Alabama white chicken bake

Chicken bake dough: combine all chicken bake dough ingredients in a stand mixer and using the dough hook knead for 6 to 8 minutes or until a smooth dough forms.

Hand kneading? You can knead this by hand too. Stir the ingredients until no dry flour spots remain and then knead by hand on a counter or surface for 10 to 15 minutes until the dough is smooth.

Shape the dough into a ball and place it in a lightly oiled and sealed container in your fridge overnight. 

Around one hour before it's time to cook the chicken bake, pull the dough out and divide it into five portions. Shape each portion into a ball and place the balls that you are not using back into a sealed container in the fridge for up to 4 or 5 days. Leave the dough ball you are using under a clean kitchen towel while you prepare the rest of your ingredients.

Alabama white sauce: add mayonnaise, apple cider vinegar, ground black pepper, garlic powder, sugar, prepared horseradish, salt, and lemon juice to a medium-sized bowl and whisk until fully combined. Add a pinch of cayenne pepper powder if you would like to add a little spice to the sauce.

Add your Alabama white sauce to a sealed container and store it in the refrigerator for around a week or so. 

Build process: preheat your oven to 400 F (205 C). 

Chop the cooked chicken into bite-sized pieces, add it to a small bowl with spoonfuls of Alabama white sauce, and toss to combine. 

Using a rolling pin, flatten the dough ball and roll it into a rough 5 x 7-inch rectangle (about 1/4 inch thick). 

Reserve 2 tablespoons of shredded cheese off to the side for use on top of the Chicken Bake. Sprinkle 1/2 of the remaining cheese on top of the middle of the flattened dough. 

Cover the cheese with the bite-sized pieces of sauce-coated chicken and then sprinkle on the small bacon pieces. Sprinkle red onion and cilantro (if using) on top and then cover everything with the other 1/2 of the shredded cheese. 

Carefully fold both of the long sides of the dough over the top of all of the ingredients and pinch the dough together attempting to close everything up. Do this a few times up and down the length of the longest direction until you have created a seam. Pinch the seam closed until you have sealed up the ingredients inside the dough. Pinch the seam again until it's fully closed and fully sealed including the ends. This seam will now be the bottom of the Chicken Bake. 

Flip the ingredient-filled dough over and place it on a silicone sub sandwich roll mold or parchment-lined sheet pan. 

Egg wash: create an egg wash by adding one whole large egg and 1 tablespoon of water to a small bowl. Whisk to combine well. Paint the egg wash on the top of the dough with a pastry brunch or a spoon/spatula. This egg wash will help the top of the Chicken Bake to be nice a golden brown. 

After painting on the egg wash, sprinkle some ground black pepper on the top of the dough and cover it with the 2 tablespoons of shredded cheese that you reserved before. 

Cooking: bake the Chicken Bake for 20 to 25 minutes rotating the sheet pan 90 degrees at the halfway point of baking. 

Remove the Chicken Bake from the oven and allow it to rest for at least 5 minutes on a cooling rack so that the bottom doesn't get soggy. The interior of the Chicken Bake will be extremely hot, so be careful cutting it or biting into it.