The title says it all. I was recently came off a weekend of making a handful of pretty awesome pizzas. My guess is that I am hooked on Jim Lahey’s ‘My Bread’ book, and after trying his pizza dough recipe, I was hooked. As his recipe is similar to mine, I was liking his as it was just a smidgin easier to throw together, and it had less of a rising time. So I made a batch of the pizza dough and divided that into three rounds. I covered them up with a towel, and walked away, thinking what could I come up with to not only surprise my taste buds, but something to excite my wife. This is when I came up with the buffalo chicken macaroni and cheese pizza.
I thought of this recipe only because I know people who get excited about the basic macaroni and cheese pizza. I’ve tried a slice in the past to see what all of the hype is about, and to be honest, I was not impressed. The pizza itself was rather bland, and texturally not very appetizing, and don’t get me wrong here, I really like macaroni and cheese, and I love pizza. So, I decided I would take that idea of what was exciting everyone, and make it my own. This is where this thing of beauty comes in.
Let’s get started.
Ingredients for the Pizza Dough:
- 3 3/4 cup of bread flour
- 2 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
- 3/4 tsp table salt
- 3/4 plus a pinch of sugar
- 1 1/3 cups of room temperature water
Ingredients for the Buffalo Chicken:
- 1 1/2 cups of boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into cubes
- 1/4 cup of corn starch
- pinch of salt
- pinch of cracked black pepper
- 2 cups of canola oil
- Frank’s RedHot sauce, to your liking
Ingredients for the Macaroni and Cheese:
- 2 tbsp all purpose flour
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 2 cups of milk
- 2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese
- pinch of salt
- pinch of cracked black pepper
- water
- 1/2 lb of elbow macaroni noodles
Ingredients for the Pizza:
- 4 slices of Provolone cheese
- 1/2 cup Blue Cheese Crumbles
- 1 rib of celery, thinly sliced
Make the dough by adding the flour, yeast, salt, and sugar. Mix. Add the water, and with your wooden spoons, or hands, mix until blended. I use my KitchenAid for this process to keep everything in the bowl during the rising process. Mix for about 30 seconds. The dough should be a bit stiff. Cover the bowl and let sit at room temperature until the dough has doubled in volume, about 2 hours.
During this time, make your chicken and macaroni and cheese.
To make the chicken, add the cubed chicken to a small mixing bowl and lightly coat with the corn starch, salt and pepper. Stir to lightly coat all of the chicken. Heat your oil to 350 degrees. In small batches, cook the chicken for about 5-7 minutes, remove with a slotted spoon, and lightly season with salt. Repeat with the remaining chicken.
Add the cooked chicken to another small mixing bowl, and toss in the Frank’s RedHot, coating the chicken. Taste one, then back away because they are addicting.
Next, make the macaroni and cheese. Cook your pasta, just before al dente, drain and set aside. In the meantime, melt your butter in a sauce pan. Once the butter is nice and bubbly, toss in the flour, and stir with a wooden spoon. Cook, and continue stirring on medium heat for about 4 minutes. Add in the milk, and continue cooking until you have a nice, thick sauce. Keep stirring as you do not want any clumps. Add the noodles to a mixing bowl, and toss in the cheese. Pour the thickened sauce into the bowl, and give a few good stirs. Season with salt and pepper.
Revisit the dough. Once the dough has risen, remove the dough onto a floured surfaced. Form into a round ball. I divided my dough into three balls. Cover with a moistened kitchen towel for 30 minutes.
Preheat your oven and pizza stone or pan to 500 degrees.
Let’s make the pizza.
To your pizza dough, lay down the four slices of provolone cheese, and arrange accordingly. To that, add on the macaroni and cheese, and spread that on top of the entire pizza, close to the edges. Top that with the cooked chicken, and shower with blue cheese crumbles.
Place in the preheated oven, and cook for about 20-25 minutes or until the crust is nice and golden, and the macaroni and cheese is nice and bubbly.
