The first time I made pizza from scratch was in the Year 2000…and I haven’t ordered out for pie since. I wouldn’t say it’s the easiest recipe in the world, but it is one of the more fun, therapeutic and satisfying to master. Few dishes are as universally beloved as the humble yet delectable pizza, which adds to the rewarding nature of churning one out all on one’s own.
Time is what probably keeps most people from making their own pizza, but in reality, it doesn’t take all that long, especially once you get the hang of things. I typically knock out a large-sized pizzain an hour-and-a-half, start-to-finish. It’ll likely take you two or so as you get acclimated to the process, but once you’ve got it, you’ll learn to multi-task and shave time off each go-round.
The first thing you’ll need to do is warm the liquid that you plan on using. This is because that fluid will be used to activate the dry yeast that will turn a small ball of dough into a puffy, workably elastic canvas for your saucing and topping delight. There are numerous schools of thought on the proper temperature for blooming yeast, but I’ve always found that getting it between 105 and 110 degrees Fahrenheit gives me the best shot at getting a rise out of my yeast.
Once the liquid—beer in this case —is up to temp, you’ll want to whisk it with the yeast and some sugar, then leave the former to lap up the latter during its ale or lager soak. You can go in all sorts of directions with your beer selection when making pizza. In general, I like to avoid hoppy beers, because the bitterness tastes out of place, but to each their own. Malty beers tend to lend a touch of sweetness and add some flavors that go way beyond bland white flour.
Because the recipe I’m sharing is for a barbecue chicken pizza, I’m going with a crust that’s made from bread flour and masa harina. The latter is a fine-ground corn flour that is most popularly utilized for tortillas. Some people like to make crusts using yellow or white cornmeal, but it’s too coarse to support malleability in my opinion. I selected a low-hopped bock when making the pizza for this article. That said, I’ve had great success with numerous amber ales and, possibly the best success ever with AleSmith Anvil ESB (and that was before I started working for AleSmith, so the recommendation is legit). A good chile beer tends to work well with this recipe as well, so long as the hopping is minimal.
From here, it’s all about kneading, and a good Kitchen-Aid mixer can do most or all of that for you while you tackle other things like getting your toppings ready. In the case of a standard barbecue chicken pizza, that’s as easy as cooking up some well-seasoned chicken, grating cheese, thinly slicing red onions, chopping cilantro and shearing corn kernels from the cob. But that’s not what my recipe is about. The night I put this pie together, I remembered that I had my choice of anything I felt like putting on my pizza that particular day. As such, I went with chicken, but also added scallions, roasted red peppers, pickled jalapeños and a layer of pepperoni. For cheeses, I went for mozzarella, cheddar and Jack pre-oven and a dusting of salty Pecorino Romano just before serving.
I invoked another tried-and-true beer-infused barbecue recipe for the sauce. In this case, the meltier the beer the better. Look for virtually zero hop-presence and a nice dry, roastiness that will go well with other ingredients like brown sugar, molasses and Worcestershire sauce. It’s easy as pizza pie to make—all you need is a saucepan, a wooden spoon and a little over an hour. Feel free to make this ahead so you don’t up your pizza time too much, or let your dough proof while you make the sauce once you get accustomed to this process.
When cooking the pizza in the oven, I use a three-step process developed over the past decade-and-a-half. First, I put the rolled out pizza dough into a 500-degree oven (be careful…it is extremely hot), then remove it, add the toppings and put it back in to melt the cheese. After that, I remove it again, flip on the oven’s broiler and allow it to brown the cheese. This takes a good amount of oversight to ensure the crust doesn’t burn in the process, but you’ll get the hang of it. And again, it takes a lot to screw up pizza. If I can do it, believe me, you can, too. And you can do it with beer—both in the recipe and in a glass throughout and directly following the process.
