BBQ Chicken Pizza

The first time I made pizza at home, I thought it was the most amazing thing in the world. I may have cheated and bought a base, but there was something really magical about a fresh pizza coming straight from your oven. Sure, the toppings might not have been as interesting as those from the pizza store. And the ratio of sauce, toppings and cheese may have been a bit off. But there was just something about it that no store bought pizza could ever compare to.

Through the years, pizzas have turned into one of my go-to lunch ideas when I don't have anything interesting to make as it's so quick and easy! I can just through together the dough ingredients in the bread machine in the morning, then roll it out, top it up and chuck it into the oven for a satisfying lunch. Somewhere along the way though, it kinda lost its magic- no longer did I find it amazing, nor did I long for it.........and eventually, I stopped bothering making it!

Having spent a couple of weekends microwaving left overs, I turned to pizza making again to make lunch somewhat more interesting, chucking some leftover chicken (and some other random things I found in the fridge) on the top. To spice things up, I decided to change the sauce, making a barbecue sauce for the base rather than the usual tomato. A rather small change in the grand scheme of things, but what a difference it made!

The sauce by itself isn't anything special (I was having doubts as to how this would turn out as I was putting it in the oven!) but there's something about the extra depth of flavour that it gives that makes the pizza so incredibly addictive that we couldn't stop eating until we pretty much devoured everything!

I think the pizza magic has come back!! Let's see how long it lasts this time eh?

BBQ Chicken Pizza
Not really much for a recipe for pizza, really just a recipe for the sauce plus my usual pizza base recipe if you don't have one yourself :)

Sauce
recipe from here
1 cup tomato paste (the original recipe calls fo tomato sauce, but I usually prefer using tomato paste instead of sauce for my pizza sauces, this does mean however, that you'll probably have to increase the sugar convtent for the recipe)
¼ cup dark brown sugar
2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 heaping Tbsp brown spicy mustard
3 Tbsp soy sauce
7-8 good shakes of Tabasco sauce

1. Mix everything together!

Pizza Base
1 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
1 tablespoon honey
2 teaspoons active dry yeast
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons olive oil

Topping
Whatever you feel like chucking on!!
1 cup grated mozzarella cheese

1.Pour warm water into a small bowl; stir in honey until dissolved. Add the yeast, stirring until dissolved. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
2.In a large bowl, combine the flour and salt. Add yeast mixture and olive oil; stir well to combine. When the dough has pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead in more flour until the dough is no longer sticky. Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.
3.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
4.Punch down the risen dough on a floured surface. Divide into two equal portions. Allow the dough to relax for a minute, then roll each portion out into a thin circle. Place on lightly oiled pizza pans.
5. Spread the barbecue sauce evenly over pizza dough. Top with your choice of topping ingredients and cheese. I also added a few squiggles of bottled barbecue sauce to make things a bit more interesting.
6.Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes or until cheese is lightly browned.