Thai Chicken Pizza

slim pickins 'n' thai chik'ns...

I like leftovers; they're very "homey" eating. Yesterday was mac & cheese & a leftover slice California Pizza Kitchen Thai Chicken Pizza. I personally think CPK's food is delicious. My standard meal at CPK is a 1/2 Caesar salad and a BBQ Chicken Pizza.

I came across their recipe for Thai Chicken Pizza as listed in their book (available on Amazon.com), so I thought I'd share it. NOTE: the dough must be prepared the night before for best flavor. Worst case, you can use the dough after the first rise.

MAKES 2 PIZZAS
Spicy Peanut Sauce
1/2 c. peanut butter
1/2 c. hoisin sauce
1 tbsp honey
2 tsp red wine vinegar
2 tsp ginger, minced
2 tbsp sesame oil (Chinese or Japanese)
2 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp Vietnamese chili sauce (like Sambal Oelek?) or dried chili flakes
1 tbsp oyster sauce
2 tbsp water

1 tbsp olive oil
10 oz. boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into 3/4 inch cubes
Pizza stone

Pizza Dough
2 c. Mozzarella cheese, shredded
4 scallions, slivered diagonally oriental style
1/2 c. white bean sprouts
1/4 c. Shredded carrot
2 tbsp chopped, roasted peanuts
2 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro

To prepare Peanut Sauce, combine sauce ingredients in small pan & over medium heat, bring mixture to a boil, and boil gently for one minute. Set aside. You will use 1/2 on the chicken and 1/2 on the pizza.

Heat pan over high heat, add olive oil, and cook chicken stirfry-style for 5-6 minutes. Do not overcook. Set aside in refrigerator until chilled through. Once chilled, coat with 1/4 cup of Spicy Peanut Sauce. Return to refridgerator to chill again.

Heat pizza stone in a very hot oven (500 degrees F.) for 1 hour. Shape dough into pizza round, and spoon 1/4 cup sauce evenly over pizza, spreading it around. Cover sauce with 3/4 cup of mozzarella. Save rest of mozzarella for later.

Next, add to pizza in the following order:
1. chicken pieces
2. green onions
3. bean sprouts
4. carrots
5. An additional 1/4 cup of shredded mozzarella
6. roasted chopped peanuts

Bake pizza in oven for 9-10 minutes, until crust is golden and cheese at the center is bubbly. Remove pizza from oven, sprinkle with 1 tbsp cilantro.

Pizza Dough
1 tsp active dry yeast
1/2 c. plus 1 tbsp warm water (105 -110 F)
1.5 c bread flour (preferred) or all purpose flour
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil (for coating)

Dissolve yeast in water and set aside for 5-10 minutes.

Place dry ingredients (flour, sugar and salt) into a 4-6 quart mixing bowl. Make a weill in the middle & pour in yeast/water mixture and 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil. Use a wooden spoon to combine ingredients. Once mixed, lightly oil your hands and knead dough for 5 minutes. When done, dough should be slightly tacky; that is, it should be barely beyond sticking to your hands. Don't knead more than 5 minutes, or the dough could be tough and rubbery; the same goes if you overmix the dough in a electric stand mixer. Incidentally, if you use a stand mixer, use the mixing paddle and not the dough hook for this batch size; the dough hook is too small to be effective for this batch size.

Lightly oil the doughball and the interior of a 1 quart glass bowl. Place dough ball in bowl and seal bowl with plastic wrap, with as much an "air-tight" seal as possible. Set aside at room temperature to rise until doubled; this should take about 1.5 to 2 hours at 70-80 deg. F.

1st rise has been completed. Punch down the dough, reform it into a round ball & return it to the same bowl, covering it again tightly with plastic wrap. Place the bowl in the refridgerator overnight.

2nd rise has been completed by the next morning. About 2 hours before you are ready to build your pizza, take the dough out of the refridgerator. Cut the dough into two pieces with a sharp knife. Roll the smaller doughs into round balls on a smooth, clean surface. Place newly formed balls in a glass casserole dish, spaced far enough apart to allow them to double in size. Seal dish with plastic wrap, as airtight as possible. Set aside at room temperature to allow them to double in size (about 2 hours). Now they should be smooth and puffy.

The 3rd rise has been completed. You can now carefully stretch out the pizza dough into rounds as desired. Dust your pizza peel in cornmeal, semolina, or flour, and transfer the stretched dough to the peel. Top your pizza with ingredients & bake.

Enjoy the pizza and buy the CPK Cookbook at Amazon.com.