BBQ Chicken Pizza On A Whole Wheat Crust

Today is Sunday and that means that I will spend my life poking around on the internet searching for the next great recipe to manipulate while Mr. Schwartz watches 8 games of football at a time.  Don't get me wrong, I really love Sundays but football, not so much.  

But, do you know what I do love?  This whole wheat pizza dough crust.  Simply fantastic.  It is slightly sweet and since it is whole wheat much better for you than the traditional white dough.  Although, I did make this pizza on my birthday and basically canceled everything out with what else, bacon.  

This combination of the sweeter wheat crust with smokey bacon and BBQ sauce, unstoppable.  I'm not sure how the crust would go with a traditional pizza sauce but, it might be worth a try.  I did save half of the crust and I think I will be making it with a cream sauce.  Sounds tasty huh?

So today, make this pizza while your significant other, lovie, roommate, dog watches football today.  I will be researching and whipping up more things to share with you.  

Musical Selection: Deja Vu by: By Beyonce Feat Jay-Z.  Just in honor of their little love child Blue Ivy.

Start by making the crust.  Combine warm water with yeast and let it bloom for about 5 minutes or until it gets frothy.

Meanwhile, combine the flour and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer.  This is pretty essential since my Kitchen Aid made that dough my, well, since my mom reads the blog, "friend."

Add water and

Oil to the yeast/water mixture.

Slowly incorporate the wet ingredients into the dry ones, mixing until combined.

Like this. Let the dough rest for 5 minutes.

After 5 minutes, pop on the dough hook and give it the business.  By that, I mean let it knead the dough for 5-10 minutes or until it looks like....

This.

Spray a large bowl with cooking spray and put the dough into the bowl.

Cover with a dishtowel and allow it to rise for 1.5-2 hours or until it has doubled in size.

And looks like this.  Now you are ready to use the dough.  Like I said, this made quite a bit of dough so we made one large pizza and froze the other half of dough.  I wrapped it in plastic wrap and put it in a zip top bag.  I have not used the dough yet so I'm not 100% sure how it will turn out but I will let you know when I do.

Now that the dough is done, get to work on the pizza.  Chop up some green onions.

And cook the chicken.  I forgot to take a picture of the bacon cooking in Mr. Schwartz's prized kitchen procession: the cast iron skillet.  It really is the only thing in the kitchen that is really his and only his.  He loves it.

But, back to the chicken, I thought it would be a decant birthday treat to cook the chicken in the bacon fat.  Turns out, not that great and the calories/fat increased by this method are still sitting on my thighs.  Just cook the chicken in a frying pan with a drizzle of canola/olive oil.  Then cut it into pieces.

Next work on the BBQ sauce.  We love Sweet Baby Ray's Sweet and Spicy but I wanted to add a little something.

So I grated a little garlic into the sauce.

It was perfect.  Give it a stir and set aside.

 Next, roll out the dough and place it on a pizza peel with a dusting of corn meal on it.  Oh, I love the crunch that corn meal gives to homemade pizzas and calzones.  I think you can do the same thing on a pizza sheet as well.  I cook our pizzas and calzones on a pizza stone.  Probably one of the best things ever. We keep it in our oven at all times and use it as needed.  From what I can gather it hasn't affected the baking I have done at all.  Do it.

Slather on the sauce.

Sauce slathered.

Yep, there is that chicken.  Do not be deceived, this chicken did not taste any better than chicken just cooked in a regular frying pan.

Either way, put the chicken on the slathered sauce.

Top with cheese.

Bacon.

And green onions.

Bake in a preheated 400 degree oven for about 10 minutes or until the cheese is melted and the crust is crispy.

Oh hello birthday lunch.  This pizza is BFF with cold beer.  They have the half heart necklaces to prove it.

Lunch today?

BBQ Chicken Pizza:

1/4 lb bacon
1 chicken breast
1/2 cup BBQ Sauce (Sweet and Spicy Sweet Baby Ray's is our fav)
1 large clove of garlic
3 green onions
1 1/2 mozzerella cheese

Dice the bacon and cook until crispy.  Drain on a plate lined with paper towels. Set aside.

Cook the chicken until no longer pink in the middle. Set aside.

Grate or finely mince the garlic into the BBQ sauce.  Set aside.

Prepare the crust (see recipe below).  Flatten into a pizza shape on a pizza peel sprinkled with cornmeal.  If you don't have a pizza peel, use a large cookie sheet.  Assemble pizza: spread BBQ sauce infused with garlic onto the crust, top with the chicken, add cheese, bacon and green onions.

Bake at 400 for about 10 minutes or until the cheese is melted and the crust is crispy on the bottom.

Enjoy!

Recipe by: Mrs. Schwartz

Whole Wheat Pizza Crust:

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup warm water
• 2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast
• 1 1/4 cups water, at room temperature
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 4 cups whole wheat flour 
• 1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt
• Olive oil or cooking spray for greasing the bowl

Directions:

Place 1/2 cup warm water in a small bowl, add yeast and stir. Let sit for about 5 minutes, or until frothy.  Add to the room temperature water and oil and stir.

Place the flour and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment. Give it a quick mix.  With mixer on low speed, slowly add the liquid ingredients. Mix just until the dough comes together. Let the dough rest for 5 minutes.

Take off the paddle attachment and pop on dough hook. Knead the dough until it becomes smooth and elastic,  for about 5-10 minutes.

Spray a large bowl with cooking spray.  Transfer the dough to the  bowl, cover with a kitchen towel and place in a warm spot. Allow to rise for 1 ½-2 hours, or until doubled in volume. The dough is now ready to be used.  

This makes enough dough for two to three thin crust pizzas.  

Recipe from: Here