Spicy Chicken Pizza 11/325

Before the first rise

The Relation

This receipt was submitted by Genie Sullivan and John Gassmann (Gertrude>Henry). They are, respectively, my aunt and uncle. Both of them are huge foodies, and I consider Genie to be a culinary expert on most things. This was the first time I actually called the author of a receipt for a consultation before I embarked on the journey (you can find her expert alterations and suggestions below in the process).

The Process

After the first rise (SO BIG!)

My name is Maddy and before this blog, I had never successfully made a pizza. My dough always ended up too thick or too thin, or there was excess moisture dripping everywhere. Maybe I just hold myself to a higher standard, but pizza is not my strength. Hence why I called Genie before I made this one. She advised me that you can never let the pizza dough rise too long and she often made the dough the night before and let it rise overnight in the fridge. And so, at 11:00 AM, I started making pizza that I would not be eating until 7:00 PM at night.

I substituted the rapid rise yeast with regular yeast (per the author's instructions). Genie also advises that you should add some sort of sugar for the yeast to "munch on," which is where the tablespoon of honey comes in. Once I had my dough prepped, I let rise on the counter for 2 hours. Holy moly, this dough had some height! I was shocked at how huge it had become. Feeling really confident, I punched the dough down with my bare fist. Note: don't do this. The dough will stick to your fist and when you lift your hand up, the whole bowl will come with it. I recommend dusting your fist with a bit of flour before punching. Post-punching, the dough continued to rise in the fridge after that. 

Such chickie precision

Then the dough and I went on a little car ride to take care of some errands on the way to its final destination of consumption. So, I guess I let the dough rise at car-temperature for another hour and a half. And then probably a bit more while we prepped the other ingredients. My sous chef for the evening, Climbing Pal Grant, was in charge of the delicate quarter-inch slicing of chicken, in addition, the shredding and division of cheese (Genie suggested adding pepper jack cheese to this recipe in addition to the fontina and mozz). Note: you can never have enough cheese. 

After all slicing and shredding had been completed, we entirely overcrowded a cast-iron skillet according to the order in the receipt. As I am writing this, I am realizing I absolutely put the wrong ends of the scallops on the pizza (the instructions clearly say to use the white bulbs but I am illiterate and used the green ends). On top of that mistake, we also made a slight alteration in terms of the oil everything was sauteed in. Something about burn temperatures was discussed and we ended up using avocado oil.

Questionable shapes

Making the actual pizzas was more difficult than I thought it would be. Actually, scratch that, it was exactly as difficult as I thought it would be. First, I used a rolling pin dusted with flour, but that didn't seem to be all that effective. Next, I tried stretching it out with my hands, which seemed to be more effective. The pizzas were not traditionally shaped by any means. We laid the pizza on aluminum foil, spread oil (unsure if it was avocado or olive) using a spoon (there was a minor paper towel shortage), and dusted with cornmeal. 10 minutes was perfectly sufficient for bake time and super advantageous since I had been staring at this dough for 9+ hours and would not have been willing to wait a moment more. 

The Feedback

One could definitely argue that a sample size of two does not make a reliable review, but this is what you get. This pizza was fire - delicious crust, excellent flavor, aesthetically pleasing, the whole nine yards. The pepper jack was a truly inspired suggestion. I will say that it was not as spicy as I thought it would be. This is not a criticism whatsoever, as I am not very tolerant of heat, so I was able to really enjoy it (versus just powering through the pain per usual). It was certainly the best homemade pizza I have ever had.

Pizza with a side of aluminum

The Receipt

SPICY CHICKEN PIZZA - CC90

John and Eugenie Gassmann

DOUGH

     1 Tbs honey

     ¼ cup warm water

     1 package rapid rise yeast

     3 cups flour

     1 tsp salt

     ¾ cup cold water

In small bowl mix warm water, honey and yeast. Let rest 3 minutes. Transfer activated yeast mixture to large bowl. Add flour, salt and cold water. Knead dough until it does not stick to your hand. Place dough in well oiled bowl and cover. Let rise 30–45 minutes. Punch down. Let rise again, punch down and roll into 4 small pizzas.

TOPPING

     2 boneless breasts of chicken sliced lengthwise into ¼ inch strips.

          Cut resulting strip in half.

     ½ cup cilantro – fresh – leaves only – no stems

     1 medium jalapeno, minced and deseeded

     4 oz sliced fresh shitake mushrooms

     2 medium scallions – bottom third of scallion only – white bulb – 

          sliced lengthwise

     1 fresh red pepper, thinly sliced

     1 fresh yellow pepper, thinly sliced

Sauté in ¼ cup olive oil in the following order: mushrooms, peppers, scallions and jalapeno, cilantro, chicken. No more that 5 minutes – chicken will further cook during pizza baking. Drain the sautéed mixture and set aside. Grate 4 oz Fontina and 4 oz Mozzarella. Place 4 mini pizzas on 2 cookie sheets, which have been oiled and dusted with corn meal.

Pizza construction: dough, cheese, veggie and chicken mixture, cheese. Bake at 500° degrees for 10 minutes.