California BBQ Copycat Pizza

"The International Food Challenge" (IFC) for the month of May explored North American -California Cuisine ,which is a brainchild of  both Saraswathy Tharagaram of Saras Yummy Bites and Shobana of Kitchen Secret And Snippets .IFC is a monthly event and for those who are interested to join by all means click any of the hosts links and be a member !

The host for the month of May was Joanne T Ferguson – of What’s On The List (http://whatsonthelist.net), a passionate cook, a person who tries variety of cuisine. Do hop to her blog and check out her wonderful recipes ! There were four beautiful dishes to choose from, Vegan California Sushi Roll,California Avocado Egg Rolls,Croque Monsieur Sandwich and  California Pizza Kitchen BBQ Pizza Copycat .I had decided upon preparing the Copycat Pizza !

Serves 4 ~ 6

Make crust one day before you plan to make the pizza.

Ingredients:

For Crust:

1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon warm water (105 - 115F)

3/4 teaspoon yeast

1 teaspoon sugar

1 cup bread flour/I used Farina 00 flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 tablespoon olive oil

Toppings

1 boneless, skinless chicken breast half, cut into bite-sized pieces

1/2 cup BBQ Sauce or normal tomato sauce 

( I used Hunt's Hickory and Brown Sugar BBQ Sauce) 

1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil

1 cup shredded Mozzarella

1/2 cup grated Gouda cheese (preferably smoked)(I used red cheddar cheese)

1/2 cup sliced red onion

2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh cilantro

Pepper and salt to taste

Instructions

Crust:

1.In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, combine water, yeast and sugar. Let sit for 5 minutes, until the yeast starts to foam. Add flour, salt and olive oil and mix until dough comes together. Knead 10 minutes. Place dough in a greased bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover and let rise for 2 hours. Place in refrigerator overnight.

2.Remove dough from refrigerator one to two hours before making pizza, allowing it to come to room temperature.

Pizza:

1. Place chicken in a bowl with 1/4 cup BBQ sauce. Cover and let marinate for 2 hours.

2. Place pizza stone in oven and preheat oven to 450F for 30 minutes.

3. Saute chicken over medium heat until cooked through and no longer pink, 7-8 minutes. Set aside.

4.Sprinkle countertop with cornmeal and roll out pizza dough into a circle 10-inches in diameter. Spread remaining 1/4 cup BBQ sauce on dough. Sprinkle half mozzarella cheese and cheddar cheese/gouda over BBQ sauce. Top with chicken, red onion and remaining mozzarella. Transfer pizza to oven and bake for 10-12 minutes, or until golden brown. Top with cilantro.

Note: Dried yeast comes in 2 basic varieties: instant and active dry. If you have instant yeast, there is no need to activate the yeast ,just mix it in with your dry ingredients. If you have active dry yeast, it helps to activate the yeast first. As I used instance , I added it to the dry ingredients.
The pizza was really scrumptious, yummylicious , and one can vary the ingredients as per preferences. The pastry dough was soft. 

                                                          

Adapted from http://relish.com/recipes/california-pizza-kitchen-bbq-pizza-copycat/

This recipe is being submitted to
Create with Joy - Inspire Me Monday Week 126