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Recipe: Deep Dish Pizza

Pizza, Recipes

DEEP DISH PIZZA
I think pizza might be my favorite food and has been since as far back as I can remember. What’s not to love?! You can make healthy, veggie-topped flatbread pizzas, ooey-gooey cheesy bad for you pizzas, grilled pizza, pizza with an egg on top, pizza with a salad on top, personal pizzas, big giant pizzas, thin-crust pizzas, thick-crust pizzas, pizza with white sauce, pizza with red sauce….you get the idea.

So one kind of pizza I had never made (or barely eaten for that matter) is a deep-dish pizza. I have just never lived anywhere that had deep-dish pizza. Last weekend I decided it was time to rectify that and made my first ever deep dish pizza. It was SO good. I topped mine with italian sausage, peppers, olives and red sauce – delicious!!
This recipe from America’s Test Kitchen is really easy. I did not follow their instructions for the sauce and filling, I just used what I had on hand instead.
DEEP DISH PIZZA RECIPE
(America’s Test Kitchen)

Dough:
3 1/4 cups (16 1/4 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 cup (2 3/4 ounces) yellow cornmeal
1 1/2 teaspoons table salt
2 teaspoons sugar
2 1/4 teaspoons instant or rapid-rise yeast
1 1/4 cups water (10 ounces), room temperature
3 tablespoons unsalted butter , melted, plus 4 tablespoons, softened
1 teaspoon plus 4 tablespoons olive oil
Sauce:
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup grated onion , from 1 medium onion (see note)
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
table salt
2 medium garlic cloves , minced or pressed through garlic press (about 2 teaspoons)
1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes (see note)
1/4 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh basil leaves
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
ground black pepper
Toppings:
1 pound mozzarella cheese , shredded (about 4 cups)
1/2 ounce grated Parmesan cheese (about 1/4 cup)
Pepperoni, cooked sausage, caramelized onion, pitted olives, roughly chopped basil
Instructions:
For the Dough:

  • Mix flour, cornmeal, salt, sugar, and yeast in bowl of stand mixer fitted with dough hook on low speed until incorporated, about 1 minute.
  • Add water and melted butter and mix on low speed until fully combined, 1 to 2 minutes, scraping sides and bottom of bowl occasionally.
  • Increase speed to medium and knead until dough is glossy and smooth and pulls away from sides of bowl, 4 to 5 minutes. (Dough will only pull away from sides while mixer is on. When mixer is off, dough will fall back to sides.)
  • Using fingers, coat large bowl with 1 teaspoon olive oil, rubbing excess oil from fingers onto blade of rubber spatula. Using oiled spatula, transfer dough to bowl, turning once to oil top; cover tightly with plastic wrap.
  • Let rise at room temperature until nearly doubled in volume, 45 to 60 minutes.
For the Sauce:

  • While dough rises, heat butter in medium saucepan over medium heat until melted.
  • Add onion, oregano, and 1/2 teaspoon salt; cook, stirring occasionally, until liquid has evaporated and onion is golden brown, about 5 minutes.
  • Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
  • Stir in tomatoes and sugar, increase heat to high, and bring to simmer.
  • Lower heat to medium-low and simmer until reduced to 2 1/2 cups, 25 to 30 minutes.
  • Off heat, stir in basil and oil, then season with salt and pepper.
To Laminate the Dough:

  • Adjust oven rack to lower position and heat oven to 425 degrees.
  • Using rubber spatula, turn dough out onto dry work surface and roll into 15- by 12-inch rec-tangle. Using offset spatula, spread softened butter over surface of dough, leaving 1/2-inch border along edges. Starting at short end, roll dough into tight cylinder.
  • With seam side down, flatten cylinder into 18- by 4-inch rectangle. Cut rectangle in half crosswise.
  • Working with 1 half, fold into thirds like business letter; pinch seams together to form ball.
  • Repeat with remaining half.
  • Return balls to oiled bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and let rise in refrigerator until nearly doubled in volume, 40 to 50 minutes.

