Personal Pizzas with Chicken, Prosciutto, Tomatoes, and Cipolline

Today we made pizza. Sometimes I make a big pizza, but it's more fun for the little ones if you make personal-sized pizzas and let the kids help top them with all the goodies. I think they enjoy their dinner more when they had a hand in making it. :) I have a couple of good pizza dough recipes. Tyler Florence (foodnetwork.com) has a good one that I have altered slightly to suit my taste ( I use sea salt instead of kosher salt and add a tsp of sugar to balance out the extra saltiness).

For the dough:
1 pkg dry yeast
1 cup warm water (105-115 degrees F)
2 tsp sugar
3/4 tbsp sea salt
2 tbsp olive oil + 2 tbsp
2.75 cups flour

Put the water in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. Add the yeast and sugar. Stir and let sit 5 minutes while the yeast activates and gets foamy. Add salt and 2 tbsp olive oil and mix on low speed. Add flour 1 cup at a time and mix on speed 2 to combine. Continue to mix on speed 2 for 5 minutes until a nice dough forms and cleans the sides of the mixing bowl.

Put a tablespoon of olive oil in a large bowl and place the dough in the bowl, turning to coat. Cover with a tea towel or cling wrap and allow to rise for 1 hour.

In the meantime.....

For the toppings I used chicken, prosciutto, tomatoes, and cipolline (delicious little, flat, sweet Italian onions). You will also want a jar of your favorite marinara sauce-for pizza I like something simple like the Bertolli Organic Tomato & Basil, and I just use bagged, shredded mozzarella and provolone.

Chop the chicken into chunks, season with salt and pepper, and saute in olive oil until cooked through. Set aside in small bowl.

Tear prosciutto into pieces and set aside in another bowl.

Slice tomatoes and place them in a bowl.

Peel and slice cipolline and place them in a fourth bowl.

Put a little marinara sauce in a 5th bowl and a handful of shredded mozza & prova in a final bowl.

Arrange all the bowls on a countertop dusted with flour so that when your dough has risen you can turn it out on your floured surface and then let your little sous chefs create pizza masterpieces!












Ok, so now the dough has risen. Separate it into 3 or 4 equally sized pieces. Pat and stretch each piece into a pizza shape, make them thinner in the center and a little thicker near the edges so there is a collar to hold all the toppings in.

Brush pizzas with olive oil and top with sauce, cheese, and toppings as desired.

Bake at 425 for 15 minutes. Yum.