South of The Border Pizza

Preheat oven to 450ºF.

Microwave the cup of water about 20 seconds, or until just warm to the touch, not hot. Put dry yeast powder in a mixing bowl, and the sugar and pour warm water over them both. Quickly just mix the ingredients briefly so that it dosen’t clump. Then allow the yeast and sugar to “wake up.” You will see the yeast begin to react with the sugar by clouding up the water. This takes about 3 minutes.

Once your yeast mixture is active, add cornmeal and flour, and thoroughly mix.

Prepare a 9×13″ baking dish by using oil or cooking spray on all sides, then coat with cornmeal. Shake of the excess.

Place the dough in the baking dish, and use your hand to stretch it to match the shape of the pan. Use your fingers and palm to push it into place. Place the crust in your preheated oven for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, empty the cans of chili into a pot and heat on your stove. Add the garlic powder, red pepper flakes and cumin to “doctor it up” a little. Let it simmer.

Cube your chicken and saute in the olive oil. (I also like to “doctor up” my chicken with garlic powder, red pepper flakes and cumin.) Cook thoroughly.

Take the crust from the oven and pour chili over the top. Evenly distribute your chicken cubes as well as an even covering of jalapeno slices. Finally, top with your shredded extra sharp cheddar cheese.

Place pizza back into the 450ºF oven for 15 minutes. If you want your cheese more browned on top, bake the pizza for 15 minutes, then put your oven on broil. Closely watch the pizza and remove immediately once you have achieved your ideal cheese brownness. Cut in 6 pieces and serve! This is a knife and fork kinda pizza. Enjoy!