Delighting in my Days: Chicken Carbonara Pizza

Domino's has been giving away free Artisan pizzas on Facebook over the past couple of weeks. Justin and I have been fortunate enough to win them twice! We picked the chicken carbonara pizza both times and I'm glad we did. They are delicious! But we would never spend the $8 on a little pizza like that so I decided to try to make them myself.

I'm going to walk you through how I cooked my chicken and made my pizza crusts. Feel free to use whatever chicken and crusts you want. To save time for myself, I cooked my bacon that morning while I made breakfast and then cooked the chicken while I made lunch. Then at night I just had to make the crusts and top the pizzas. These crusts also freeze great! I tossed the two extra in the freezer and thawed them to make pizza later that week.

Makes 6 individual pizzas.

3 chicken breasts, cooked

5 slices bacon, crumbled

1 package mushrooms, sliced

1 fresh tomato, diced

2 cups mozzarella cheese

2 cups Italian blend cheese, or use more mozzarella and parmesan

1/2 cup marinara

1/2 cup alfredo

Chicken:

Cut your chicken breasts in half or pound flat. Then season liberally with salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, oregano, and basil. Don't worry about measuring; just shake it on!

Fry in pan over medium-high heat until seared. Flip and brown the other side. You are not trying to cook it through.

Place in a 400 degree oven for 10-12 minutes or until juices run clear. Let cool and cut into cubes.

Pizza Crust:

3 packages (3 tbsp) active dry yeast
1 tsp. sugar
3/4 cup warm water
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup warm water
2 tbsp. olive oil
cooking spray

Combine first three ingredients in a 2 cup glass measuring cup; let stand five minutes. Combine yeast mixture, flour, and next 4 ingredients in a large bowl; stirring until well-blended. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead five minutes. Place in a bowl coated with cooking spray, turning to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place, about 30 minutes or until doubled. Punch dough down and knead lightly.

Cooking is always more fun with the munchkin playing trains in the kitchen floor!

Divide dough into 8 equal pieces. Shape a piece into a ball and roll out into a circle roughly 8 inches in diameter.

Fry in a skillet over medium heat until browned and puffy.

The dough will puff up like this. Flip and cook for a few minutes on the other side. Let cool on wire rack for a few minutes before using. This will give you a nice, firm crust. You can also freeze the crusts here.

Pizza: