Chebe BBQ Chicken Pizza

We started making pizza with Chebe last summer.  You can read about all of our early experiments with Chebe pizza here.  Since then, I have written blog posts about our Pesto Chicken Pizza and Sausage & Spinach Pizza.   About a month ago, I tried California Pizza Kitchen's gluten free BBQ Chicken Pizza for the first time, and was blown away by how good it was.  You can read my review of California Pizza Kitchen here.  I have been wanting to make one at home for months, but we hadn't made barbeque chicken in a while, until last night.  We made Oven Baked Barbeque Chicken and had enough leftovers to make pizza.  

The key ingredients for all of our Chebe pizzas are Chebe Original Cheese Bread Mix and Organic Valley Mild Cheddar Cheese.  We tried the Chebe Pizza Crust Mix, but weren't crazy about the seasonings in it, so we make our pizzas with the Cheese Bread Mix instead.  I purchase it from amazon or Chamberlin's in Winter Park. 

We love our cast iron pizza pan.  If you don't own one, it is worth the investment.  We tried making Chebe pizza on an aluminum pizza pan and the crust did not crisp up.  Lodge cast iron pizza pans are available from amazon for a very reasonable price.  You can view them here.  We clean our cast iron pizza pan with a rub of salt and water, then season it with a little bit of oil before putting it away.  I store all my cast iron pieces in the warming drawer of my oven, so I don't have to worry about getting oil in my cabinets.  

My new favorite mozzarella cheese to make pizza with is Bel Gioioso Fresh Mozzarella Pearls, because I don't have to slice them, and it's easy to sprinkle them around the pizza.

When using fresh mozzarella on a pizza, it is important to remove some of the moisture before baking, by placing it between two paper towels for at least 15 minutes.  

On the back of the Chebe Original Cheese Bread Mix box, it says you will need 2 tablespoons of oil, 1 cup of shredded cheese, 2 large eggs, and 1/4 cup of water.  I pack my Organic Valley Mild Cheddar Cheese into my 1 C measuring cup.  When I let go, it looks like it is overflowing.  

I like to beat my eggs in a large bowl, then add the cheese and 2 T of extra virgin olive oil or organic canola oil.  I then mix these ingredients well with a fork.  

Next, I slowly add the Original Cheese Break Mix to the bowl, and stir it with a soup spoon

Here is what my pizza dough looks like after I stir in 1/4 C of water.  

I knead it before placing it on my lightly oil pizza pan.  Even though our pan is always seasoned with olive oil before we put it away, I add a little more and gently wipe it with a paper towel before adding my pizza dough.  

With my hands, I evenly spread the dough out on my pizza pan.  

I par bake my crust on the bottom shelf of my preheated oven on 450 degrees for 12 minutes.  It usually comes out with several large bubbles, which I flatten with the back of a fork before adding my toppings.  We have tried pricking it with a fork before par baking it, but the bubbles still happen anyway.

I cut up one of my leftover chicken breasts into small pieces and used my favorite barbeque sauce, Guy Fieri's Bourbon Brown Sugar.  

After brushing on a thin layer of barbeque sauce, I added mozzarella cheese, chicken, a light sprinkle of Parmesan and Romano, and more of the cheddar cheese I used in the crust.  

My whole family really enjoyed our latest Chebe pizza creation.  I can't wait to see what it's like left over tomorrow.

Chebe BBQ Chicken Pizza

Ingredients

Crust
1 box of Chebe Original Cheese Bread Mix
2 T olive oil or organic canola oil
1 C of shredded cheese (sharp or hard works best) -- firmly packed
2 large eggs
1/4 C water

Toppings
1 large cooked chicken breast (I used leftover Oven Baked Barbeque Chicken)
Gluten free barbeque sauce
8 ounce package of fresh mozzarella
Parmesan and/or Romano -- grated
Shredded cheddar

Directions

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees and lightly oil your pizza pan.

Place your mozzarella between two paper towels to remove moisture.

In a large bowl, beat the eggs before adding the shredded cheese and 2 T of oil.  Mix well with a fork, then slowly add the Chebe Original Cheese Break mix.  Stir well with a spoon before adding 1/4 C of water.  Mix as well as you can with a spoon, then knead the dough until smooth with your hands.

Place the pizza dough on a lightly oiled 14 inch cast iron pizza pan, and spread it out evenly with your hands.

Par bake the crust on a shelf in the bottom third of your oven for 12 minutes.  Flatten out any bubbles with the back of a fork before adding toppings.

Brush a light coating of barbeque sauce on your pizza before adding the mozzarella and chicken.  Add a light sprinkle of Parmesan and/or Romano, then finish with cheddar cheese.

Bake for another 11 minutes on the bottom shelf before moving the pizza to the top third of your oven and turning it to broil.  Broil for a minute or two until the cheese is bubbly and perfectly browned.

Loosen your pizza from the pan with a large spatula before carefully sliding it onto a serving platter or pizza pan to slice and serve.

You can view other Chebe pizza ideas in my Pizza Experiments blog post here.

Recipe and Product Notes

If you are using chicken that wasn't cooked in barbeque sauce, you might want to toss it in a little bit of sauce before adding it to the pizza.

FYI -- The package states that Chebe Original Cheese Bread Mix is free of gluten, soy, corn, rice, potato, yeast, peanut/tree nuts, egg, iodine, and sugar.  It is certified gluten free and non GMO.  It contains manioc (tapioca) flour, modified manioc starch, dry milk, and iodine-free sea salt, making it grain free as well.

We buy our Romano and Parmesan in the cheese section of Whole Foods.   I purchase Bel Gioioso Fresh Mozzarella Pearls from Publix.  Organic Valley Mild Cheddar Cheese can be found in either store.

For more information on Chebe and where it can be purchased, you can visit Chebe's website here.

CPK's Gluten Free BBQ Chicken Pizza is topped with BBQ sauce, smoked gouda, red onions, cilantro, and Nueske's applewood smoked bacon.  I always ask for the onions to be left off, but I love their use of gouda, cilantro, and bacon.  I might have to make a CPK version of my BBQ Chicken Pizza the next time I make it.