Chicken and Bacon Ranch Pizza

Start by lightly coating your pizza peel with cornmeal. This will help slide the pizza onto your preheated pizza stone.

Preheat your oven to the highest temperature and put your pizza stone in there while the oven is heating. I’ve found that around 575 to 600 F is a perfect temperature to cook the pizza.

Next, lightly flour a wooden board or clean counter and shape your dough. I’ve learned to stretch the dough ever so slightly while keeping the edges a bit thicker. Once stretched into a circle that’s about 16 inches or so in diameter, lay the dough onto the pizza peel.

Next, ladle on the pizza sauce, ensuring the the pizza is covered but leaving the edges free of sauce. Then drizzle on the pesto. Top with the mozzarella cheese, then top it with the chicken. Then lay the slices of partially cooked bacon over the top.

Slide the pizza off of the pizza peel onto the pizza stone in the oven. Cook for about 7 minutes or until the dough has risen, is partially darkened on the bottom, and the bacon is fully cooked.

Remove it from the oven and slice it. Drizzle your slice(s) with as much ranch dressing as you desire.

The result is nothing short of amazing. The crust is killer. It’s ‘airy’, slightly crisp, and the first thing you get is this whiff of awesome smokey bacon. Biting into it yields that great sourness from the ranch, the smokiness from the bacon, and the chicken, cheese, and pesto. It’s a knockout pizza for sure.

Give this one a try if you are looking for new pizza ideas. Hope you enjoy!