Sweet Chili Chicken Pizza on Homemade Pizza Dough

A few years ago, in a bid to make pizza a little more exciting, I went exploring. Fridge exploring. This really is an exciting sport to try out if you've never done it. I'm not just talking about opening the fridge and thinking, "Hmm... what should I have for dinner tonight?" but more along the lines of "I'm having pasta, what crazy ingredients can I try out with it?". I for one have to admit that, being the recipe-planner that I am, rarely engage in such risky behaviour, but the results can be quite vast and exciting. 

This particular night's excavation resulted in a new Kendra favourite: The Sweet Chili Chicken Pizza. It can be pretty tough breaking forth from the classic pasta-sauce pizza mold but there really is a whole new world of exciting pizza sauce and topping possibilities out there (BBQ sauce, Alfredo sauce, broccoli, asparagus, artichokes etc.). This particular pizza is DELICIOUS. I highly recommend making your own pizza dough but you can easily pick up some frozen dough or a pre-made crust at the store.  Bon appétit!

Ingredients:
For the pizza dough:
1 package active dry yeast (2 1/2 tsp)
2 tsp sugar
2/3 cup warm water
2 cups flour (if you want to do a 'whole wheat crust', use 1 1/2 cups white four and 1/2 cup whole wheat or 12 grain flour)
1 tbs corn meal
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbs. olive oil

Optional: any herbs to season your dough - dash of oregano, pinch of rosemary, pinch of red pepper flakes etc.

Toppings:
Approx. 3/4 cup of Sweet Chili Sauce (this is a guesstimate..)
Sprinkle of garlic powder
1 boneless skinless chicken fillet (cooked), diced

1/2 a red onion

1/2 cup fresh spinach 

Sprinkling of fresh feta or goat cheese 

1/2 cup grated mozzarella chese

sprinkling of dry egg noodles (ex. from a Mr. Noodle package)
optional: diced, lightly steamed broccoli; mushrooms; red peppers etc.

Directions:

TO MAKE THE DOUGH
For the bread maker:
Toss er' all in (except for the corn meal!!) and set your bread maker to 'pizza dough' ... if you don't have that kind of setting, I'm sure just the 'dough' setting would work too. This usually takes 45 minutes to an hour.

For the hands:
1. Combine your yeast, 1 tsp. sugar and the water in a large bowl for approx. 10 minutes (until mixture becomes frothy)
2. In a separate bowl, combine your flour, 1 tsp. sugar, and salt
3. Add the olive oil to the yeast mixture
4. Add 1 3/4 cups of your dry mixture to the wet and knead until a rough ball forms
5. Transfer your dough to a floured surface and knead 3-4 minutes
6. Spray a large bowl with cooking spray or butter, add the dough and cover with a damp towel. Place in a warm, dry and draft-free place for 1 hour (I like to turn the oven on for 20 seconds just to warm it up a little bit, turn off the heat and then place the bowl in the oven).
7. Once the dough his risen, PUNCH it down and fold in on itself to make another ball. Transfer this to your floured surface.

TO MAKE YOUR PIZZA:

1. While your dough is ready, prepare your ingredients (ie. dice and cook chicken, prepare your veggies, grate your cheese etc.).

2. Once your dough is ready... set your oven to 425F. Lightly oil your pizza pan and sprinkle with corn meal. You can use a conventional round pizza pan or a cookie baking pan would work well as well. Roll your dough out on a lightly floured surface until you reach the desired shape of your pizza pan. Transfer dough to pizza pan.

3. Top your pizza with all of your ingredients save the spinach leaves and noodles (they'll go towards the end). Sprinkle your pizza with the garlic powder.

4. Bake pizza at 425F for 12-15 minutes. With 5 minutes remaining, sprinkle pizza with noodles. Broil for 2-3 minutes at the end if required.  Let sit for 5 minutes for cutting. Enjoy!