Serves a Crowd
Thin Crust Buffalo Chicken Pizza
- Makes 2-3 pies
Author Notes
This is a recipe for dough that I have been using for a while, and this pizza is something I came up with to use up leftover chicken (and gorgonzola) from my fridge. I have had buffalo chicken pizzas before, but this was born out of what I had in the fridge one day, and I have continued to make it since then. The original writeup is on my blog, here: http://bit.ly/dutAed —lechef
What You'll Need
Ingredients
- For the Dough
-
1.5 cups
very warm water
-
1
packet yeast
-
2 teaspoons
sugar
-
3.25 cups
unbleached, all-purpose flour (approximate)
-
1 teaspoon
salt
-
2 tablespoons
olive oil
- For the Buffalo Chicken Pizza Topping
-
1/2 cup
Frank's Red Hot, or your favorite hot sauce
-
1
stick salted butter
-
2
chicken breasts, cooked and diced (this is a great use of leftover chicken.)
-
1/2 pound
Fresh Mozzarella, sliced or shredded
-
1/2 cup
gorgonzola
-
2
scallions, whites and greens, chopped
Directions
- For the Dough
- Dissolve the sugar and yeast into the water and allow to stand for 5-10 minutes, until water is foamy and your yeast has activated. Add the salt to your flour and combine. Slowly mix the flour into the yeast-water until you have formed a pliable dough that isn’t too sticky. Getting to know when your dough is the right consistency takes some time, but it should be stretchy, not too hard, but not super sticky, and should be easy to form into a ball.
- Put the oil in the bottom of a clean mixing bowl, and place the dough in the bowl, turning to coat. Place a towel over the dough, leave it in a warm spot and allow to rise for at least an hour, or until it has doubled in size. At this point you can punch the dough down, divide it up, and either go ahead and make pizzas or put them in ziplock bags to freeze. I actually think the dough is even better after it’s been frozen and thawed again, especially for thin crust pizza.
- For the Buffalo Chicken Pizza Topping
- I use a rolling pin for thin crust pizza, which is probably going to make pizza purists groan, but it works for me. On a well-floured surface, roll your dough out to the thickness and size you want. Place it on a baking sheet (or pizza stone, if you have one) sprinkled liberally with flour or cornmeal to prevent sticking. I use a silicone baking sheet, which works wonders. Parchment paper works too.
- In a microwaveable bowl, melt the butter and combine with the hot sauce. Toss chicken pieces in the sauce and add to the rolled out pizza crust. Drizzle extra sauce over the chicken if desired. Top with mozzarella and gorgonzola, then sprinkle with scallions. Bake for 10-12 minutes at 500 degrees. Slice and serve with a side of carrot sticks and celery, so you’ll feel somewhat healthy!
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