Main Baking

Roast Chicken with Thyme & Aioli

"What could be better than a roast chicken dinner on a Friday night, then using the leftovers on a pizza on Saturday? This is one of our most popular specials at the pizzeria, so I tend to put it on the menu a few times a year," Philip Dennhardt, founder of Saturday Pizzas at Ballymaloe Cookery School

10 minutes prep, 10 minutes cook

Serves 2 x 25 cm pizzas

Ingredients

2 balls of pizza dough

Pinch of fine sea salt

1 tbsp olive or rapeseed oil

160ml tomato sauce

250g grated Mozzarella

200g shredded leftover roast chicken

1–2 tsps fresh thyme leaves

2–4 tbsps aioli

Method

Preheat the oven to 250°C/ Fan 230°C/Gas 9 or as high as it will go. Place a pizza stone or an upside-down baking tray in the oven to heat up too.

Get all your ingredients and equipment ready, including taking the dough out of the fridge 1 hour before you’re ready to cook.

Stretch the pizza dough by hand or roll it out. Sprinkle a pinch of salt evenly over the dough, then brush a little oil onto the rim with a pastry brush to help it turn golden.

Using a ladle or big spoon, pour the tomato sauce in the centre of the dough. Spread the sauce over the pizza in concentric circles with the back of the ladle or spoon, leaving a 2.5cm border clear around the edges.

Place a big handful of the grated Mozzarella in a mound in the middle of the dough. Spread it out evenly across the pizza, leaving the edges clear for the crust. Scatter the chicken and thyme on top of the cheese, aiming to get a good balance of ingredient

Check there is no liquid on the peel or board or the pizza won’t slide off. Shake the board gently to see if the pizza will move. If it doesn’t, lift up the pizza with a dough cutter or spatula and sprinkle a little flour on the board until it moves.

Slide the pizza off the peel or board onto the pizza stone or upside-down baking tray in the hot oven. Cook for 7–10 minutes, but start checking it after 5 minutes – you want the bottom and the crust to be cooked through and golden.

Take the pizza out of the oven and transfer to a wire cooling rack, then drizzle with the aioli. Allow to stand for 1 minute before cutting into slices.