Recipe #7 - Quick & Easy Pizza Crust

How can this be only recipe #7?!?! I feel like I have been cooking my little heart out since The Resolution started. Oh, well - on to my latest kitchen adventure.

This is the BEST new thing I have made so far. The pizza crust is the new recipe. The topping is something I sort of made up loosely based on a fabulous Southwest Chicken Calzone that Old Chicago had on their menu for awhile. We usually use the chicken mixture for quesadilla or fajita filling.

I thought this pizza crust recipe was too good to be true - pizza dough that does not have to sit and rise. I was wrong. I found this recipe posted on I'm An Organizing Junkie's blog. Here it is:


QUICK & EASY PIZZA CRUST

Table of Contents:
1 Tbsp. active dry yeast (I used rapid rise - it's what I had)
1 cup warm water (105-115 degrees F)
1 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
2 1/2 cups flour

How To:
Dissolve yeast and sugar in water and mix well. I let it sit and proof for about 10 minutes. Add rest of ingredients in and mix. Dump onto a floured surface. Knead into a smooth dough - about 5 minutes. (I let my Kitchen Aid do this task for me - love it!!) Roll out and press down onto a greased pizza pan. (I used a 12-inch pan.) Add sauce and toppings. Bake at 450 degrees F for about 12-15 minutes, or until crust looks crispy and lightly browned.

The Outcome:
The dough had pulled away from the sides of the mixing bowl and looked like great dough. But when I pulled it out, it was so soft and sticky, I thought I had messed something up. I shaped the sticky goo into a ball and set it on the counter and let it "rest" for about 10 minutes while I got sidetracked doing something else. When I came back, it was the most fabulous, easy to work with dough. I rolled it out and put it in the pan and it looked beautiful.

Now here's my recipe for the topping. I'm going to call it:

SOUTHWEST BBQ CHICKEN PIZZA

Table of Contents:
1 large onion, diced
1Tbsp EVOO
1 - 2 tsp. brown sugar
6 oz. chicken (Remember all of that chicken I cooked & froze in meal-size bags? Yeah, baby!!)
Cayenne Pepper to taste
1/4 - 1/2 cup BBQ Sauce (I used KC Masterpiece Hickory Brown Sugar)
1/2 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 can corn, drained
1 red pepper, thinly sliced
1/2 cup Mexican Fiesta blend cheese

(I got so excited about this that I forgot to take pics of the contents!)

How To:
Heat oil over medium-high heat, add onions and saute until soft and starting to brown, approx 5 minutes; add brown sugar and continue to stir over medium heat until caramelized. (I understand that onions will caramelize naturally if you let them cook for 30-40 minutes. I'm not standing over steaming onions for that long. The brown sugar works beautifully.) Add chicken and season to taste with cayenne pepper (we like it a bit spicy!) Add BBQ sauce and let simmer a couple of minutes to blend flavors.

Spread a thin layer of BBQ sauce over prepared crust. Top with chicken and onion mixture; layer corn, beans, and red peppers; top with cheese.

Bake 12-15 minutes at 450 degrees F.

The Outcome:
This was so fantastic it took all the willpower I could muster to not go back for a second piece. (Mark did have a second piece, following his first BIG piece, and has dibs on the leftovers for lunch today!) The crust was gorgeous - thick and golden. In fact, it was so thick, I was afraid it might be doughy inside. It was not. The crust was golden on crunchy on the outside and soft and melt-in-your-mouth wonderful inside. And the topping was oh, sooooo good!

I can hardly wait to make pizza again, maybe next time with an Alfredo chicken type topping. Perhaps that will be Recipe #8!