Hey folks,

Hope you’re well and enjoying the sunshine we’ve been blessed with over the past few days. With any luck, it’ll last till the weekend, but realistically, it’ll probably rain tomorrow…

Anyway, let me not beat around the bush. Let’s talk about THIS:

As if a homemade BBQ chicken pizza wasn’t epic enough, I just turned it up a notch: JERK. BBQ. CHICKEN. PIZZA.

Yeah. You know you NEED this in your life.

I love making pizza. There’s something so gratifying about kneading the dough, stretching it out with your hands, swirling around the base sauce, layering up the ingredients then popping it in the oven to transform into a masterpiece. Love, love, love it. But, I won’t lie, it does take a while as you can only do one at a time and the kitchen does end up really hot because you’ve got the oven up at full whack, but, personally, when I’ve got an amazing pizza for dinner, I’m not complaining.

Chunks of jerk seasoned chicken, juicy sweetcorn kernels, thin slices of red onion, in a mix of gooey cheddar and mozzarella, topped with oregano flakes, all nestled on a jerk bbq sauce topped crispy dough base. And that fluffy crust, perfect for dunking into some garlic sauce/ sour cream/ ranch dressing/ white sauce of your preference. Uh, get in my face. Now.

Ingredients (for 6 pizzas)

Pizza dough:

• 335g plain flour
• 335g strong white bread flour
• 1 teaspoon yeast
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 400ml water
• 50ml olive oil

Toppings:

• 1 chicken breast chopped into small, roughly 1cm, chunks
• 1 teaspoon jerk seasoning
• Salt
• Pepper
• Jerk BBQ sauce, I use this stuff, if I’m honest, I’m a bit obsessed with it lately!
• 1 red onion, sliced thinly
• Frozen sweetcorn
• Mozzarella cheese, dab off excess moisture and slice thinly
• Cheddar cheese, grated
• Dried oregano
• Olive oil
• Semolina flour for dusting

Method:

1. Add the flours, yeast and salt to a large bowl and mix well with a whisk to combine. Create a well in the centre.
2. Measure the water and olive oil in a jug and pour into the well. Use a spoon to combine before kneading with your hands for around 10mins until nice and smooth. You’re looking for a tacky dough, not too sticky.
3. Separate the dough into six balls before placing into an olive oil greased glass tray and spraying generously with more olive oil. Cover with a couple of layers of clingfilm, ensuring it’s completely airtight before placing the tray in the fridge overnight to rise.
4. Take the tray out of the fridge around 30mins before you plan to start assembling pizzas. At the same time, preheat your oven to the highest setting, move the rack to the top shelf (or wherever your oven is hottest) and place your pizza stone inside so it’s searing hot for when you begin.
5. Meanwhile, prep your toppings. I tend to keep everything separate, in small bowls in a row, so it makes assembly swift (and I’m less likely to forget anything too!).
   1. Chop your chicken breast into small cubes (1cm or so). Add salt, pepper and the jerk seasoning and massage in. Heat a frying pan to medium high heat, drizzle in a tablespoon of olive oil and add the chicken, stir regularly until just cooked (when it’s white all the way through). Add around 3-4 tablespoons of jerk bbq sauce and stir until the excess moisture from the sauce evaporates and it turns into a sticky glaze coating the chicken.
   2. Top and tail your red onion before halving and slicing thinly.
   3. Pop your sweetcorn into a bowl, straight from the freezer, no need to do anything to it. In my experience, if you defrost it first, it tends to get overcooked in the oven.
   4. Grate / slice your cheeses and pop these in separate bowls.
6. Now you’re ready to assemble! Take your pizza stone out of the oven, and place on a trivet on the worktop. Sprinkle on a generous pinch of semolina flour. This ensures the pizza doesn’t stick to the stone.
7. Take one of your pizza dough balls out, don’t forget to re-cover the tray with your clingfilm to avoid the rest of the dough drying out, and carefully, using your hands, stretch into a circle (mine are never quite perfect!)
8. Carefully place onto the hot pizza stone. Measure out 2 tablespoons of jerk bbq sauce (depending on the size of the base) and swirl over the dough with the back of your spoon.
9. Add your chicken, sweetcorn and red onions before sprinkling on a mix of your cheeses. Add a pinch of oregano flakes and drizzle on a spoonful of olive oil before popping the stone back into the oven.
10. It should only take around 8-10mins to cook, so keep a close eye on it. Repeat with the remaining dough and ingredients. Serve the piping hot. If you’re not serving them immediately (and taking a spare one for lunch the next day like me), let them cool on a wire rack – no one likes a soggy pizza!

Enjoy!

– Kay