Pesto Chicken Pizza with Feta and Pine Nuts

While I have a hard time declaring something to be my all time, without a doubt, absolute favorite, this pizza is without question in my top 3 favorite pizzas of all time and for sure my all time favorite homemade pizza. The crust is amazing and the whole pizza tastes like something you would get from an upscale pizza restaurant. Plain old pizza sauce is replaced with delicious pesto and topped with a juicy lemon grilled chicken, crisp red onion slices, creamy feta and mozzarella cheeses, crunchy toasted pine nuts and thinly sliced tomatoes. I have also replaced the sliced tomatoes with sun dried tomatoes which is equally delicious. See below for a few of my tried and true tips for getting the best results when making pizza.

Pesto Chicken Pizza

The Sisters Cafe

Pizza Dough- this (the Slow Rise Pizza Crust) is my go to recipe

Pesto- purchased or homemade

4 oz. Feta Cheese

Lemon Grilled Garlic Chicken to taste. I usually use 1 1/2-2 cups for a large pizza

1/2 red onion cut into thin slices

2 large tomatoes thinly sliced- I like Romas

Mozzarella cheese - to your taste

Toasted Pine Nuts- to your taste

Parmesan cheese freshly grated, if desired

Preheat oven to 475 degrees and place baking stone in to heat for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Roll out pizza dough on pizza paddle. Top with pesto spreading liberally to the outer edges of the dough. Top with remaining toppings and cheese (or put on 2/3 of topping mixture, cheese and then the remaining 1/3 toppings.) Top with some freshly grated Parmesan cheese. Transfer pizza to baking stone and bake for 10-15 minutes or until nicely browned. I made 6 good sized personal pizzas with this dough recipe, two of which were this recipe.

*Tips for delicious homemade pizza*

Just like any other type of cooking or baking sometimes is takes a little trial and error to get the best results. Here is what works for me

1- preheat your oven to between 475-500 degrees. It sounds hot but it really works best.

2- put your baking stone in the oven for at least 45 minutes before baking the pizza. It needs to be nice and hot.

3-Experiment with what works well in your oven. I have read that baking on the bottom rack at 500 degrees works well but the couple of times I tried it my pizza dough was not done inside. I have found that a 475 degree oven with the pizza in the middle rack and baking for 12-15 minutes works best in my oven. It gets the dough perfectly done and the cheese gets nicely browned without being burnt.

4- invest in a baking stone. It really make all the difference.

5- Never use pregrated cheese. It has chemicals in it which keep it from melting as well as the blocks of cheese.

Posted by: Sallie