Barbecue Chicken Pizza with Beer-Masa Crust & Beer Barbecue Sauce
Yield: 1 large pizza
- 1 cup beer (preferably malty and low in hop-bitterness, see below for examples)
- 2 Tbsp granulated sugar
- 1 package active dry yeast
- 1¼ cups bread flour
- ¾ cups masa harina (fine-ground corn flour)
- 1 Tbsp garlic powder
- 2 tsp onion powder
- ½ Tbsp salt
- ½ tsp vinegar-based hot sauce
- ¼ cup plus 1 Tbsp vegetable oil
- 2 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts, diced
- 2 tsp chili powder
- ¾ tsp cumin
- salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 1 cup Beer Barbecue Sauce (recipe follows)
- 4 oz pepperoni, very thinly sliced
- 1 cup jarred roasted red peppers, drained and julienned
- ¼ cup pickled jalapeño peppers, drained and sliced
- 2 scallions, thinly sliced
- 1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
- ½ cup white Cheddar cheese, shredded
- ¼ up Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
- 2 oz Pecorino Romano cheese, grated
Bring the beer to a simmer in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Monitor using a thermometer and remove from heat when the beer reaches between 105 and 110 degrees Fahrenheit. Combine the sugar, yeast and ½ cup of the beer in the bowl of an electric mixer. Use a whisk to mix the ingredients together and initiate yeast activity. Let stand for 10 minutes.
Sift the flour, masa harina, garlic powder, onion powder and ½ tablespoon of salt into a large mixing bowl. When the yeast mixture is ready, add 2 tablespoons of the oil and flour mixture. Fit the mixer with a dough hook attachment and mix until the ingredients are thoroughly incorporated and the mixture pulls off the sides of the bowl to form a ball on the hook. More moisture will likely be needed. Add 1 tablespoon of the beer at a time until the proper consistency is reached—elastic but not too sticky and not dry enough for the dough to fall apart. Pour 1 tablespoon of the oil into a large mixing bowl. Use your hands to form the dough into a perfect ball, then coat on all sides with the oil and place in the bowl. Cover the bowl and allow the dough to proof for at least 1 hour in a warm place.
Heat the remaining oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Season the chicken evenly with chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper. Add the chicken to the skillet and cook until golden-brown, 4 to 5 minutes on each side. Remove the chicken from the skillet and set aside.
Preheat oven to 500 degrees Fahrenheit.
Turn the proofed dough out onto an even, lightly floured surface. Use your hands or a rolling pin to roll the dough into an even round roughly ¼-inch to ½-inch in thickness depending on personal taste. Roll the outer inch of dough over itself to form a brim. Transfer the dough to a pizza pan, pizza stone or sheet pan. Use a fork to dock the dough. Place the dough in the oven and bake until lightly browned, 4 to 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and use a ladle to apply an even layer of barbecue sauce to the pizza crust. Evenly distribute the pepperoni, chicken, roasted peppers, jalapeños, scallions and all of the cheeses except for the Pecorino Romano. Return the pizza to the oven and bake until the cheese is completely melted, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from the oven. Turn on the broiler to its highest setting. Once the broiler is fully heated, return the pizza to the oven and cook until the cheese turns golden-brown in spots, 1 to 2 minutes, being careful not to burn the outer crust. Remove from oven and let stand for 5 minutes before using a pizza-cutter to slice and serve.
* Recommended Beer Styles: altbier, amber ale, bock, chile beer, doppelbock, dubbel, dunkel, extra-special bitter, Scottish ale
Beer Barbecue Sauce
Yield: About 3 cups
- 2 cups tomato ketchup
- ¾ cups beer (preferably amber ale, dunkel, brown ale, porter or stout)
- ¼ cup water
- ½ cup apple cider vinegar
- ¼ cup dark brown sugar
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1 Tbsp molasses
- 1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- ½ Tbsp vinegar-based hot sauce
- ½ Tbsp garlic powder
- ½ Tbsp onion powder
- 1 tsp cayenne pepper
- ½ tsp dried mustard powder
Combine all of the ingredients in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Cook, stirring regularly, until the mixture takes on a barbecue sauce consistency, about 1 hour and 15 minutes. Remove from heat and serve or store, refrigerated in an airtight container, for up to 10 days.