BBQ Chicken Pizza Results (Long)

Unknown

With terrific assistance from Spin, I enjoyed an EGGsellent bbq chicken pizza last night. [p]For the dough and cooking, I followed Spin's recipes, but added a little spice mixture to the dough. The spices consisted of approximately 1/2 tsp. each of garlic powder, onion powder, oregano, and a tsp+ of fennel. Next time I will add more garlic and some sea salt. Still, the dough was superb. [p]For the sauce I used Nantucket Seasonings' Brown Sugar & Bourbon BBQ Sauce. Sauce was very good, but something even a little more sweet would have been even better. Perhaps next time I will just add some molasses or honey to the same sauce.[p]Toppings were: plenty of cheese, a four blend mix of asagio, parmesan, mozzerella, and cheddar; a bit of red bell pepper for color (great advice Spin); slices of shitake mushrooms; and sliced chicken breasts.
I prepared the boneles, skinless, chicken breasts by rinsing thoroughly and patting them dry; then I pounded them until they were of uniform thickness; after that, I gave them a healthy coating of fresh ground black pepper and Lawry's seasoning. I covered the breasts with saran wrap and refrigerated for approximately 20mins. [p]I fired up humpty with the pizza setter inverted (legs up), the stone sitting flat on the inverted setter, and covered with aluminum foil to act as "drip pan". In addition to creating my drip pan, I wanted to heat up the setter and stone for the pizza coooking to follow. The grill was then giving a good spray with Pam and placed on top of the inverted setter's legs. With the BGE steady at 300F I grilled the breasts for 35 mins, flipping them once. [p]After removing the nearly done chicken breasts, I sliced them into tiny pieces (about 1/4" square) and liberally sprinkled the sauce covered dough with chicken and mushrooms, then cheese, then a little more chicken, then more cheese, and finally, the red pepper. The creation was cooked exactly as Spin suggests (I think): Stone on top of setter; Egg at 525-550F; 8 mins; check if toppings need more (I gave them another minute and a half); and remove.[p]As you can see from this report, I intend to tinker with this recipe, but even as written, it is might damned goooood!!! In fact, Mrs. E1 had requested steaks instead of pizza, but she gobbled up the pizza, and had no desire for the steak afterwards. Of course, this meant that the steaks we had thawed (in case the pizza were an unsavory flop) had to be eaten soon, and so, our steak and egg breakfast this morning made the weekend a truly happy Easter!![p]Thanks once again Spin for your Eggsellent advice!!![p]Regards,
E1

Char-Woody

Eggcitable One, you can always rely on Spin giving you a top pizza for the day. Sounds like you had a successful adventure.
Just in case this might help, I also used to lose to temptation to add too much ingredients to a pizza in layers. Overdue is easy to do.
I think Spin also advocates (correct me Spin if I am out of line there) that one should place sauce first, cheeses second, and ingredients lastly. I cheat and do that but I add just about a bag and a half of cheese on top..(kidding here) But I do toss a tad of cheese for melt down on top otherwise nix that and just the ingredients. I find that a thinner pizza crust with thinner applications of sauce, and ingredients is a better cook. I also do deep dish pizza, and there I can heap it up a bit more in sausage, green peppers, sliced black and green olives, Mozzerella cheese blend with pavaroni, sauted sliced mushrooms, red onion, etc.
Learned most of this from Spin...! And I do like herbed pizza crust..!
Cheers..C~W[p]

Unknown

Char-Woody,[p]Thanks for your comments. I wanted to do black olives with the toppings, but forgot to buy them...DOH!![p]As for order of toppings placement, I think putting the chicken down on the sauce before the cheese is significant. I did not want the chicken coated with bbq sauce before cooking the chicken on the pizza for reasons suggested by Spin in another thread. But I definitely wanted the most BBQ Chicken-like taste I could get. Hence, in this case, the chicken comes before the cheese.[p]I suspect you are correct about a better cook with thinner crust, and this crust was relatively thin. The cook on it was perfect for me. No burn marks and just a hint of crunch.[p]Regards,
E1

Char-Woody

Eggcitable One, good thoughts..and I may try that next smoked chicken or turkey leftover pizza cook that I do.
Thanks for your input..! And your getting me eggcited for that....:-)
C~W

Spin

Eggcitable One,[p]Congratulations. I am so glad to hear of your great success, especially after the insane start we had ;-). It sounds like you only need to tweak the recipe.[p]I offer a suggestion. Don't add sea salt to the dough recipe. Salt in the dough aids taste, but kills the yeast. Altering the amount of salt content can create a useless, or a very long time rising dough. You can replace the kosher salt with an equal amount of sea salt.[p]Thanks for the report.[p]Spin

Spin

Char-Woody,[p]I am also guilty of making the occasional "heep dish" (without the dish) pizza and agree with you that moderation with the toppings makes a better pie. Two better pies beat one pie with twice the toppings (pizza poker rules here ;-)).[p]The sauce, cheese, and then toppings order of application to the pie is based on the requirement of each item. The sauce only needs to heat up and not dry out. The cheese needs to melt and brown a bit, but not burn. Most toppings benefit from a good fast hot cook, giving them a different texture and flavor from top to bottom. Works like a charm, unless you are bluffing with a single twice the toppings hand.[p]Spin

Char-Woody

Spin, you do wonders with the words and the pie...Good job.
C~W

Spin

Char-Woody,[p]A little extra cheese on top is never a bad thing ;-).[p]Thanks,
Spin

Unknown

Spin,[p]Thanks for the tip on using (or not using) salt in the dough. As an alternative, do you see any problem with salting the dough at the the point where it has been prepared for the toppings to be added, but before toppings actually are added? Would this be any different than just adding salt after the cook is complete?[p]Regards,
E1[p]