Buffalo Chicken, Bacon & Ranch Pizza

This pizza is the ultimate crowd-pleaser, man-pleaser, comfort food, and the all-time top pick for the husband. It is just so good. Normally I make a pizza that extends completely to the edge of my pizza stone, but I was using some leftover dough from some pizzas last week that I kept in the fridge and I simply did not have enough. Luckily it was enough to feed two fat-kid-at-heart adults, but if you're serving more than that, make a larger za. Or make two.

Oh, by the way, I sometimes call pizza "za." It's much easier for lazy people to say. And (on Words With Friends) it's an actual word. Win. 

Truly, I think this is the ingredient that can take any dish to the next level...

Yes, there's no denying it. Bacon is a gift, a glorious gift, sent from Jesus H. Christ to show us that there are good things in this cruel, cold world. Do not omit this ingredient from the recipe. You will be sad, depressed, and get an embarrassing rash if you do. If you are a vegetarian, I'm sorry...this pizza is not for you. 

I also used a variety of cheeses to make this tasty fellow. Mozzarella is always a good go-to cheese for pizza. It's mild flavor allows the flavors of other ingredients to really stand out. Other cheeses can compliment other ingredients as well. Once I used monetary jack on a Mexican pizza and it was incredible alongside the spicy chicken, salsa, and roasted peppers on that za. On this one I used some mozzarella, some provolone, and a touch of gouda. If you don't want to get fancy with cheeses, or if you have some other cheese preferences, by all means, use those. 

The recipe (which you can adjust amounts of ingredients based on your taste preferences):

• Homemade pizza dough
• 1-2 cups pizza sauce
• 1/3 - 1/2 cup your favorite buffalo wing sauce
• 1 red onion
• 1 chicken breast
• 6-7 slices of bacon
• 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella
• 1/4 cup shredded or sliced provolone
• Gouda, enough to your liking (I used about 2 slices from a package)
• Ranch dressing, any variety 

Place your pizza stone in a cold oven. Turn the temperature to 500 degrees F.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out your pizza dough into a circle. Or whatever shape your pizza stone is. You can sprinkle a little cornmeal on top of that, but I find it doesn't make much difference.

Cook the bacon until it's crispy. I usually do mine in the oven on a baking sheet because it contains the mess, but if you're a stove-top bacon fryer, go for it. Place the cooked bacon on paper towels, and drain it of the extra grease. Then chop it up into little bits. I know you're going to want to eat some of this bacon now. You must resist. Believe me, the pizza will be that much more satisfying if you do. 

Dice your onion and sauté in a little bit of oil. Sure, you can use a white or yellow onion, but I prefer colorful things. Plus the red onions make me cry less than other ones.

Dice your chicken and cook that up as well. Any cooking method for this is fine. Pan-fry, oven, crock pot (although that one will take a while), but it's up to you. 

Once your pizza stone is nice and hot, carefully take it out of the oven and place it on something that can handle a 500-degree object. Hot pads do a good job of this. Transfer the pizza dough (corn meal side down) onto the hot stone. Try to do this step quickly and don't mess with it too much. The dough may get a little mis-shapen or tear, so just sort of touch it up, but don't spend too much time on that. The stone is freaking hot and will immediately start cooking the dough into a beautiful crust. Or it will immediately start cooking your hands into an ugly crisp. No one wants crispy hands. 

Pour about half of the buffalo wing sauce onto the dough and spread it around using the back of a spoon. Next, pour on all of the pizza sauce. Spread it around evenly using the back of a spoon.

The dough may start to "bubble" a bit. This is fine. You can ignore it or you can pop some bubbles. Up to you.

Sprinkle the cooked chicken and onions on there next. Then the mozzarella, provolone, and gouda. 

Bacon goes on top. 

Pop that into the oven, set your timer for 9-10 minutes. When the timer goes off, drizzle the remaining wing sauce on top of the cooked pizza. Keep it in the oven for another 1-2 minutes. 

When it's totally done, let it sit and cool off. It is very hot, believe me. Since I want you to have the best experience possible with this incredible za, you must wait. God forbid you should burn your tongue or throat and blame me. I can't have that on me!

After about 10-15 minutes of cooling, cut this bad boy up. Then go get some ranch out of your fridge or wherever you keep it. I know people that put ranch on the side, but in true fat-kid fashion, I have generously poured ranch all over the top of my slice. Actually, this was my second slice, hence the messy plate and almost finished second glass of wine. And also, I'm not a real food photographer, or a photographer by any means. I'm just a girl with an iPhone!

Eat up. This za usually disappears in less than 12 hours in our household.