Grilled Chicken, Roasted Red Pepper and Spinach Pizza

Over the last few years I have come to realize how lucky or spoiled I was durning my high school years and young adult years.  Back in those days we use to cruise the small town of Clare and by the end of the night it would usually end at the local pizza shop, B & J's and later the Corner Store.  Both had great pizza with the Corner Store pizza having my most favorite crust.  Rumor had it their secret ingredient was sugar, I don't know what it was but it sure was good.  Since my earlier adult years I have had several pizzas for many different places and there is only one place I would rate close to these two eateries. Believe it or not it comes from the little ole town of Plymouth, Wisconsin at a place called De O'Malleys. 

De O'Malleys had good pizza with the crust just the way I like it, traditional style or soft, chewy type.  I'm not a fan of the thin, crispy type of crust and that is what you typically find here in Rockville Maryland.  Oh sure I can find traditional style crust but the pizza is something I wouldn't write home about.  For me I like a little more crust under my pizza toppings and I like the edge of the crust to rise up like bread when it cooks.  I like that golden chunk of cooked pizza dough around the outside a good pizza it reminds me of fresh bread that just came out of the oven.

I know a pizza can't be good without good toppings but the foundation of the pizza begins with the dough.  I have been trying for years to make a good pizza dough without much success until lately.  Recently I came across Emeril's pizza dough from the Food Network web site.  It is a simple recipe with ingredients found in the normal persons kitchen.  I made the dough a few weeks ago and I though it was alright but it was missing something to be that outstanding pizza dough.  I started to do some experimenting and here is what I have come up with so far, a blend of 50% all purpose flour and 50% whole wheat flour.  I'll bet you are wondering how whole wheat flour can be part of a great pizza dough?  I'll be honest the pizza dough is better without the whole flour but I am trying to eat healthier these days and if I want to eat pizza this is my compromise. 

The other change I made from Emeril's dough is I use honey instead of sugar for a sweetener.  I also put a little fresh garlic in the dough this last time I made pizza.  What I came up with was a tasty little crust with a hint of garlic.  I think the honey goes well with the whole wheat theme too and when honey is involved that's never a bad thing.

If you notice in the photo to the right I also cook my pizzas in a cast iron skillet.  Why?  Well, as big sis found out in her Rosemary Dinner Rolls when bread dough is teamed up with heavy cast iron the bread, rolls or in this case the pizza crust comes out golden brown and delicious.  For me the cast iron makes it almost fool proof unless you totally neglect the call of your kitchen timer or the obnoxious screaming of your smoke detector. 

From here on out it's all downhill with the toppings you can choose almost anything you like.  No more are pepperoni, ham, mushrooms or mozzarella cheese must use toppings.  Pizzas come in many, many different varieties these days and lately my choice for toppings have been grilled chicken and roasted red peppers.  I have been experimenting with different cheeses lately with my favorite so far being asiago.  But for this particular pizza I found some fontal cheese at Whole Foods Market this week.  It is similar to mozzarella with a little more distinct flavor than mozzarella.  This pizza also included a handful of spinach (since I didn't have any fresh basil and the spinach was sitting in the ice box begging to be used) and I topped it all off with a little grated parmesan reggiano cheese. 

Overall a pretty good effort on the pizza front for me I think I am making progress.

Jock's Grilled Chicken Pizza

(Printable Recipe)

Ingredients

1 cup warm water, about 110 degrees F

1 packet dry yeast

2 tablespoon honey

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 1/2 cups general purpose flour

1 cups whole wheat flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cloves garlic, minced fine

4 boneless skinless chicken thighs

Emeril's Essence

1 small jar roasted red peppers

1 cup pizza sauce

8 oz. asiago cheese. sliced

1 cup fresh spinach

½ cup Parmesan cheese

Directions

To the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook, add the warm water and yeast and honey and stir to dissolve the yeast. Add the olive oil, flour, garlic, and salt. Mix with the dough hook until the dough comes together and climbs up the dough hook. Remove the dough from the mixer and, on a floured surface, form into a smooth ball shape. Place the dough into a greased bowl and cover with a clean towel. Place in a warm, draft free place for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until the dough doubles in size.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees

Meanwhile sprinkle chicken thighs with Emeril's Essence liberally.  Place chicken in oven and cook for approximately 30 minutes.  Or better yet cook outside on grill for 30 minutes.  Let chicken cool and slice.

Heat oven to 450 degrees.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and roll to desired size. Spray or brush 12” cast iron skillet with olive oil. Place dough in cast iron skillet and let drape over the edges. Cut dough around top of skillet and fold down along edge to form an edge for the pizza. Spread pizza sauce over dough, layer cheese, add roasted red peppers, chicken and spinach. Top with Parmesan cheese.

Place pizza in oven and cook for approximately 15 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Let cool for 5 minutes and slice.