BBQ Chicken & Blue Cheese Sfincione

One of my menu favorites – Sfincione!  Sfincione is  Sicilian pizza and sounds a lot more complicated than it really is. It all starts with pizza dough. I prefer homemade pizza dough and have an awesome recipe HERE. I learned how to make pizza dough during my last trip to Napa and have been turning them out ever since. Not only did Chef T teach me how to make awesome pizza, he kindly gave me the Sfincione as a bonus recipe.

Sfincione is made by using the same pizza dough recipe I use for pizza, with just a few MINOR tweaks.

I will talk about the tweaks in a second but first let’s talk about the dough. For step by step instructions – please head over to my pizza dough recipe post. 

When making your dough, the following online calculator is the way to go :

http://www.pizzamaking.com/dough-calculator.html

It is precise and headache free all at the same time. Who could ask for anything more??

For sfincione, I make a 48 oz ball and then divide it into 2. Cover the mixing bowl with plastic wrap or a damp cloth & allow the dough to rise (by doubling in volume). This can take 2-4 hours depending on room temperature etc. 

Once the dough has doubled in volume, roll it out onto a floured surface & divide it into 2 equal halves. Roll each half into a ball (specific instructions are included in the pizza dough making recipe). Cover and allow to double in volume one more time.

Speaking of precise, I love it when I am able to cut the dough exactly in half on the first try… it’s the little things in life!

Once the dough has had a second rise, I like to stretch it out and place it on a half-sheet sized sheet pan that has been coated in canola oil, stretch it to fit the pan, punch it with my fingertips and coat it in 2-4 T canola oil.

You can either add toppings at this point or cover one more time and allow for a third “mini-rise”. Sfincione is very hard to mess up (which is why I love this recipe so very much!), so don’t get all worried that this sounds too hard. It really isn’t.

Now that the dough has done its thing, all that’s left is to add toppings & bake. Tonight’s choice :: BBQ Chicken & Blue Cheese!

Just use your favorite BBQ sauce in place of pizza sauce and layer remaining toppings as usual.

I used rotisserie chicken, red onions, bacon and blue & sharp cheddar cheese.

Bake on 475° until the crust is completely baked through (which is between 12-15 minutes).

Simple & delicious, dinner is served!

My herd enjoyed sfincione “al fresco” with some homemade ranch dressing for dipping! The only thing better than BBQ chicken & blue cheese sfincione is BBQ chicken & blue cheese sfincione on paper plates, outside. Easy to make, easy to clean-up!