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Smoke & Thunder

BBQ chicken, red onion, hot banana peppers. Homemade barbecue sauce under the cheese.

Makes

One 10-inch deep dish, 6 wedges

Hands on

30 min

All in

5 h 30

Oven

230 °C (450 °F)

What you need

• 3 cups (750 ml)all-purpose flour
• 1 cup (250 ml)water, warm
• 2 tbsp (30 ml)olive oil, plus more for the pan
• 1 tsp (5 ml)instant yeast
• 1½ tsp (7 ml)salt
• ½ cup (125 ml)tomato sauce
• ⅓ cup (80 ml)barbecue sauce, plus more to finish
• 2 cups (500 ml)mozzarella, shredded
• 1½ cups (375 ml)cooked chicken, pulled
• ½red onion, sliced thin
• ⅓ cup (80 ml)hot banana peppers, sliced and patted dry

How it goes

1. 1

   Mix the flour, yeast and salt, then the warm water and oil. Stir to a shaggy dough — no kneading. Cover and leave it on the counter 4 hours, or in the fridge overnight.

2. 2

   Oil a 10-inch cast iron skillet generously — more than feels right. That oil is what fries the bottom crust, which is the entire difference between this and a pizza on a tray.

3. 3

   Press the dough out to the edges of the pan with oiled fingers. If it fights back, leave it 15 minutes and try again. Let it rise in the pan 45 minutes.

4. 4

   Cheese to the pan wall first. Toss the chicken in the barbecue sauce, then scatter it with the red onion and peppers, and spoon the tomato sauce into the gaps.

5. 5

   Bake at 230 °C (450 °F) on the lowest rack for 22–26 minutes, until the cheese is browning in patches and the edge has pulled away crisp and golden. Slide a spatula under and look — the bottom should be fried, not pale.

6. 6

   Let it sit 5 minutes before cutting, then lift the whole thing out onto a board. Cutting in the pan ruins both the pizza and the pan.

A couple of things

• Pat the banana peppers dry or the brine thins the sauce and the crust steams instead of frying.
• The last drizzle of barbecue sauce goes on after it comes out, not before. Baked, it turns bitter.

Contains : wheat, milk