Buffalo Chicken Pizza

Wow, what a shitty shitty shit week it's been. Matt, Mitch and I are all fine, albeit stressed. It's just that the world all around us is falling apart. And I'd go into more detail, but it involves the private lives of others, so I'll respect that for now.

One of the few bright spots in our week was Monday's meal, Buffalo Chicken Pizza. Mmmmmmmmmmmmm. I love all things Buffalo chicken, and Matt fancies himself a wing snob because much of his family comes from Buffalo, and he believes that the only true wings come from the Anchor Bar. Snob. Matt's a snob.

And Buffalo wings played a role in my formative years as well. I spent three years during college slinging wings and beer at boys. I wouldn't eat wings at all when I began my stint at Buffalo Wild Wings (job I hated at the time, but now am super nostalgic about, probably because I formed so many lasting friendships during that time and because now I appreciate it--I made as much money there as I make teaching). By the end, I could even eat a wing without getting sauce all over my face, even though it's not nearly as fun.

To be as authentic as possible (which still isn't very authentic), we use Frank's wing sauce on everything we do Buffalo-style, since that's apparently what the Anchor Bar uses. But let it be known: if I lived closer to a BW3, I'd be slathering this stuff with Spicy Garlic sauce all day and all night.


Boneless skinless chicken breasts, pounded with Saran wrap over them (thanks for the tip, Danielle!) to avoid eye infection, and marinated in Frank's.

Here's the dough after it has risen (dough = Christ ?). (Here's the dough-making process.) Last time I used this amount of dough for one pizza. This time it's making two thin-crust pizzas, which is even better.

And around this time I fumbled about, wishing I'd invited Cassie over for dinner, a.k.a., "invited Cassie over to show me how to do this again."

I ended up cooking up the chicken in a cast iron skillet, but would have preferred to grill it. Matt had been called away for an emergency (remember, shitty week?), and I'm not allowed to light the grill by myself. Something about fires and eyebrows. Next time, though, Matt will grill the chicken. He is the master of the grill.

Instead of a tomato-based sauce, I brushed the dough with Frank's. I considered putting ranch or bleu cheese as the base, but was trying to be a little bit more healthy. It wasn't long, though, before that effort went out the window.

Onions.

And sharp white cheddar cheese.

And then I am reminded again that I need to get smoke detectors for the house.

Celery.

Diced up chicken.

And then more cheese (no more healthy pizza). This time it was a mozzarella/parm blend.

Bake for something like 20 minutes. I lost count. Bake at 350 until it's the amount of brown you want. Drizzle with ranch, or bleu cheese, or whatever you want. You could also sprinkle on some crumbled bleu cheese. Mmmmmm.

Dough:
3 3/4 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1 packet yeast
1 1/3 cups warm water
3 tablespoons olive oil

Other ingredients you'll need:
Wing sauce
Celery
Onion
Cheese
Chicken
Ranch

Pretty basic, pretty flexible, somewhat healthy, really delicious. What are you having for dinner tonight?