Recipe: Chicken Artichoke Pizza with Tomato and Basil

This past weekend I made this delicious chicken and artichoke pizza, and so I thought I'd share the recipe. It was my first time making a pizza with white sauce, and it was super delicious. An added bonus was that I got to use tomatoes and basil, which are the only drought survivors in our garden this year...

INGREDIENTS:

1 pizza crust (the recipe I used from Cooking Light is below, or you could use a pre-made crust)

1 cup of white sauce (recipe is below)

1 boneless, skinless chicken breast

1 6 oz jar of marinated artichoke hearts

1 - 1 1/2 cups of mozzarella cheese

2 small tomatoes

8-10 basil leaves

THE CRUST:

You'll need: 

• 2 teaspoons honey
• 1 package active dry yeast (about 2 1/4 teaspoons)
• 3/4 cup warm water
• 2 cups all purpose flour, divided
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Cooking spray
• 1 tablespoon cornmeal

1. Dissolve the honey and yeast in the warm water in a large bowl and let stand 5 minutes (liquid should bubble a little). Add about 1 3/4 cups flour and salt to the yeast mixture. Stir until a soft dough forms, and then turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead about 5 minutes, adding the rest of the flour a little at a time to keep the dough from sticking to your hands. When you're finished kneading, the dough will still feel slightly sticky.

2. Place the dough in a large bowl coated with cooking spray (flip the dough around a little to coat the top of it) and cover with plastic wrap and foil. Let it rise in a warm place for about 30 minutes, or until it's doubled in size. On a warm day I usually put my dough outside in the sun to rise-- another idea is to put it on top of the dryer while you have clothes drying.

3. Roll dough into a circle and place on a baking sheet sprinkled with cornmeal. Use your fingers to spread the dough to the edge of the pan if necessary. You can now put the dough in the fridge up to 30 minutes, unless you're ready to bake. 

THE SAUCE:

You'll need:

1 cup of milk

1 tablespoon cornstarch

2 tablespoons butter

Salt and pepper to taste

1. Pour 3/4 cup of milk into a pan over medium heat. 

2. Whisk together 1 tablespoon of cornstarch with the remaining milk. Once combined, add this to the milk in the pan.

3. Once the milk starts to bubble and thicken, turn heat down to low.

4. Add butter and stir to combine. Season with salt and pepper.

THE PIZZA:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

2. Cut the chicken into small pieces. Drain the artichokes, reserving the marinade. Cook the chicken and the marinade over medium-high heat about 4-5 minutes, or until chicken is done and no longer pink. Set aside.

3. Cut artichoke hearts into smaller pieces, set aside.

4. Once the oven has finished preheating, put the pizza crust in (no toppings or sauce yet!) and bake for 4-5 minutes. The dough will rise a little but won't brown yet.

5. Remove the pizza crust from the oven, and spread the sauce on the dough.

6. Sprinkle the chicken and the artichokes over the sauce, and then sprinkle the cheese over these toppings.

7. Put the pizza back into the oven and bake for 10-12 minutes.

8. While the pizza is baking, chop up the tomatoes and the basil.

9. Remove the pizza. The crust should be starting to brown. Add the tomatoes, and return the pizza to the oven for 2-3 more minutes until the crust is browned and the cheese is bubbling slightly.

10. Sprinkle the pizza with basil, cut and serve.

Before making this, I never knew that the recipe for white pizza sauce was so simple. I'm already brainstorming more white pizza combinations... it's my favorite :)

Hope you enjoyed this recipe!

-Megan