Tonight's Dinner: Barbecued Chicken Pizza

I wanted to do something special for my son. He is going off to Karate Camp tomorrow night and will be away for a week. When he returns, he will most likely be a Brown Belt (if he tests well).

So, I made my favorite pizza dough recipe (not able to publish it as it is a friends family recipe and she has asked me not to do that) - but I do one thing to her dough that I can repeat - I had 1/4 cup of white wine! Yes, wine to the dough. Mario Batali has a recipe in his latest book Italian Grill with wine in it. I tried it the last time I made the dough and loved it so now I add it. I also sub 1/4 cup of semolina flour and 1/4 cup of pizza flour (a flour my husband gets for me in the Bronx at a pizza place on Arthur Avenue) for 1/2 cup of the all purpose flour. It is phenomenal pizza dough.

Anyway, I made the dough earlier in the afternoon, let it rest in my giant Fiestaware bowl (I got it at the outlet store outside of Charleston WV) and then I stretched it to fit the pizza pan.

Anyway, here is what I did:

 *  Exported from  MasterCook  *

                         Barbecued Chicken Pizza

Recipe By     : adapted from Food Writers Favorites - Grilling
Serving Size  : 8    Preparation Time :0:00
Categories    : Pizza

  Amount  Measure       Ingredient -- Preparation Method
--------  ------------  --------------------------------
   1      recipe        pizza dough
     1/4  cup           Stubb's Barbecue Sauce -- or your favorite
   1      lb            fresh mozzarella -- * see note
   1 1/2  cups          cooked chicken -- shredded
   1      ts            Penzey's Tuscan Sunset seasoning -- ** see note
                        salt and pepper -- to taste

If doing this outside on the grill, make sure you have a large enough grill to hold a 14 inch pizza pan. When coals are red, distribute them around periphery of grill. Place grill rack in top postion.

While coals are heating up, spray a 14" metal pizza pan with nonstick cooking spray. Stretch pizza dough to fit pan. Use a rubber spatula to spread barbecue sauce evenly on dough. Sprinkle with chicken and then cheese. Sprinkle with tuscan seasoning, salt and pepper.

Place pizza on grill rack. Cover, leaving top and bottom vents open. Cook 20 minutes, or until pizza crust is golden and cheese is bubbly in the center. Remove from grill. Slide pizza from pan onto a cutting board. Cut into 8 pieces.

If not using grill, do the same thing to spread the pizza crust, the sauce etc. Just put it in a hot oven, 450 or higher, and cook for 10 minutes or less until cheese is bubbling and crust is golden brown on the bottom.***

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NOTES : Risa's notes:

* I used a whole container of bocconcini (small mozzarella balls) that I shredded. Use the finest mozzarella you can get your hands on.
** If you don't have Penzeys Tuscan Sunset, use Italian seasoning.
*** You need the hottest oven temperature that you have. Preheat it for 20 minutes at least to make sure it is raging hot. You are trying to copy the heat of a pizza oven which can be as hot as 800 degrees or more. If doing this on the actual grill, you have no problem with temperature. If doing it in the oven, most ovens do not get as hot as a grill or a pizza oven. Using a pizza stone is a way of getting a much hotter and golden crust. I recommend it.

RisaG