Man Meal | Buffalo Bacon Bleu Pizza

The pool opens this weekend. I have to admit, I can't wait. I live for days with my feet in the water, margarita in my hand. And, I'm dying to try making my own frozen slushie booze. I've been trying these $2 freeze-and-drink packets from the grocery store, and they're good, and super convenient, but I can't wait to try my own flavors.

Plus, there's an entire summer of drinking them ahead of me. An entire summer of cocktails and grilling - smoked chicken wings, burgers, corn-on-the-cob, you name it. Next time, we'll even grill the pizza.

While I love pizza (who doesn't), it has never been my strong point. I can pull off a decent yeast-less dough, but the moment you throw yeast and rising and all that into a recipe I'm out of my element.

This dough, though, turned out absolutely fantastic. And this pizza... well... it is every cheesy, chewy, spicy, yummy bit of deliciousness it should be. So good we couldn't help but take picture after picture after picture. See?

After this, I think it is safe to say we may never order pizza again. Well, until a night of sheer laziness. I can definitely say, though, that we will never buy another frozen pizza again. 

Can you really blame me for being photo-happy? Just wait until you taste it.

I have to give Jason Sharp credit for his fantastic recipe on Allrecipes.com. Thank you for Jay's Signature Pizza Crust. My pizza crust ways have forever been changed.

Buffalo Bacon Bleu Pizza
Yield | 1 large pizza

Prep Time | 25 minutes, plus 1 hour to rise
Cook Time | 15-20 minutes
______________________________________________________________________

Ingredients:

For the Pizza Dough
(courtesy of Jay's Signature Pizza Crust on Allrecipes.com)
1 packet active dry yeast
1/2 teaspoon brown sugar
1 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees F or 45 degrees C)
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

For the Topping
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/3 cup hot sauce, plus 1 tablespoon (Frank's is awesome)
2-3 tablespoons melted butter
1/3 cup ranch dressing
1/2 cup cooked chicken, chopped
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
1/2 cup colby jack cheese, shredded
1/3 cup bleu cheese, crumbled
4-5 strips cooked bacon, crumbled
1/3 red onion, thinly sliced

Dissolve yeast and brown sugar in warm water. Let sit for 10 minutes.

Stir salt and oil into the yeast mixture. In a large bowl, add yeast solution to 2 1/2 cups of flour.

Turn dough out onto a floured surface. Knead in the remainder of the flour until dough is no longer sticky. Form dough into a ball and place in a well-oiled bowl. Cover with cloth and allow to rise until doubled in size, approximately 1 hour.

Punch the dough down and roll into a ball. Let dough relax for 2-3 minutes before rolling out. Brush dough with olive oil.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. If you're using a stone like we did, you can top and stick the pizza straight in the oven. If you're using a pan, however, Jay's Signature Pizza Crust recipe suggests oiling the pan and letting your pizza rise an additional 15-20 minutes before topping and baking.

Stir 1 tablespoon hot sauce into ranch dressing. Feel free to add more if you like a bit more of a bite. We swear by Frank's. Really, we should think about buying stock, we use so much of it. The spicy ranch is going to be your sauce, so spread over dough, leaving 1 inch around the edges.

Add melted butter to remaining 1/3 cup hot sauce until you reach your desired level of hotness (for us it was 2 tablespoons). Top pizza with chicken and buffalo sauce.

Cover with mozzarella and colby jack cheeses. Add bacon, red onion slices, and bleu cheese crumbles.

Bake for 15-20 minutes, until crust is golden brown.

This pizza was a hit. It's delicious and filling. The crust is perfect - crunchy on the outside, soft and doughy on the inside. With the bacon, buffalo, and ranchy goodness of the toppings, you can't go wrong.

I think my next one might have to be a cheeseburger pizza. Any reason to use more red onion! Add some fresh tomato, ground beef... sounds good to me.

Coming soon... Dark Chocolate Coconut Cookies, Cajun Fried Cod (so crispy and crunchy! Perfect fish sticks!), Pasta Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette, Lemon Blueberry Scones and so much more.