Pizza is a favorite meal around here. Most times we have pizza when I need a break from cooking so I pull a Red Baron from the freezer. Sometimes, I make it a little fancy by making homemade chicken pesto pizzas. On this particular occasion I made two pizzas. One for us and one for a family in church who just had a new baby. It is a great meal to take to new mamas. Here is a list of ingredients:
-Pizza Dough from Publix- You can find this in the deli/bakery section-They make it there. I have made my own a couple of times and it has turned out pretty good. You can find a really easy recipe by Mario here or this really complicated one here. The really complicated one I made not-so-complicated by skipping a lot of steps, but it still turned out great. It is better for a thin crispy crust.
-Pesto- I usually use Bertolli pesto that you can find with the spaghetti sauce, but on my last trip to Costco I found fresh pesto in the refrigerated section with all the salsas and dips. It was really good, but the shelf life is not as long, so I took the leftovers and spooned it in ice trays and froze them. Then dump the cubes in a freezer bag. I think it will probably last for a few months.
-Cooked chicken breasts- Typically I marinate the chicken in Balsamic vinegar then Seth grills it. This time I cooked the breast in the skillet. I took one large chicken breast and cut it in chicken-finger-size pieces. Seasoned with kosher salt and ground pepper and place in a hot skillet with EVOO. After cooking for a little while I added balsamic vinegar. And let that reduce some.
-Mozzarella cheese- I always grate my own. I don't like the powder that they put on pre-grated cheese and it cost more.
-Sundried tomatoes- Cut in small strips if too big. I really am not a big fan of this brand in the picture but our local Wally world only carries this kind.
-Can of sliced mushrooms- You can use fresh too if you like, but EK loves the canned type.
-Ground Pepper and Kosher salt
First let the dough rest on the counter for at least an hour. If it is cold it will be hard to work with. About 15 minutes before you start working with the dough, preheat your oven to 450 or 425 if convection. Go ahead and put your pizza stone or pizza pan in the oven. I highly suggest using a pizza stone. It gives the dough a crispiness.
To stretch the dough you can use my method or EK's method as seen in this video.
My method is this: Rub your hands in flour then take the dough and roll it on a floured surface with a floured rolling pin. Then I slowly stretch it by laying the dough on my fists and moving my fists outward. Try not to tear it because it is very hard to fix holes. I alternate rolling and stretching until I get my desired size. The rolling helps get out all the big air pockets.
I then take a piece of foil and grease it with olive oil and sprinkle a little cornmeal on top. Put the dough on the foil. Puncture the dough several times with a fork to prevent big air pockets that create bubbles in your pizza. Then spread the pesto, top with most of the cheese, add thin slices of chicken, sun-dried tomatoes, and mushrooms. After cooking this, Seth and I both agreed that it needed more sun-dried tomatoes. It is our favorite part.
Then top with a little more cheese, kosher salt, and ground pepper. 
Place the tin foil with the pizza on your hot stone and bake for 10-12 minutes until crust is golden brown and cheese is melted.
I also like to add a little Parmesan after cooking it. I have tried adding shredded Parmesan before cooking and it didn't work well. The Parmesan got too crispy before the pizza was done. Let me know if you try this pizza. I would love to hear the results!
