BBQ Chicken Homemade Pizza

Friday night is my night to cook, so this week I thought I'd throw out the store bought pizza bases and canned tomato paste and make my very own pizzas ... from scratch! Surprisingly, making you own pizza dough and Italian tomato sauce is not as hard as it sounds. All you need is a little patience and some good music to knead along to! 

Ingredients:

Pizza dough: 
3/4cup warm water, 3/4 tsp instant dry yeast, 1/2 tsp sugar, 1 1/2cup plain flour, 1/8 tsp baking soda, 1/8 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt & 2 tbsp olive oil.

Pizza sauce: 
1 tbsp olive oil, 1 large garlic clove (thinly sliced), 400g can diced tomatoes, 1 tsp salt, 2 tsp herbs (oregano, parsley & basil work best!)

Toppings:
4 slices ham + 6 rashers of bacon + 2 good handfuls of BBQ chicken, BBQ sauce (... smokey BBQ is my family's favourite!) & Mozzarella cheese 
(of course!)

Method:
* I like to make the dough & sauce in advance to save prep time.

To make the dough:

1. In a small bowl - combine water, yeast & sugar. Stir mixture to dissolve & set aside.

2. In a larger bowl - combine flour, baking soda, baking powder & salt.
3. Stir in the yeast mixture & olive oil.
4. Knead mixture for a couple of minutes until dough is combined and nice & elastic (if you find the mixture is too wet add a little more flour).
5. Lightly oil a bowl & place dough inside. Cover with cling wrap & allow to rise in a draught-free area for 2 hours.

To make the sauce:

1. Heat oil in a saucepan & add garlic. Cook until garlic starts to brown (1-2mins). Discard garlic but keep oil in saucepan.

2. Add can of tomatoes, stirring over a med-low heat until thick.

3. Add salt & stir to combine.

4. Remove tomato mixture from heat & allow to cool.

5. Stir in herbs.

6. Blend with a stick blender until mixture is smooth.

7. Allow to cool before spreading over pizza base.

To make the pizza:

1. Dust your work space with a little plain flour & roll out your pre prepared pizza dough. Try to roll it out into a nice round circle - I find that this is easiest to achieve when you roll out the dough a little, rotate the dough, roll out some more, rotate again. By spinning the dough it is easier to form a round circle rather than just trying to roll it out in the one go.

2. Transfer your pizza base to a lined tray.

3. Cook at 190C for 5-6mins.

4. While the base is cooking, dice your bacon rashers up and place in an hot, oiled sauce pan. Cook until bacon bits are nice & crispy.

5. Once base has been cooked, dollop a large amount of pizza sauce on the base & spread out using the bottom of a spoon. Make sure to keep a small border around the pizza base free from sauce to form a nice crunchy crust.

6. Layer your ham on the bottom first, adding crunchy bacon bits on second, then pile the BBQ chicken on last. 

7. Squirt BBQ sauce onto the pizza, using as much as you like (personally, I found the chicken got a little dry if you only use a small amount of BBQ sauce, so pile it on!).

8. Top with mozzarella cheese and bake in the oven at 190C for another 10-12 mins. You will know the pizza is ready when the cheese is golden brown & the base is crunchy to touch. 

The verdict??

SO much yummier (& healthier) than store bought pizza! Now I know how good homemade pizza tastes, I don't think I'd ever go back!