Shredded Chicken Pizza/Homemade Pizza Dough

Home made pizza crust is so much easier than you think. This recipe brings you the best pizza crust which is soft and porous, giving the perfect crust on the edges. When i had some chicken left on the fridge,all i wanted to do was shred them into bite sized pieces and make a pizza topping. And finally when i made this version of shredded chicken pizza it was a hit at home. It was so fresh, carried all the flavours, and extremely delicious. This recipe would give two medium sized pizzas.

Ingredients

For Pizza Dough

All Purpose flour 3 & 1/2 cups

Instant yeast 2 &1/4 teaspoon

Sugar 1 tablespoon

Salt 3/4 teaspoon

Olive oil or any neutral flavored oil 2 tablespoons

Luke Warm Water 1 & 1/3 cup

For Pizza Sauce

Tomatoes 4 or 5

Garlic cloves 6 to 7 finely chopped

Tomato sauce 1 tablespoon

Pizza seasoning or Italian seasoning 1 teaspoon (mixture of all dry herbs)

Pepper powder 1/4 teaspoon

Chilli powder or paprika 1/4 teaspoon

Sugar 1 teaspoon

Oil 2 tablespoon

Salt as needed

For Pizza topping

Cooked and Shredded chicken 1 cup

Ginger Garlic paste 1 teaspoon

Chilli powder 1/2 teaspoon

Pepper powder 1/4 teaspoon

Onion 1 cut into cubes

Oil 2 tablespoons

Mozzarella cheese 1/2 cup shredded

Italian seasoning 1 teaspoon

Red chilli flakes 2 teaspoons

Salt as needed

How to start?

Lets start making the pizza dough. Take luke warm water, add sugar and mix it well. Let it dissolve. Once the sugar gets dissolved add yeast and set aside for 2 minutes. If using dry yeast, add 4 teaspoons of yeast and allow it to proof for 10 minutes.

Take all purpose flour in a wide bowl, add salt. Mix well. Now add the yeast mixture to the flour and start kneading the dough for at least 8 minutes. Add water if needed. The dough should be soft and pliable, not very sticky. Apply oil over the dough, cover it with a damp cloth and let it rest for 2 hours until the dough gets risen double the amount.

Meanwhile lets prepare pizza sauce. Take the tomatoes in the blender and grind it. Heat a pan with oil, add the chopped garlic, once the garlic gets fried, add the ground tomato puree. Close it with a lid and let it get cooked for at least 10 minutes until the raw smell goes off. After 10 minutes open the lid, add tomato ketchup, sugar, salt, chilli powder, pepper powder and Italian seasoning. Let it get cooked until it reaches the sauce consistency. Set aside and let it cool.

And now for the pizza topping, heat a kadai with oil, add the ginger garlic paste and shredded chicken and fry it on medium high flame for 5 minutes.Add pepper powder, red chilli powder. and salt. Let the chicken get nicely roasted and turn slightly crisp. Set aside.

Now after two hours, take the dough. The dough would have risen and doubled up. Make two large balls. You can make two medium sized pizzas from the dough

Dust the baking pan with some all purpose flour. Take one large ball from the prepared dough and knead it for a minute. Let it rest for another 15 minutes. Meanwhile preheat the oven to 230 degrees centigrade. Now after 15 minutes, flatten the dough into a disk. On a floured surface roll the dough ball with a rolling pin into a large round of 1/4 inch thickness. Roll the dough from the center towards the outer edges.Lift the edge of the dough up to create a lip around the edges. I simply pinch the edges up to create the rim. Dust the surface if you find the dough is sticking. Now lift the pizza gently and place it in the prepared baking pan.

Brush some oil on the dough. Take 4 tablespoon of the pizza sauce and spread it evenly on the pizza base. Add 4 tablespoon of the shredded mozzarella cheese. Top up with shredded chicken, cubed onions and capsicum. Add some Italian seasoning and mozzarella cheese over the topping.

Keep the baking tray on wired lower rack of your preheated oven. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes at 230 degrees centigrade till the cheese melts or until it turns golden, and a nice crisp crust is formed. Check for the crust and increase the time if you want a more crisp crust as the oven temperature varies for each oven.

Slice the pizza and serve hot topped with red chili flakes and Italian seasoning

Notes:

To prevent the filling from making your pizza crust soggy, brush the top lightly with olive oil. Using your fingers, push dents into the surface of the dough to prevent bubbling. Top with your favorite toppings and bake for 12-15 minutes.