Cook With Us Week #16- Chicago Style Chicken Basil Pizza

When I saw this week's theme for pizza Hive account@cookwithus, I was super excited because who does not like pizza? I'm a fan of all types of pizza and I've had my fair share of eating good and bad pizzas. If I had to pick one pizza that was on the top of my best pie list, I would have to say Zachary's Pizza in Berkeley. Zachary's is known for Chicago style pizza with a California twist. It's a double crusted pizza stuffed with your favorite toppings. When I lived in the Bay area, my friend and I would frequently make a stop there to share their chicken pie. It's two thin pizza crusts sandwiching chunks of chicken and topped with a chunky tomato sauce. It is still one of my favorite so for the pizza challenge I thought I would try to recreate Zachary's master piece.

I've never made a Chicago style pizza so I had to look on the internet. After some research I decided to make this crust. While the dough was rising I made a simple tomato sauce and grilled some chicken breast. If you have leftover roast chicken, here would be a great place to use it.

Ingredients

for 9" pie

• Your favorite tomato sauce
• 2 chicken breast, grilled
• 8 oz Mozzarella cheese or more to taste
• handful of basil

I did not have a deep dish pan so I used a cast iron pan. I greased the pan with some olive oil and sprinkled some semolina flour on the bottom of the pan so the dough would not stick and this adds a bit of crunch. Divide the dough in half and roll it out to 1/8" thickness. Line the bottom and sides of the cast iron pan with the dough. I tossed in the chicken, torn basil leaves and shredded cheese.

Roll out the second piece of dough and place over the top of the filling. Egg wash the sides of the pizza dough and firmly press the top dough with the bottom to seal the edges. Trim away the excess dough.

Make sure you cut a few slits into the top dough so the air can escape. Bake the pie in a 400 degree F oven for about 45-55 minutes or until the crust is golden brown. Once the pizza is done, remove from the oven and cover the top crust with the warm tomato sauce. I like to put the tomato sauce on after the pie is baked to prevent the top crust from being soggy and tasting raw.

I had some leftover pesto sauce in the fridge so I drizzled some over the tomato sauce. Thank you Hive account@cookwithus for another fun theme and Mangiamo!