I had an idea. Mexican Pizza. Not a remix of the same 5 Taco Bell. But, also, not authentic Mexican by a long shot. But definitely Mexican themed. So here's what I did.
Mexican Style Pizza
Ingredients
Dough
- 1 cup water
- 1 Tbs olive oil
- 3 cups flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tsp yeast
Chicken
- ¼ lbs shredded or ground chicken
- ½ Tbs paprika
- ½ Tbs red chili powder Ancho chili powder, if you got it, is better
- ½ Tbs garlic powder I *always* use extra garlic. So if you want, you can make this ¼ Tbs
- ¼ Tbs ground cumin
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp oregano
- 2 dashes pepper
- 1 dash ground cinnamon
- 1 dash ground clove
- ½ Tbs vinegar
- ½ Tbs olive oil
Additional Fixings
- 6 oz tomato sauce
- paprika
- chili powder NOTE: Above I used powder from chili peppers. This is flavoring for making chili, the soup.
- garlic powder
- ½ lbs shredded cheese I use the "taco" or "Mexican" blend of pre-shredded cheese from Aldi. That sentence made a bunch of purists cry, because they will tell you pre-shredded cheese is gritty. They may have a point, but my palate isn't sophisticated enough to detect it, so I continue.
- ⅓ bell pepper, sliced
- ¼ red onion
- 1-2 oz sliced black olives
- 4 oz sliced white mushrooms
- ¼ oz leftover taco-seasoned ground beef or turkey
Instructions
Chorizo-esque chicken
- This is what really makes it, I think. So please take the time to make the chicken.Start by mixing all the dry spices in a small bowl
- Heat the oil in a medium pan on medium heat.
- Add the chicken, vinegar, and spices and stir it all up. If the chicken is raw, cook until it's done. If, like me, it's leftover from another thing, just stir until it's thoroughly mixed and the chicken is pretty evenly coated with the spices
- Set aside.
The Dough
- Throw it all in a bread maker and run it on the "dough" cycle.
- When the bread maker completes, remove the dough to a surface lightly covered with flour. Roll the dough out to cover your pizza stone or baking sheet. I used a baking sheet so I could get some really thin crust this time. I had leftover dough
Assemble the pizza
- Please note that everything in the "fixings" section of the ingredients list is approximate. I'm basing my guess on the size of the containers I purchase this stuff in.Start by preheating the oven to 415 °F and poking a bunch of holes in the dough with a fork.
- Spread the tomato sauce over the dough in an even layer. I go all the way to the edges of the dough for moral reasons. (see below)
- sprinkle the garlic powder, paprika, and chili powder to taste (it's very easy to over do it here if you are not a super enthusiastic spicy fan, so remember less is more)
- Sprinkle the cheese in an even layer.
- Spread the chicken and remaining toppings over the pizza.
- Bake for 15 minutes. Some people will like it less well cooked, but I give it 10 minutes minimum. As long as the cheese is melty and the dough has started to turn brown, you should be good.
- Remove the pizza from the oven, slice, and serve when it's cool enough to eat.
Notes
- Obviously, the fixins for this recipe are highly variable. You can use real chorizo, bacon, unseasoned chicken, beef, whatever.
- For vegetables, the big missing ingredient most people will pick out is the hot peppers. I don't keep these in my house normally, that's my only reason. Poblano or jalapeños (chipotle!) would be my go-to peppers for this recipe. If you aren't familiar with chile peppers and/or have only a mild-to medium tolerance for spicy, I'd stay there. Otherwise, do what makes you happy.
- Corn is common in some Mexican dishes as well, so consider that.
- You may also consider topping sour cream or guacamole if that's what you're into. Probably this would work best for each person to add to their own slices.