“Time is money, money is power, power is pizza, pizza is knowledge.” – April Ludgate, Parks and Recreation

Ok, I call this The Quarantine Pizza just because this pizza was made during the COVID19 quarantine. Yes, you are right, I was unemployed, a lot of time on my hands, was there any better way than making Chicken Pizza? Nope. This is the only way to enjoy Tuesday night dinner during quarantine.

There are 2 important topics when talking about pizza: the crust and the topping. There are many choices and decisions needed to make in order to decide what kind of crusts and toppings.

Let’s start with crusts, I can get the ready to bake crust or make my own crust. Once I decided that I want to make my own, more choices to make: thin crust, thick crust, pretzel crust, pie crust…and so many other choices. I decided for this recipe to do a between thin and thick crust a.k.a. Deidre’s crust; yep I just create another name in the pizza crust category.

Now it’s time to decide for the topping. I had left over chicken dinner from last night, and I only have mozzarella and cheddar cheese in my fridge. Phew….that was an easy one.

Let’s start, with the most important part of pizza: blooming my instant yeast. Yes….to me, any recipe that I found with yeast, I find it important to always bloom my yeast first. I know…what some of you are thinking, blooming? Yes, like the flower, exactly, so I ALWAYS proof my yeast to make sure my recipe will work by using lukewarm water (110⁰ Fahrenheit) + 2 teaspoons of sugar + 2 teaspoons of instant yeast, and stir them, then let it stay inside a warm (not hot) oven for 10 minutes until it’s bloom. That’s it: I just gives you the secret to a successful baking.

While waiting for the yeast, prepare the flour, salt, and olive oil, as you can see in the picture above. Once your yeast bloom, mix them all together, then make a smooth round ball dough, and let it rest for 5 minutes.

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While your dough resting, gather all your ingredients for the toppings like the picture below. Pizza sauce, cheddar cheese, mozzarella cheese and the chicken topping.

Once the dough is ready, put it on the pizza pan, and shape it accordingly. Start with pizza sauce first, a LOT of mozzarella cheese, chicken, mozzarella again, cheddar and chives (because I’m in love with chives during quarantine).

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Finally: I put it inside 450⁰ Fahrenheit oven for 12 minutes. Please remember: every oven have a different time preference, you should know yours, but if you’re not sure, start with 10 minutes, check your oven and adjust accordingly. The pizza is ready when the color is golden brown, the cheese are melting and your kitchen smells like pizza heaven.

Be patient, wait 5 minutes before you dig in…

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Pizza Crust Recipe:

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1 package active dry yeast
2 teaspoons organic pure cane sugar
1 cup warm water (110⁰ F)
2½ cup organic bread flour
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon salt