for about 10 minutes.

While the dough is resting, she prepared the toppings.  She grilled a chicken breast and then diced it into pieces.  Planning ahead, you could cook extra chicken earlier in the week and save it for a pizza topping.  Using her favorite bottled BBQ sauce, she coated the chicken pieces and then thinned the sauce with pineapple juice until it was a nice consistency for spreading.

Next, she added sliced onions,

 pineapple chunks

and mozzerella cheese, with some dried herbs on top.

See how she assembled the pizza on the pizza peel.  Then it was ready to slide right onto the baking stone in a really hot oven.

The kitchen began to smell insanely delicious and in fifteen minutes we were ready to eat.  Oh. My. Gosh!  I'm telling you, this pizza rocked!  When I made this at home, the only change I made was to add some red pepper that I had in the fridge that needed to be used.  It's a winner, folks. Try it for yourself.  I think you'll love it and it beats" take out" pizza hands down.  Learning to make your own pizza is a good skill to acquire, as it can save a lot of money and you have total quality control.  Making pizza isn't just cooking dinner, it's an event, that's great fun with friends and family.