Description
Looking for a tasty homemade pizza dough? Well, I’ve got one for you along with a delicious chicken, pesto, fontina and tomato pizza.
Ingredients
Units
Scale
For the dough:
- 1 1/2 cups of bread flour
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1 cup room temp or slightly warm water
- 4 tablespoons olive oil (plus more for brushing dough)
- 1 teaspoon rapid rise (aka fast rise) yeast
Pizza Toppings:
- 15 cherry tomatoes (approx. - depending on size)
- 1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes (plus a little of the oil)
- 1 1/2 cups fontina cheese
- 3/4 cup fresh shredded parmesan cheese
- 3 thin chicken breast cutlets
- salt & pepper as needed (amounts below)
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2-1 tablespoon olive oil for cooking chicken
- 1/4 cup pesto
- 2 tablespoons toasted pine nuts, optional
ITEMS NEEDED: Rolling pin, large cutting board, flour sifter, large sheet pan
NOTE:This makes 4 individual pizzas or two medium-sized pizzas.
Instructions
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Start with the dough. Add yeast, sugar and water to a large bowl. Whisk slightly and gently. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let sit about 10 minutes. It should foam a bit here.
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While the water and yeast is sitting, measure out your flour. We’re sifting the flour, so place your sifter over a bowl to begin. Use a butter knife to level the tops of the measuring cups and push the excess flour back into your flour container or bag. Add salt to the flour.
- When the water/yeast bowl is ready, sift the flour into the bowl. Add 4 tablespoons of olive oil. Mix with a spoon until the dough becomes shaggy. My video shows this well. Once it’s shaggy enough – switch to using your hands. Rub the dough around the bowl to get the bits from the sides.
- Dust your cutting board with a little flour and place dough on your board. Knead the dough for 3-4 minutes. Shape it into a ball. Spray non-stick cooking spray into your bowl. Place dough in bowl and cover in plastic wrap. Let sit in a warm place for 45 minutes.
- While dough sits, shred the fontina and parmesan cheese.
- Cut your cherry tomatoes in half and place on a plate or in a bowl – pulp side up. Season with a light sprinkling of salt and pepper. Probably no more than about 1/8 of a teaspoon each.
- Measure out a ¼ cup of sun dried tomatoes, plus some of the oil from the jar.
- Lay out your thin chicken cutlets on a cutting board. I used the already thin-cut chicken breasts – they were very thin (see video). You can use thicker if you want – will take a bit longer to cook so keep in mind.
- Season one side of the chicken with a light sprinkling of salt and pepper. Again, probably no more than 1/8 of a teaspoon of each.
- Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a pan (high heat) and when it’s hot, add the chicken. Let cook for about 2-3 minutes on first side. My cutlets were so thin they were almost done at 3 minutes. Turn chicken and cook a minute more.
- Transfer chicken to a cutting board and cut into strips. Bite-sized pieces work well here. Set aside.
- If you are using the toasted pine nuts, toast them here. Put in a small sauté pan and heat on low for about 5 minutes, tossing a few times while cooking. They should be golden brown when done. Set aside and let cool.
- Add flour to a clean cutting board and put dough on the board. You can cut the dough into 4 equal pieces to make 4 individual pizzas or cut in half to make two medium sized pizzas. I cut mine in half.
- Take each half and re-shape again to make a more round dough ball. Use your rolling pin and roll up and down the dough. I prefer making oval pizza, but if you want round – go for it. Roll dough until it’s about ¼” in thickness or slightly thinner. You can really make this as thin or thick as you want.
- Once both doughs are rolled out – place them on a large sheet pan. If you don’t have a large enough sheet pan for both – use two sheet pans.
- You can use parchment paper on the sheet pan or not. I found that using parchment paper actually gave the pizza a little bit better of a crisp to the crust.
- Put a few tablespoons of olive oil in a ramekin or small bowl. Brush both sides of the pizza dough with olive oil. Be careful when turning – the dough is delicate.
- Add cheese to both pizzas then the additional toppings. I made one pizza with the cherry tomatoes and one with the sun dried tomatoes.
- Cook pizzas in a preheated over at 475 degrees for about 15-20 minutes. Ovens are different – yours may take a little more or less time. When edges start turning golden brown your pizza is done.
- After pizzas come out of oven, add dollops of pesto to both and sprinkle with toasted pine nuts if using.
- Serve immediately.
Notes
- Ovens are different and yours may take more or less time to cook the pizzas. Just keep your eye on it. When it's golden brown - it's ready.
- My toppings are suggestions. You can use my pizza dough recipe and do whatever you like for toppings.