Chicken Pesto Pizza

Ingredients

For The Pizza Dough:

1¾ cup very warm water (more if dough is too dry)

2 packets (1/4 ounce each) active dry yeast

2 tablespoons sugar

¼ cup olive oil, plus more for bowl and brushing

2 teaspoons coarse salt

4 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled), plus more for work surface

For The Grilled Chicken Breasts:

Chicken breasts trimmed of fat and skin (for this recipe use four)

Salt and pepper

Canola cooking spray

For The Pizzas:

(Quantities below are for 4 pizzas)

Pizza dough from recipe above

8 ounces of pesto

3 ounces fresh baby spinach

4 grilled chicken breasts, very thinly sliced

1 cup of pine nuts toasted ( 4 ounces)

4 ounces shredded Asiago cheese

5 cups mozzarella cheese

Preparation

For The Pizza Dough:

Pour 1 3/4 cups very warm water into a large bowl; sprinkle with yeast and let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. (no stirring)

Whisk sugar, oil, and salt into yeast mixture. Add flour and stir until a sticky dough forms. (If dough is too dry add a tablespoon of water, continuing adding until dough is sticky.)

Get out another large bowl and fill with hot water to heat it up. Dump the water, dry it out and oil the inside of the bowl. Transfer the dough to the oiled bowl, top with a thin layer of olive oil, then cover with plastic wrap. Set it aside in a warm, draft-free place until dough has doubled in size, about 1 hour.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly bread floured work surface and shape into a large disk. Cut into 4 even portions. Preheat oven to 500 degrees, oil a cookie sheet and begin to shape one of your dough balls into a pizza shape.

(To freeze dough balls, wrap them each in plastic and freeze in a resealable freezer bag for up to 3 months.)

For The Grilled Chicken:

Preheat your grill to 450 degrees. Generously coat both sides of the chicken breasts with salt and pepper and spray with cooking spay.

Grill the breast for 6 minutes on the first side and 5-6 on the other side or until temperature reads 165 degrees.

Allow to rest 10 minutes before thinly slicing.

For The Pizzas:

Once dough is shaped, spread 2 ounces of the pesto on it, then add a layer of fresh spinach, thinly sliced sliced chicken, toasted pine nuts, 1 ounce Asiago cheese and ½ cup of mozzarella cheese sprinkled evenly over the pizza.

Bake for 5 minutes, add ½ cup of mozzarella cheese over entire pizza and rotate 180 degrees.

Bake for 3 more minutes and remove from the oven. Enjoy while it’s warm!

Repeat these steps 3 more times for the other pizzas.

Recipe Notes: To defrost dough, place in the fridge the morning you want to make the pizza. Then place the dough on the counter for 30-60 minutes while you prep the rest of your ingredients (this will allow the dough to come up to room temperature). Then shape and finish with toppings.