Matzah pizza

I love that the name for this sounds so much like Machu Picchu. . .

I remember three favorite lunches from my childhood: Kraft dinner, Chef Boyardi ravioli, and English muffin pizza. I will admit to still having Kraft dinner from time to time, but the others have fallen away. This Passover, looking for something else to make with matzah for lunch one day, I hit on this--make pizza with matzah as the base instead of an English muffin. Actually, there was an intermediary step, which is that I've been doing this with pita bread. But pita bread is a bit of a hassle, having to cut it cross-wise into two pieces. The matzah makes this so easy that I will definitely have it outside of Passover as well! 

I've made this twice, with feta cheese and kalamata olives as the only toppings. So the other toppings on the ingredient list below are just things I happen to think would be good.

My mother's English muffin pizza was a little different: the muffin half, tomato sauce, then a slice of mozzarella cheese. Maybe she sprinkled a little oregano on top. I don't know why I've never made it that way myself.

MATZAH PIZZA

serves 2

two squares of matzah

about 6 oz. tomato sauce (canned or home-made)

shredded or crumbled cheese (mozarella, Monterey jack, feta, blue cheese)

whatever other toppings you would like to add, e.g.

            kalamata olives, halved

            anchovies

            sautéed mushrooms

            a handful of chopped kale or spinach

            roasted red peppers

Preheat broiler, putting rack about 8" below the heat.

Place the two squares of matzah on a rimmed baking sheet.

Spread tomato sauce over the matzah.

Add toppings, and then sprinkle on cheese.

Put under the broiler for about 5 minutes.

Barbecue chicken pizza

I've had the pizza and flatbread book by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoë François (authors of Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day) for quite a while, but hadn't gotten around to trying anything out.  The other day I saw a recipe for Barbecued Chicken Pizza on the Recipe Girl blog (Lori Lange), and it called out to me.  I studied the basic pizza dough method in the Artisan Pizza and Flatbread book, which also had a recipe for barbecued chicken pizza.  I combined elements of the two recipes, as given below.  It was very, very good.  I put one leftover piece in the fridge, and had part of it for a late night snack--delicious cold also. The second pizza is in the fridge for tonight's dinner.   This is not my usual low-fat fare, but I will be making it again!  

BARBECUE CHICKEN PIZZA

combination of

http://www.recipegirl.com/2013/05/24/barbecue-chicken-and-bacon-pizza/ 

and the recipe for Barbecued Chicken Pizza in ArtisanPizza and Flatbread in Five Minutes a Day

This recipe is for two 12" pizzas, each made with 1/2 lb. of Artisan pizza dough.  With a hearty salad, one pizza serves 3 people.

The ingredients below are for TWO pizzas, made sequentially

2 balls pizza dough (each a 1/2 lb. of dough) (I used the artisan recipe, but you can use any pizza dough 

       recipe)

olive oil for greasing baking sheet

about 1-1/2 c. barbecue sauce (Recipe Girl recommends Bull's Eye Original, which is what I used)

1 red onion, sliced very thinly (I used a mandolin)

several chicken thighs, skinned and boneless, grilled or otherwise cooked (I used a Foreman grill)

most of a basket of cherry tomatoes, cut in half

6 strips bacon (I used turkey bacon)

a couple of large handfuls of arugula or fresh spinach (can substitute a few tablespoons of fresh cilantro)

about 6 oz. smoked Gouda cheese, diced in 1/2" cubes

Preheat oven to 550 (or 500 if your oven only goes that high); have baking stone on rack in bottom third of the oven.  Preheating this high can take a while—about as long as it took me to prepare all the toppings, which need to be prepared and at hand before rolling out the dough.

Roll out the dough for one pizza into a 12" circle, 1/8" thick; a rectangle also fine, and fits well in the heavy-gauge baking sheet with short-rimmed sides that I used (one option recommended by Artisan Pizza book, easier than transferring the pizza from peel to baking stone.)

Transfer the dough to the baking sheet.  Spread half the barbecue sauce on top, enough to lightly cover the dough.  Take half of each of the toppings, and put them on the pizza, cheese last.

Place the baking sheet on the baking stone.  Bake for 8-10 minutes.  While the first pizza is baking, assemble the second one.

When first pizza is done, put on a wire cooling rack to cool for a few minutes.  Put the second pizza in the oven.