BBQ Chicken Pizza with Pineapple Guacamole

Barbecue chicken pizza is always one of my favorites, but I felt like I needed to kick it up a notch. I don’t know why I never thought to put guacamole on a pizza before, but boy am I glad that I did! The unexpected pairing is sweet, savory, and bold! My fiancé was a little bit skeptical of mixing the two, but quickly changed his tune after just one bite!

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Dough recipe adapted from Just a Taste

(makes enough for three 12” pizzas – 2 hour rise time)

For dough:

1 Tbs active dry yeast

1 tsp honey

1 ¼ cup hot water

3 1/3 cup + 1 Tbs all-purpose flour

2 tsp salt

Olive oil

Cornmeal for dusting

Pineapple Guacamole:

2 ripe avocados, peeled and pitted

1 garlic clove, minced

Juice from half of a lime

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

¼ cup finely diced pineapple chunks

1-2 Tbs freshly chopped cilantro

Toppings:

½ cup BBQ sauce (Sweet Baby Ray’s is the best!)

1 large boneless skinless chicken breast, cooked and cut into small chunks

½ cup fresh pineapple chunks

¼ of a red onion, sliced

1 cup shredded Monterey jack or Mexican cheese blend

2-3 Tbs freshly chopped cilantro

(1.) In a large bowl, stir together yeast, honey hot water, and 1 tablespoon of flour. Let the mixture sit for 10 minutes or until foamy. Now the next step comes with a warning.. This is the first time I’ve tried this method with pizza dough, but I was working off of another recipe and wanted to follow it exactly. (2.) The recipe says to mix 3 1/3 cup of flour and salt on the counter and then create a large well. (3.) Then you pour the yeast mixture into the well. (4.) Slowly pull flour into the center with a fork until mixture begins to thicken.

That didn’t exactly happen for me..

My ‘well’ sprung a leak! I quickly covered up the break with flour and continued the process a little more carefully, but what was happening is that the flour and yeast mixture weren’t absorbing into each other and the flour was just sitting on top of the liquid. The pressure on top and removing more flour from the sides of the flour well caused it to burst out the sides (in multiple places), leaving me with a sticky flour mess that I’m still scraping off the counters!

At the risk of this happening to you as well, my recommendation would be to slowly stir the flour into the bowl with the yeast mixture until it thickens and dough starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl.

(5.) Remove dough from bowl and knead on a floured surface until dough comes together and is no longer sticky. (6.) Wipe out the bowl you were previously using and rub the sides and bottom generously with olive oil. Place dough into the bowl and flip to coat with olive oil. Cover with lightly greased plastic wrap and put in a warm place to rise for 1 hour or until doubled in size. (7.) Transfer dough back to a floured surface and punch it down to release air bubbles. As noted above, the dough will make three 12” pizzas, so divide into thirds or half. (8.) Place dough balls on a lightly greased baking sheet, cover with greased plastic wrap and place in a warm spot to rise for 1 more hour.

(9.) While waiting on the dough you can put together your guacamole and prep your toppings. In a medium sized bowl, combine avocado, minced garlic, lime juice, salt, and pepper. (10.) Mash with a fork or potato masher until smooth. (11. & 12.) Stir in pineapple and cilantro until completely mixed. Cover with plastic wrap and push the plastic down to the guacamole, pushing out any air bubbles until the entire surface is covered with plastic wrap. This will keep the avocados from oxidizing and turning brown. Place in the refrigerator until ready to use. Cook your chicken breast and chop any additional toppings.

During the last 5-10 minutes of the rising period, preheat oven to 450 degrees F (232 degrees C), line a large baking sheet with parchment paper, and lightly dust with cornmeal. When dough is finished, break apart dough balls if they grew together a bit and punch them down on a floured surface.

If you’re only making one pizza, you can wrap the other dough in plastic wrap or place in a zip-lock bag and freeze. When you’re ready to use the frozen dough, remove from the freezer and allow it to come down to room temperature (about 1-2 hours). Roll dough out to desired shape and size. Transfer to the prepared baking sheet and top with BBQ sauce, chicken, pineapple, and onion (save cilantro for after baking).