Garden Chicken Pizza

This recipe came from Brooke's ward cookbook.

Garden Chicken Pizza

Pizza dough (I made mine in my breadmaker and it was wonderful. Recipe below. I do not recommend the Pillsbury refrigerated dough unless you don’t mind it tasting like crescent rolls.)
2 chicken breasts, cut in strips
4 slices bacon, chopped
1 tsp minced garlic
½ tsp dried oregano
½ cup chopped green onions
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
½ cup Alfredo sauce, or more if you like (I used Bertolli)
½ red bell pepper

Grease a 12 in pizza pan. Press dough onto pan and bake at 400 for 8 minutes. Meanwhile, sauté the bacon in a large skillet over medium-high heat, stirring continually, until the bacon is crisp, about 2 minutes. Drain the bacon, set aside. Add the chicken and garlic to the skillet. Saute the mixture, stirring continually, until the chicken is cooked through, about 3 minutes. Stir in the oregano. Sprinkle 1 cup cheese on top of baked pizza crust. Arrange bacon, green onions, bell pepper, chicken mixture and alfredo sauce on top of the cheese. Top with remaining cheese. Bake until the cheese is meted and crust is golden brown, 8-10 minutes.

*And this is how I changed it a little. I used cornmeal instead of greasing the pan. But I also used a baking stone so I don't know if it would work as well on another pan. I hate cutting up raw chicken and I hate cooking bacon when it’s chopped because it sticks to each other. So I cooked the bacon whole and then cut it up. And I just cooked 4 chicken tenders and added the garlic at the end. Then I chopped them bite size and sprinkled some oregano on them. I just cut up green onions and red pepper strips until it looked like what I wanted. My dough was really thick (and delicious, seriously Kylee at all her crust) so I used a little extra cheese and sauce.

Basic Pizza Dough

These exact instructions are at http://www.fabulousfoods.com/recipes/article/46/17753. You can also see his instructions on rolling out the dough at http://www.fabulousfoods.com/recipes/article/46/.

3 1/2 cups flour

1 cup warm water

2 tablespoons yeast

2 tablespoons honey

1/4 cup olive oil

1/2 teaspoon salt

To Mix Dough in a Bread Machine:

Throw all the ingredients in, set to dough only setting, push start and walk away. That's it! No work, no hassle. If you don't work for something is it really worth having? In this case, you bet!

This dough can also be made in advance and refrigerated for a day or so, or even frozen. Be sure to let the dough come to room temperature before using.

To Mix Dough by Hand:

Pour warm water into a bowl. The water should be about 85 to 115° F. Test it with your hand. It should feel very warm, but comfortable. Add the honey and salt. Mix by and hand (or any other method) until well blended. Add the yeast and mix some more. Let this mixture sit for about 5 minutes. Add 1 cup of flour and the olive oil and mix until well blended. Add the rest of the flour (and any other additions) and mix well. The dough should turn into a ball. If the dough does not ball up because it's too dry, add water one tablespoon at a time until it does. If your mixture is more like a batter, add flour one tablespoon at a time. Adding water or flour as needed to get the right consistency will assure you always get a perfect dough. Just remember to do it in small amounts.

Once the dough is balled up, place the ball on a floured board and knead for about a minute. This builds the gluten which helps the dough to rise and become fluffy when cooked. Place the dough in a plastic grocery bag or a covered bowl and store in a warm, dry area to rise.

After about 45 minutes the dough should have about doubled in size. Show it who's boss and punch it down. That's right, give it a good smack so it deflates. Let it rise for another hour to an hour and a half. The dough is now ready to be rolled out. You can punch the dough down one more time if you want and wait another hour or two before rolling out. The choice is yours.