The days after Thanksgiving are the perfect time to incorporate leftovers into new dishes. I love being able to develop new dishes using leftovers from Thanksgiving. We had a lot of leftover turkey from Thanksgiving dinner so I used the leftover turkey the same way I often use leftover chicken. I decided to make some soup and pizza. I made turkey noodle soup the night before and reserved some of the leftover turkey for BBQ turkey pizza this morning. My love for pizza dates back to my childhood. Every Friday, my family would gather around our dining room table and bond over a large cheese pie. My favorite pizza will always be New York style plain cheese or Naples style margherita pizza, but I would never turn down a good BBQ chicken pizza. The first time I had BBQ chicken pizza was when I moved to Ann Arbor. One of my college roommates brought me to Briarwood Mall to go shopping and enjoy lunch at California Pizza Kitchen. I had never eaten at California Pizza Kitchen before, but my roommate convinced me to try to The Original BBQ Chicken Pizza. After the first slice, I was immediately hooked. The flavors worked so well together. I love the smokiness of the BBQ sauce, sweetness of the pineapple, cheesiness of the smoked gouda, and freshness of the cilantro. I ended up frequenting California Pizza Kitchen one too many times during my time in Ann Arbor. When I moved to Ohio, I missed good BBQ chicken pizza. Several years ago, I started making my own pizza. For the first year, I only used all-purpose flour when making pizza dough. It was decent pizza, but there was something missing. Earlier this year, I tried making pizza with just bread flour. It turned out chewier, but something was still missing. Over the weekend, I decided to use equal parts all-purpose flour and bread flour. The crust turned out super chewy and crispy. The chewiness of the crust actually reminded me of my favorite New York cheese pizza crust. Kevin and I quickly ate the pizza right before we found our place on the couch for The Game at noon.
For the dough:
· 1¼ cups all-purpose flour
· 1¼ cups bread flour
· ½ teaspoon active dry yeast
· ½ teaspoon kosher salt
· ½ teaspoon fine sugar
· ¾ cup water
· 1 teaspoon olive oil
· 1 tablespoon olive oil
For the rest of the pizza:
· 1 tablespoon olive oil, divided
· 3 tablespoons BBQ sauce
· 2 ounces Colby Jack cheese
· ¼ cup hand shredded turkey
· ¼ cup freshly diced pineapple
· ¼ small onion, thinly sliced
· 6 sprigs fresh cilantro
Directions:
1) Prepare the pizza dough the evening before. In a large bowl, combine the flours, yeast, salt, and sugar in a bowl. Stir to combine all ingredients. Add the water to the mixture. Add the teaspoon of olive oil. Knead the dough for 8-10 minutes on a lightly floured surface. Drizzle olive oil in the large bowl. Return the dough back to the large bowl. Place a sheet of plastic wrap over the large bowl. Let the dough rise undisturbed overnight.
2) In the morning, preheat oven to 500°F. Pour ½ tablespoon of olive oil on a baking sheet. Divide the dough in half. Reshape both halves into a ball. Place one of the balls of dough on the baking sheet. Save the other ball of dough to use later. Using both hands, stretch the dough on the baking sheet. Pour the other ½ tablespoon of olive oil over the dough. Keep stretching the dough with both hands until you form a circle. Leave the edges of the circle slightly raised for the pizza crust.
3) Add the BBQ sauce and spread all over the pizza dough. Add the Colby Jack cheese evenly over the pizza pie. Distribute the shredded turkey, pineapple, and onion evenly over the pizza. Place the pizza in the oven for 11-13 minutes. Remove the pizza from the oven once the crust is golden brown.
4) Remove the pizza from the oven. Let the pizza rest for a couple minutes before topping with fresh cilantro.
Takeaways: Using a mixture of all-purpose flour and bread flour yields a very well balanced chewy and crispy crust. I used Colby Jack cheese for a milder flavor. You can use smoked gouda or smoked mozzarella on the pizza if you don’t have Colby Jack cheese. I like to use a milder cheese since the BBQ sauce already has a smokiness to it. Try out different cheeses until you find your perfect combination.