I recently purchased a cookbook I’ve been eyeing for a while: Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes a Day, which is the sequel to Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois. Jeff is a doctor and Zoe is a pastry chef, and together they worked to create a method that anyone could use to make bread at home, even with limited time constraints and little baking experience.

The basic idea is this: mix a whole batch of dough (without kneading!), let it rest/rise for a while, then store it in the fridge for 2 weeks. At any point during those 2 weeks, use a portion of the dough (most recipes make enough for 4 regular size loaves) to shape, rest, and bake a loaf of bread. The 5 minutes a day is the “active” time that you spend working with the dough and doesn’t include resting and baking time.

There’s a lot to like about this method: it’s easy, uses basic ingredients (although there are recipes for more exotic breads, like Black Sesame Pita, or Msemmen Flatbread), and really doesn’t take a lot of active time. I also love that there is always some dough in the fridge that I can use, and it’s pretty flexible, too. So far, with one batch, I made one loaf of whole wheat bread, one loaf of cinnamon bread, and …. pizza!

Most of the breads you can make with the dough require at least an hour of rising time, but when you use it for pizza, the resting time is unnecessary. That means you can take a hunk of dough out of the fridge, roll it out, pile on the toppings, bake for about 10 minutes and…. presto! Homemade artisan pizza in less than half an hour! That’s QECH!

Using the artisan bread in 5 minutes a day baking method, you should prep your dough on a pizza peel while a baking stone is preheating in the oven. When the dough and the stone are ready, you slide the dough from the peel onto the hot stone. This ensures that the pizza crust will bake up evenly and nicely browned. I don’t have a pizza peel, though, so I just prep the dough right on the un-heated baking stone and put the whole thing in a preheated oven. It might not make perfect crust… but it comes pretty close!

Of course, you can make whatever kind of pizza you want, but this is what I did:

Artisan BBQ Chicken Pizza
1 portion Master Dough recipe from Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes a Day
1/2 cup BBQ sauce
1 cup shredded chicken
2 cups shredded cheese (I used cheddar and mozzarella)

Preheat the oven t0 500F or 550F, as hot as it will go. If you have a pizza peel and a pizza stone, place the pizza stone in the oven to preheat until the pizza is ready to bake.

Roll the dough out to 1/8″ thickness, either on a pizza peel or on a pizza stone. (Of course, you can bake the pizza on a regular old pizza pan, too.)

Spread the sauce evenly across the dough.

Top with chicken and cheese. If using a pizza peel, slide the pizza onto the baking stone, or place the stone (or pan) with the pizza in the oven, on the lowest rack.

Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until crust is browned and cheese is melted. Cool slightly, then slice and serve.

With a little preparation, this is a super QUICK method. When I made it tonight, I pulled the dough from the fridge, as well as the BBQ sauce, which was leftover from an earlier meal. The chicken came from the freezer, also leftovers from an earlier meal. All I had to do was shred the cheese, and put it all together!

Very EASY, too. Rolling out the dough was the hardest part, and that wasn’t very hard.

Pretty CHEAP, considering all the leftovers that went into the pizza! Pizza is actually a great way to use up leftover meats and veggies in a new and delicious way.

This is HEALTHY in many ways. For one, I used whole grain dough for the crust, which makes it a complex carbohydrate. I used homemade BBQ sauce - no high fructose corn syrup or chemical ingredients! Using homemade cooked chicken is healthier than pre-packaged, preserved, cooked chicken, or even canned chicken. It would have been healthier to add some vegetables (onions, peppers and tomatoes come to mind), but most vegetables that are suitable for pizza are not exactly suitable for my DH!

Did you ever see that commercial where the guy tells his would-be girlfriend that he’s a “meatitarian”? My husband could be that guy, except he’s already married. To me, in case you were wondering.

It was no surprise to me the other day that he started drooling when he heard a different commercial advertising pizza with five or six different kinds of meat. That’s pretty much just right up his alley!

Our dinner plans changed suddenly the other day, and I needed a quick but filling meal. I was in the mood for pizza and was reminded of my husband’s penchant for “meatitarian pizza”. I didn’t have 5 or 6 different kinds of meat in the house (not cooked ones, anyway) so I settled for a 3-meat pizza. It has 2 kinds of cheese, does that count?

Of course, there are at least a zillion different ways to make pizza, so any one recipe can be adapted to your desires and needs, but here’s the way I made it the other night. I should warn you, it has no tomato sauce because my DH cannot have it. Usually I use Ranch dressing, BBQ sauce or a white sauce, but this time I tried to recreate a garlic oil sauce we’ve had before. It goes better I think with a thin pizza, so if you go this route, either use half to three quarters of the pizza dough recipe or roll it out in a larger pan.

This is QUICK, especially if you have the cooked meats on hand. I had some browned beef in the freezer, as well as cooked bacon, and used a can of chicken as well. Other options would be sliced ham or crumbled sausage. The dough is quick, too, because you don’t have to worry about letting it rise.

This is EASY, even when you make your own pizza dough. Despite the use of yeast, there’s no proofing or rising involved, so it’s not in the least bit difficult. Use your food processor to shred the cheese in seconds.

It’s CHEAPer than ordering delivery, that’s for sure. It’s even cheaper than buying a pre-made crust and other pre-packaged ingredients. It’s a great way to use up leftover meats you may have taking up space in your fridge and freezer, in which case it’s even cheaper.

I tried my best to make it HEALTHY by using whole wheat and honey in the crust and adding in the squash. Most of you can add in other vegetables, such as tomatoes, peppers, onions, and the like. Unfortunately, I cannot do that because of my DH’s diet.

Speaking of whom, he ate half the pizza in one sitting! I told you he was a meatitarian!!