1st cook on 2nd Egg - CPK BBQ Chicken Pizza

I did my first cook on my new Large BGE today and it was a recipe for one of my favorite pizzas: a California Pizza Kitchen BBQ Chicken Pizza. The recipe was from the PioneerWomen.com website and I liked the looks of it because not only did it try to recreate one of my favorite pizzas, it included a dough recipe too. I also liked that it would be a medium temperature and high temperature cook. I was overdue for a BGE pizza because I hadn’t done one since I started in on my wok binge about 5 weeks ago. This meant I hadn’t done a high temperature pizza cook in the cold weather. I was really interested to see what differences there might be in the cold weather.Today wasn't super cold lie it was earlier in the week. The temps were in the mid 20's. With my gasser I could do pizza in this weather but the time was nearly doubled. I was curious if the cold would affect the Egg.

It turns out there were no differences. The new Egg heated in the same amount of time and the pizza took the same time to cook as it always had. The egg recovered quickly when I opened the lid to add the pizza, no doubt due to the half hour plus the pizza stone was in the Egg and at my cooking temp of 600. There really is something to be said for having the same model Egg for Egg number 2. It was great having zero learning curve when I fired the new Egg up. I already had all the Eggcessories I needed and knew how to use them. 

As for the pizza it was excellent. It tasted pretty much as I remember the CPK version tasting. I was enjoying the pizza so much I forgot to pay attention to how I like the dough. I will have to pay more attention the next time when I use the second dough ball this recipe made. I will definitely put this recipe into regular rotation.

Here is the recipe for the pizza dough & pizza: CPK BBQ Chicken Pizza

The "opening flame" on my  newLarge BGE number 2.

The plate setter is in legs down, with the legs resting in the 3 square notches of the new fire ring. I am using plumbing T's to put a space between my casserole dish now and the pizza stone later. 

The boneless skinless chicken breast have been salted on both sides, brushed with BBQ sauce on both side and a temperature probe is inserted into the thickest part of the thicker breast.

The chicken is sitting on the plumbing T shims on the plate setter. The Egg has been (easily) stabilized at 375. 

The dough recipe was fairly simple and I was pressed for time so I didn't take a slew of pictures. The dough used all-purpose flour, instant yeast, water, olive oil & salt.

After everything was mixed the dough went into a dough rising pail in an unheated oven for a one hour rise. I did turn on the oven light to add a little warmth to the oven.

The breasts have reached 165 degrees after 40 minutes. After I removed them from the Egg I set it up to reach 600 degrees. The same settings I used in October worked here in January.

Time to prep the other ingredients for the toppings. The chicken was chopped up when it had cooled. The red onion was cut into slivers, the fresh mozzarella cheese was thinly sliced & the cilantro was chopped.

An hour has passed, the dough has doubled in volume & it is time to make the pizza.

The dough was divided into 2 dough balls. One was used & rolled out below, the other was refrigerated.

The dough has been coated with olive oil on the top side and has been placed on a pizza peel coated with yellow corn meal.

The sauce for this pizza is BBQ sauce.

The thin sliced mozzarella cheese is next.

The red onions and chicken went on last.

I didn't take a picture of the pizza going on the Egg because didn't want to keep the lid open too long when I added the pizza to the Egg. I didn't know how long it would take to recover. It turns out with all of the mass of the ceramics which had been at 600 degrees for 30 minutes, the recovery time was about a minute. Here the pizza was cooked in the same 5 1/2 minutes I usually do.

The last step is to add the cilantro & cut the pizza.

Time to eat!

The crust had nice color and had nice crispiness.

It really amazes me how the BGE just works, rain or shine, hot or cold. I know many of you people have been doing this for years and this is not anything you already don't know. But I am Eggcited, no doubly Eggcited.

Jim