Saturday, May 4, 2013

Gourmet Chicken Bacon Ranch Pizza...made at home!

 We have a NEW weekend LOVE!
That of Chicken, Bacon and Ranch Pizza,
 cooked on a baking stone,
it seriously tastes and smells like you're eating at a pizza parlor!  

We love being thrify,
we love making gourmet, yummy things at home 
that replicate something that you would get to eat a yummy restaurant.

While homemade pizza is good, it is still really "hit and miss" with either having too thick of a crust, that is doughy, or too thin of a crust, that is too hard and crunchy.
Well, I have finally worked through things and got the PERFECT crust...
The crust is a dough that you let rise 1-2 hours
you then 
heat a baking stone up in a 500 degree oven for 25-30 minutes 
and those two things make the PERFECT crust 
that is chewy and moist on the inside 
and crunchy on the bottom and the edges.
 I love that since we purchase a $4.88 Rotisserie Chicken each weekend on our Friday night date and the rest of the ingredients are things that we always have on hand,
that our Saturday and or Sunday afternoons contain this yummy pizza on the menu.
While you're making Saturday morning pancakes,  
simply cook 2-3 slices of bacon, 
chop the tomatoes & green onions,
grate the cheese 
and then you have everything ready to go, 
and pull from your fridge when you hit lunch time or dinner time.  
(All you need to do is just mix the dough and let it rise for 1-2 hours time)

Chicken Bacon Ranch Pizza 

(pizza dough...enough for one large pizza)
1/2 cup warm water
1-1/4 teaspoon yeast 
1-1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt 
1 Tbsp. olive oil 
1-1/2 cups unbleached flour 
Mix together water, yeast and sugar in the bowl of a standing mixer and let sit 10 minutes until bubbly.
Then add in salt, olive oil and flour and use dough hook and mix until dough looks nice and smooth.   
Turn up speed to medium and let mix for 5 minutes.
Put dough in a bowl and coat well with oil, cover with plastic wrap and let rise 1-2 hours. 

Pizza Toppings:
1/4 cup Ranch dressing
1-2 cups chopped chicken
2-3 slices bacon cooked and crumbled
1 large tomato diced (or 2 small ones)
3 diced green onions
1/2 cup grated Parmesan or Asiago Cheese
1/2 to 1 cup grated cheese (we like Sharp cheese, but any cheese will do).

How to cook:
Put baking stone in oven and turn temp to 500 degrees.  
Let oven heat up for 30 minutes with the baking stone in the oven.
Cut a piece of parchment paper the same size as the baking stone and  
sprinkle cornmeal on the parchment paper.  
Put pizza dough onto the cornmeal coated parchment paper and work dough out to the edges of the parchment paper, until you have a large circle. (you're welcome to use a rolling pin to do this as well)
NOW put this onto the baking stone
BAKE the pizza dough for 5 minutes.
REMOVE pizza from oven    
top with a thin layer of Ranch dressing then 1/2 cup cheese
then sprinkle evenly the cooked chicken, bacon, tomatoes and green onions.
Lastly top with Parmesan cheese and the rest of the grated cheese.
Bake 10-12 minutes until crust is browned and cheese is melted.  

Slice into 8 pieces, dish up and enjoy the deliciousness of a gourmet pizza for a fraction of the price AND in the comfort of your own home!  
Try making some PIZZA HEAVEN today!
You and your family will be glad you did!  

2 comments:

Melanie said...

Made it today...Yummy!
We usually make this with phyllo dough and sun dried vingarette instead of ranch.

But love ranch!

gigi said...

I can almost smell this right thru my screen! The pictures are so yummy looking!