Although I am now a practicing vegetarian, one of the few things that still makes me drool are Buffalo Wings, and being a Pizza maker for the last ten years including all of the best and busiest places in Buffalo, Ny has left a special place in my heart for the  Buffalo Chicken Wing Pizza.

Its a pretty common pizza these days, most places and even a few of the national chains offer a variant of this pie. But speaking from experience, most of these places just dont know how to do it right.

The problem is, the farther you get from New York the worse the Pizza gets and as  you get farther from Buffalo the quality of the wings decline. So although I shouldnt share heres how to make the perfect Buffalo Wing Pizza at home.

We are not going to get to involved into the dough here, although it is the most important part of any pizza.

Suggestion 1:

Go to your local Pizzeria and ask to buy a dough ball, most will comply. Have them pack in flour NOT OIL. It will probably be a 2lb ball.

At home you will want to cut this 2lb ball into 2 one lb balls

Suggestion 2:

Get a parbaked dough crust from your local Grocery store - a fresh one, if they dont offer these see if you can find fresh pizza dough here instead.

LAST RESORT

Get one of those BOBOLI things,

Other supplies to grab:

Chicken Breast

Butter

Franks Red Hot - or other cayenne pepper based sauce, but Franks is the top suggestion

Blue Cheese Dressing - I suggest Marie's or Kens- Blue cheese dressings are not created equal.

Mozzarella - You want a brick and you want to grate it yourself into a very course,thick cut,If you must buy pre-shredded, go for the coarsest cut you can find.

Other Supplies:

Pizza Wheel (Cutter)

Pizza Stone or Pan that claims to serve this purpose

Pizza Peel (Board)

I realize there are no quanities here, its not rocket science - but you might have a 12' crust, you might have a 14' you may stretch yourself a pacman looking pie, Ill never know....just be sure to use cheese sparingly and to not overdo it, as it will get soupy and take the crunch out of your crust

Where many if not all Pizza Places go wrong with this pie, is a failure to keep the chicken crunchy, many places just substitute old Chicken fingers - which tastes good to, but thats a Buffalo Chicken Finger Pizza, we are making a wing pizza here.

Cut the chicken into nice thumb size hunks, throw into bowl with tons of hot sauce, maybe some minced garlic or garlic powder, plus liberal salt and pepper.

Preheat the oven to 500, if you have a Pizza Stone get that in there an hour ago.

If you are using a Boboli or parbaked crust, you can follow the crust directions on the package.

This pie is using pre cooked product, so timing is not as important as it would be normally, the pie will be done when the cheese first starts getting little nice burn bubbles acrooss the top!

Take that pre-prepped chicken and toss it in a buttered pan - cut up a stick of butter and toss that in with the chicken. Throw it in the oven, as its getting to temp for the pizza. Might as well kill two birds with one stone while eating them right! Ideally, this butter is is going to be shaken over the chicken as it bakes, this is whats gonna get you your crisp, so make sure you reach in their and shake those wings around a couple of times.

You could alternately, deep fry these chicken pieces - then toss heavily with the marinade cocktail.

If you know how to stretch a dough and toss it on your stone with the peel, go ahead and do that - toss it and put a real light layer of blue cheese on to keep the bubbles down. Bake it 3-4 minutes - so it doesnt stick to your peel, while you prep it as the moisture and weight from the blue cheese tends to make the crust stick to a peel quickly

We will continue as if you are using a Boboli or similar Parbaked crust.

Dress the crust with a ladles worth of Blue cheese, spread it over in circular motions working from the inside out - MAKE SURE THERE IS NOT AN EXCESS OF SAUCE IN THE Center, when the pie is cut this is your thinnest and smallest part of the pie!

At this point you are going to drench the blue cheese with hot sauce to taste, this is also a good opportunity to get a little artsy- the red sauce looks great on a white base and will be able to be seen through the melted cheese

Whether you are baking or frying the chicken time to take it out, your goal is a very nice crunchy exterior, that will not soften up from the oils of the cheeses.

The chicken is going under the cheese, this will protect it from drying out.

Now the Mozzarella is going on top - You may think you like extra cheese - but you dont, around 2 handfuls is your max here, once again be sure you do not have an excess of cheese in the center.

When your ovens to temp (500) or if your following box directions for your dough.

Toss it in...If you dont have a peel, or arent using a pizza pan, a good trick is an old pizza box..use the top to slide it right onto your stone!

Halfway through your cooking time, rotate the pie 180 degrees.

The pie is done when the mozzarella first starts getting a some dark bubbles around the highest points of the pie, keep it in as long as you can stand- this pie tastes good crunchy and the blue cheese dressing is going to make sure its nice and creamy on the inside.

When you take the pie out, once again, an old pizza box works great if you dont have better options....DONT CUT IT RIGHT AWAY

Give it about 4-5 minutes to congeal up, otherwise your chickens going to float away in a steaming blue cheese river. Especially if you used to much cheese which you probably did.

Enjoy!

If you like Hot Sauce-

Prep the crust with hot sauce only, put it on just as you would tomato sauce normally. When the Pie is done, drizzle blue cheese over the top to taste- This is a beautiful presentation/

You can boil the chicken, and marinate in your favorite Buffalo wing sauce a couple of days prior, but this will not result in the crucnchy wing pizza I strive for.

Instead of Blue Cheese Dressing - try a mix of feta and crumbly blue - put this on to taste 1 minute before the pie is done

Vegetarian Alternative:

Substitute Chicken Breast with Morningstar Farms Buffalo Wings, these things are amazingly well textured