Baking| No Knead Buttermilk Chicken Pizza… Where Jim Lahey finds What Katie Ate! Recipe
This was a pizza waiting to be made and I’m not sure what took me so long to get here. It’s a summer pizza, or maybe spring if that’s the season you are in. Light, crisp airy crust, minimum sauce and happy toppings! I’ve had Jim Laheys No Knead pizza dough bookmarked for ages, and then one day I read a post on What Katie Ate and there she had the most inspirational food flooding her beautiful blog. It was time for No Knead Pizza with Buttermilk Chicken.I’ve read only good stuff about Jim Laheys No Knead Pizza Dough and the temptation was too much a few days ago. How luxurious can a foodie feel if she has a slow rising dough sitting out on the counter, made kneaded stirred together the previous evening. I hopped out of bed and raced to see if had risen… and of course it had!Inspiration came from Katies delicious blog. That buttermilk chicken pizza stayed in my head for a few days. After stirring the pizza dough, I dunked the chicken in the buttermilk mustard mix to enjoy a slow overnight marinade. Love make ahead bits of recipes!! The rest happened the next morning. I stirred up a a quick pizza sauce, trying to keep it minimalistic, enough to perk the base and chicken but not too overpowering. Just chicken on top is good if you use a pizza sauce like in Katies recipe, but since I had no sour cream, watercress, walnuts etc, I added some bell peppers and onions … cheese of course!Nom Nom Nom! Mr PAB declared this was the best one yet, almost like a wood fire pizza we had a while ago, one which has always been the benchmark for comparison. Great thin crisp crust, beautiful blend of flavours, delicious subtle chicken. Did I forget to tell you I pickled some red & green chilies the other day? They went on top as well! Even the ‘now threatening to be quite terrible‘ preteen munched them up as they weren’t too hot!The vegetable vendor had packed me a bag of red and green chilies the other day, knowing how much I love vibrant colours. Got home and looked at my now almost empty bottle of quick pickled cucumbers that I made for the DB Dutch Crunch Bread or Tijgerbrood … the chilies could would go in there.Snipped with my kitchen scissors in a matter of minutes, they were soon submerged in the mix of white vinegar, a dash of sugar and salt. They sat in the fridge and two days later we enjoyed nice tangy peppers. Makes a nice addition to sandwiches and wraps, and a great topping for pizza. Nice and zingy, mildly hot too! I sometimes smash a clove or two of garlic and throw it in!
Recipe: No Knead Buttermilk Chicken Pizza
Summary: Great thin crisp crust, beautiful blend of flavours, delicious subtle chicken... a wonderful light picnic pizza for spring/summer!
Prep Time: 25 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour plus resting time
Ingredients:
- Dough Adapted from Jim Lahey’s No-Knead Pizza Dough {yields 4 X 10-inch crusts}
- 4 cups all-purpose flour, more for dusting
- 1/4 cup gluten
- 3/4 tsp. instant yeast
- 2 tsp. salt
- 11/4 cups + 1/3 cup + 1 tbsp water
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- Topping
- Buttermilk Chicken {Buttermilk Chicken from What Katie Ate}
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Juice of small half a lemon
- 2 x 200g (average sized) chicken breasts
- Bell peppers, onions, preserved chili peppers, fresh basil
- Pizza Sauce
- 3-4 medium tomatoes
- 100ml tomato puree
- 3-4 cloves of garlic
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 tbsp dried herbs
- Red chili flakes
- 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- Pinch of sugar
- Handful of fresh basil
- Salt and freshly ground pepper
- Olive Oil
Method:
Dough
In a large bowl, mix the flour, yeast, and salt. Add water and stir until blended (the dough will be very sticky). Cover with plastic wrap and let rest for 12 to 24 hours in a warm spot, about 70 F /21C.
Place the dough on a lightly floured work surface and sprinkle the top with flour. Fold the dough over on itself once or twice, cover loosely with plastic wrap, and let rest for 15 minutes.
Shape the dough into 3 or 4 balls, depending on how thick you want the crust. Generously sprinkle a clean cotton towel with flour and cover the dough with it. Let the dough rise for 2 hours then use as required.
Buttermilk Chicken:
To make the marinade, add buttermilk, Dijon mustard and lemon juice into a medium-sized bowl, season with salt and pepper whisk together to combine. Remove excess fat from the chicken breasts and cut the chicken crossway into ½ cm thick strips. Add the chicken to the marinade, cover with cling film and leave in the fridge for 3 hours or overnight
After chilling, cook chicken pieces on a hot griddle pan until almost cooked through. Keep warm.
Pizza Sauce
Saute onions, garlic, fried herbs and red chili flakes in olive oil till fragrant.
Blend the tomatoes and tomato puree together to a smooth sauce and add to above
Add the balsamic vinegar and pinch of sugar, season with salt and pepper and simmer covered for about 15-20 minutes till most of the liquid has evaporated and it yields a thick sauce.
Cool and blend to a smooth puree. Adjust seasoning if required, add fresh basil and reserve until required . {Can be made a day or two ahead}
Pre heat oven to 250C
To assemble the pizzas
Roll out dough to your desired thickness and place on pizza stone or baking tray
Brush the bases with extra virgin olive oil and divide sauce evenly over both pizza bases and spread out leaving a 2cm border around the pizza edge {I like keeping the sauce to a bare minimum in summer}
Top pizzas with pre-cooked chicken strips, bell peppers, onions, preserved chillies, fresh basil. Top with grated mozzarella.
Bake until base is cooked through {20-25 minutes in my oven}.
Note: You can skip the chicken for a vegetarian version of the pizza. Mushrooms, sweet corn, cottage cheese cubes would work well.
Don’t miss a post
Also find me on The Rabid Baker, The Times of India