Remove and slide the pizza onto a cookie rack, to retain a nice, crisp crust. Shower with the sliced celery. Drizzle a bit more Frank’s RedHot sauce over the top.
Let the pizza cool for about 5 minutes, then slice and serve.
I was super excited about this pizza because it is everything I love about buffalo chicken. But then there’s delicious macaroni and cheese that is all set on top of an awesome pizza crust! Are you excited?! I was, and still am.
Biting into it was amazing. That mac and cheese was perfectly balanced by the subtle heat from the crispy buffalo chicken and the slight tanginess of the blue cheese. As I made three different pizzas that day, and having my countertop look like you walked into a pizza parlor to pick out your own slice, my wife, who is not a fan of buffalo chicken or blue cheese, fell in love with this pizza. So did I. I hope you enjoy.
Buffalo Chicken Macaroni and Cheese Pizza
Ingredients
- Ingredients for the Pizza Dough:
- 3 3/4 cup of bread flour
- 2 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
- 3/4 tsp table salt
- 3/4 plus a pinch of sugar
- 1 1/3 cups of room temperature water
- Ingredients for the Buffalo Chicken:
- 1 1/2 cups of boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into cubes
- 1/4 cup of corn starch
- pinch of salt
- pinch of cracked black pepper
- 2 cups of canola oil
- Frank's RedHot sauce to your liking
- Ingredients for the Macaroni and Cheese:
- 2 tbsp all purpose flour
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 2 cups of milk
- 2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese
- pinch of salt
- pinch of cracked black pepper
- water
- 1/2 lb of elbow macaroni noodles
- Ingredients for the Pizza:
- 4 slices of Provolone cheese
- 1/2 cup Blue Cheese Crumbles
- 1 rib of celery thinly sliced
Instructions
- Make the dough by adding the flour, yeast, salt, and sugar. Mix. Add the water, and with your wooden spoons, or hands, mix until blended. I use my KitcheAid for this process to keep everything in the bowl during the rising process. Mix for about 30 seconds. The dough should be a bit stiff. Cover the bowl and let sit at room temperature until the dough has doubled in volume, about 2 hours.
- During this time, make your chicken and macaroni and cheese.
- To make the chicken, add the cubed chicken to a small mixing bowl and lightly coat with the corn starch, salt and pepper. Stir to lightly coat all of the chicken. Heat your oil to 350 degrees. In small batches, cook the chicken for about 5-7 minutes, remove with a slotted spoon, and lightly season with salt. Repeat with the remaining chicken.
- Add the cooked chicken to another small mixing bowl, and toss in the Frank's RedHot, coating the chicken. Taste one, then back away because they are addicting.
- Next, make the macaroni and cheese. Cook your pasta, just before al dente, drain and set aside. In the meantime, melt your butter in a sauce pan. Once the butter is nice and bubbly, toss in the flour, and stir with a wooden spoon. Cook, and continue stirring on medium heat for about 4 minutes. Add in the milk, and continue cooking until you have a nice, thick sauce. Keep stirring as you do not want any clumps. Add the noodles to a mixing bowl, and toss in the cheese. Pour the thickened sauce into the bowl, and give a few good stirs. Season with salt and pepper.
- Revisit the dough. Once the dough has risen, remove the dough onto a floured surfaced. Form into a round ball. I divided my dough into three balls. Cover with a moistened kitchen towel for 30 minutes.
- Preheat your oven and pizza stone or pan to 500 degrees.
- Let's make the pizza.
- To your pizza dough, lay down the four slices of provolone cheese, and arrange accordingly. To that, add on the macaroni and cheese, and spread that on top of the entire pizza, close to the edges. Top that with the cooked chicken, and shower with blue cheese crumbles.
- Place in the preheated oven, and cook for about 20-25 minutes or until the crust is nice and golden, and the macaroni and cheese is nice and bubbly.
- Remove and slide the pizza onto a cookie rack, to retain a nice, crisp crust. Shower with the sliced celery. Drizzle a bit more Frank's RedHot sauce over the top.
- Let the pizza cool for about 5 minutes, then slice and serve.