No Effort Buffalo Chicken Pizza

My bread maker has been the catalyst for my absolute obsession with making homemade pizza lately.  Like at least once every single week.  Though my husband and son prefer it, I can only do so many pepperoni and cheese pizzas before I need a little change-up.  One of my first out of the ordinary pizza experiments was my seasonal and fresh Peach, Basil, and Caramelized Onion Homemade Pizza.  But now with football season upon us, I think this calls for the combination of two of everyone's favorite tailgate foods into one delicious creation- a Buffalo Chicken Pizza.  

This recipe is incredibly easy.  I let my Crock Pot and my bread maker do ALL the heavy lifting for this one.  Yes, for most of the actual cook time of this recipe I sat on my butt playing on Pinterest or chasing my daughter around the living room.  Note:  I was NOT in the kitchen. ;)

If you plan on making this for game day, I would suggest making the chicken in the Crock Pot the day before.  You can cut up the chicken the evening before game day morning, and store it in the fridge.  Or, you could go the SUPER easy route and just pick up a rotisserie chicken from the store, but by making your own in the Crock Pot you can save money (and salt, and preservatives, and calories ;) ). 

For my quick recipe for "roasted" chicken in the Crock Pot, CLICK HERE.

What you will need:

For the crust-

1 cup of warm water

2 tbsp of olive oil

1 tbsp of honey

3/4 tsp salt

2 cups white flour

1 cup wheat flour

2 tsp active dry yeast

1-2 tbsp of cornmeal for dusting 

* I adapted my pizza dough recipe from the one found HERE.

About 1 lb (one large breast) of chicken, chopped

1 cup (maybe a bit more depending on your preference) of prepared Buffalo sauce

1/2 cup of blue cheese crumbles

1 cup of shredded mozzarella

1/2 of red onion, thinly sliced (optional)

1 jalapeno pepper, thinly sliced (optional)

After your chicken is finished roasting and as you are allowing it to cool before chopping, go ahead and start your pizza dough in your bread maker.  Add wet ingredients and then dry ingredients in the order I have them listed above.  Set your bread maker to the Dough setting and then just walk away.  My bread maker takes about 1 hour and 20 minutes to mix, knead, and raise the dough.  

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.  Once your pizza dough is finished in the bread maker, take it out and dust it lightly with cornmeal.  Spread out the dough in a pan or on a pizza stone.  I usually lightly grease my pan to prevent any sticking.  In a small bowl, mix together your chopped chicken and Buffalo sauce.  We use an already prepared sauce that is made by a local vendor.  You can use your favorite wing sauce, or make your own.  I am using jarred because, A. This is No Effort Buffalo Chicken pizza. and B. We love this locally made wing sauce.

Spread the chicken and sauce mixture evenly over your crust.  If you have opted to add the red onions and/or jalapeno, toss those on now.  Now sprinkle on the mozzarella and blue cheese.  Bake at 425 for about 20 minutes.  I suggest that at 10 minutes you rotate the pan.  When the crust is slightly golden and the cheese is all bubbly, your pizza is probably ready to take out of the oven.  Let it cool slightly before cutting and serving.

I serve our Buffalo Chicken Pizza with a side of Ranch.  You could also serve it along side some blue cheese dressing and celery sticks.  This recipe makes six very large slices or 8 medium sized slices.

Peach, Basil, & Caramelized Onion Homemade Pizza

It is prime peach season around here.  The local farmers markets stands are starting to brim with bags and bushels of the juicy fruit.  Lately, I have had an obsession with making homemade pizza.  I blame my nifty little bread maker and how incredibly easy it has made it for me to make pizza dough from scratch at home.  I love just dumping in the ingredients and then walking away for about an hour and a half. ;)  So combine my new found love of from scratch pizza and the seasonal freshness of local peaches, and you will find my inspiration for my Peach, Basil, & Caramelized Onion Homemade Pizza.  Plus, I needed an excuse to do something fun with the peach white balsamic vinegar I got in my June Foodie Penpals package. ;)

What you will need:

For the crust-

1 cup of warm water

2 tbsp of olive oil

1 tbsp of honey

3/4 tsp salt

2 cups white flour

1 cup wheat flour

2 tsp active dry yeast

1-2 tbsp of cornmeal for dusting 

* I adapted my pizza dough recipe from the one found HERE.

1/2 large onion, thinly sliced

1 tbsp of olive oil, then 2-3 more tbsp to brush on the dough later

1 tbsp butter

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp of sugar

3/4 cup peach balsamic vinegar (regular balsamic vinegar can be used as well)

1/2 cup of fresh basil leaves, thinly sliced

1 large peach, pitted and sliced thinly

8 oz of fresh mozzarella, sliced

Start your dough in the bread maker about an hour before you are wanting to start putting together the toppings for your pizza.  Make sure you dump in the wet ingredients, then the dry ingredients just like in the order that I have them listed above.  Set your bread maker to the Dough setting and let it go! :)

When your bread maker has about a half hour left on it for your dough, go ahead and start the toppings for the pizza.  Heat the olive oil and butter in a small frying pan over medium heat.  Once butter is melted, add your thinly sliced onions.  Let the onions hang out, mixing and turning them occasionally.  Do not raise the heat above medium because you think it will make them cook faster.  You are wanting them to caramelize and get sweet and get brown.  But you do not want them burnt.  This should take about 15-20 minutes total to happen.  After they have cooked for about 10 minutes, add the sugar and salt to the onions and continue to cook.

While the onions are cooking down, slice your peaches.

In the end, this is what your caramelized onions should look like.  Nice color, huh? ;)

After you have sliced your peaches and while the onions are still caramelizing, start your balsamic reduction.  The reduction is pretty easy to make, but you need to make sure to stir and check it often so it doe not reduce too much and become too thick.  Just heat the vinegar over medium heat, allowing it to come to a boil and stirring often.  Keep checking it and stirring until it is reduced down to about a 1/3 of a cup.  Next slice your fresh mozzarella into about 1/4 inch slices.

Once the dough is ready, take it out of the bread maker and dust it with the cornmeal.  Work it onto a smaller baking sheet or a pizza stone or pan.  Brush the crust with the olive oil.  Then add your mozzarella, peaches, and caramelized onions.  Drizzle the whole thing with your balsamic reduction.  You will bake your pizza at 425 degrees for approximately 20 minutes.  When there is about 5 minutes left in the baking time, sprinkle your sliced basil leaves over the top and continue baking it for the last few minutes.

I really love this pizza for it's combination of sweet and savory.  It is a nice change of pace from our usual red sauce, pepperoni, and cheese.  And you cannot beat the freshness of the peaches and basil this time of year.  :)