Homemade Chicken Tikka Pizza
Recipe
Ingredients:
For the dough:- 500gm strong white bread flour
- ½ level tbsp. fine sea salt (or plain salt)
- 1 7gm sachet of dried yeast
- 1 tbsp golden caster sugar
- 325mls lukewarm water
For the tomato sauce:
- 1 clove garlic
- 1/2 small bunch fresh basil (or dried basil if you don’t have fresh)
- Olive oil
- 200gms good-quality tinned plum tomatoes
- Sea salt to taste (or plain salt)
- Freshly ground black pepper
For the topping:
- 85g mozzarella cheese
- Vegetables of your choice (I used Black Olives, Capsicum, Chestnut Mushrooms, Cherry Tomatoes, Shallots and Chicken marinated in Garlic Powder & Tikka Masala & later grilled in oven)
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Salt, pepper & chili flakes
- I had marinated my chicken in garlic powder and tikka masala for 30 minutes, then had fried it for 3 minutes each side on lightly greased frying pan, then grilled it for 15 minutes in oven.
To make the dough:
- Pile the flour and salt on to a clean surface and make an well in the centre.
- Add your yeast and sugar to the lukewarm water, mix up with a fork and leave for a few minutes, then pour into the well.
- Using a fork and a circular movement, slowly bring in the flour from the inner edge of the well and mix into the water. It will look like thick porridge.
- Continue to mix, bringing in all the flour.
- When the dough comes together and becomes too hard to mix with your fork, flour your hands and begin to pat it into a ball.
- Knead the dough by rolling it backward and forward, using your left hand to stretch the dough toward you and your right hand to push the dough away from you at the same time.
- Repeat this for 10 minutes, until you have a smooth, springy, soft dough.
- Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl. Cover with a kitchen towel or plastic wrap and let double in size for about 45 minutes.
To make the sauce:
- Peel and finely slice the garlic.
- Pick the basil leaves and discard the stalks and chop them fine.
- Heat a saucepan on a medium-low heat and add a splash of olive oil and the garlic.
- Cook gently until the garlic starts to turn golden, then add most of the basil leaves, the tomatoes, and a good pinch of salt and pepper.
- Cook gently for around 20 minutes, or until smooth, mashing the tomatoes up with a wooden spoon as it cooks.
- When done, have a little taste, and season again if needed.
To assemble the pizza:
- Pinch the dough that you covered with kitchen towel / plastic wrap.
- Dust your surface and the dough with a little flour and roll it out into a rough circle / oval or whatever shape you want about 0.5cm thick.
- Tear off an appropriately sized piece of tin foil / baking paper, rub it with olive oil, dust it well with flour and place the pizza base on top.
- Cover it with cling film and put them in the fridge.
- When you're ready to cook them, preheat your oven to 250°C/500°F/gas 9.
- Now apply your topping.
- Smear the tomato sauce over the base of your pizza and spread it out to the edges (to ensure that your edges brown well, brush milk over them).
- Make a layer of thinly sliced grilled chicken breast over the tomato sauce.
- Over the chicken make a layer of mushroom (if you’re using. Mushrooms should be buried deep under cheese else they dry and burn out quickly)
- Next layer your pizza with some cheese, then vegetables and then some more cheese.
- Drizzle with a tiny bit of extra virgin olive oil and add a pinch of salt, pepper & chili flakes.
- Cook for 10 - 15 minutes, until the pizza is golden and crispy.
Tips:
- Remember, the key to crispy brown crust is proper hot oven, so allow plenty time for preheating your oven before you start baking. I pre-heat my oven for half an hour.
- If you like thin pizza, then make fewer layers. Mostly in Pakistan, we like thick well loaded pizza. It all your personal preference & choice.
¬Enjoy!