Combining them all:

  • Coat two 9-inch round cake pans with 2 tablespoons olive oil each.
  • Transfer 1 dough ball to dry work surface and roll out into 13-inch disk about 1/4 inch thick.
  • Transfer dough to pan by rolling dough loosely around rolling pin and unrolling into pan.
  • Lightly press dough into pan, working into corners and 1 inch up sides.
  • If dough resists stretching, let it relax 5 minutes before trying again.
  • Repeat with remaining dough ball.
  • For each pizza, sprinkle 2 cups grated mozzarella evenly over surface of dough.
  • Spread 1 1/4 cups tomato sauce over cheese, add whatever toppings you want to use and sprinkle 2 tablespoons Parmesan over sauce.
  • Bake until crust is golden brown, 20 to 30 minutes.
  • Remove pizza from oven and let rest 10 minutes before slicing and serving.

Recipe: Homemade Pizza Recipe a la 2Wives New London, CT

Pizza, Recipes



Homemade Pizza Recipe
Prep time: 2 hoursCook time: 30 minutesYield: Makes 2 10-12-inch pizzas
Pizza dough is a yeasted dough which requires active dry yeast. Make sure the check the expiration date on the yeast package.
You can use all purpose flour instead of the bread flour that is called for in the recipe, but bread flour is higher in gluten than all-purpose flour and will make a crispier crust for your pizza.
Ingredients
Pizza Dough: Makes enough dough for two 10-12 inch pizzas
1 1/2 cups warm water (105°F-115°F)
1 package (2 1/4 teaspoons) of active dry yeast
3 1/2 cups bread flour
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon sugar
Pizza Ingredients
Olive oil
Cornmeal (to help slide the pizza onto the pizza stone)
Tomato sauce (smooth, or puréed)
Mozzarella cheese, grated
Parmesan cheese, grated
Feta cheese, crumbled
Mushrooms, thinly sliced
Bell peppers, stems and seeds removed, thinly sliced
Italian sausage, cooked ahead and crumbled
Chopped fresh basil
Pesto
Pepperoni, thinly sliced
Onions, thinly sliced
Ham, thinly sliced
Special equipment needed
A pizza stone, highly recommended if you want crispy pizza crust
A pizza peel or a flat baking sheet
A pizza wheel for cutting the pizza, not required, but easier to deal with than a knife
Making the Pizza Dough
1 Proof the yeast: Place the warm water in the large bowl of a heavy duty stand mixer. Sprinkle the yeast over the warm water and let it sit for 5 minutes until the yeast is dissolved.
After 5 minutes stir if the yeast hasn’t dissolved completely. The yeast should begin to foam, which indicates that it is still active and alive.
2 Make and knead the pizza dough: Using the mixing paddle attachment, mix in the flour, salt, sugar, and olive oil on low speed for a minute. Then replace the mixing paddle with the dough hook attachment.
Knead the pizza dough on low to medium speed using the dough hook until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes.
If you don’t have a mixer, you can mix the ingredients together and knead them by hand.
If the dough seems a little too wet, sprinkle it with a little more flour.
3 Put dough in warm place to rise: Spread a thin layer of olive oil over the inside of a large bowl. Place the pizza dough in the bowl and turn it around so that it gets coated with the oil.
Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let sit in a warm place (75-85°F) until it doubles in size, at least 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
You can let it sit for several hours if you want. The longer rise will improve the flavor of the pizza crust.
If you don’t have a warm spot in the house you can heat the oven to 150 degrees, and then turn off the oven. Let the oven cool till it is just a little warm, then place the bowl of dough in this warmed oven to rise.
At this point, if you want to make ahead, you can freeze the dough in an airtight container for up to two weeks.
Preparing the Pizzas
1 Preheat pizza stone: Place a pizza stone on a rack in the lower third of your oven. Preheat the oven to 450°F for at least 30 minutes, preferably an hour.
2 Punch down dough, divide into two balls: Remove the plastic cover from the dough and punch the dough down so it deflates a bit. Divide the dough in half. Form two round balls of dough. Place each in its own bowl, cover with plastic and let sit for 10 minutes.
3 Prep toppings: Prepare your desired toppings. Note that you are not going to want to load up each pizza with a lot of toppings as the crust will end up not crisp that way.
About a third a cup each of tomato sauce and cheese would be sufficient for one pizza. One to two mushrooms thinly sliced will cover a pizza.
4 Flatten dough ball, and stretch out into a round: Working one ball of dough at a time, take one ball of dough and flatten it with your hands on a slightly floured work surface.
Starting at the center and working outwards, use your fingertips to press the dough to 1/2-inch thick. Turn and stretch the dough until it will not stretch further.
Let the dough relax 5 minutes and then continue to stretch it until it reaches the desired diameter – 10 to 12 inches.
Use your palm to flatten the edge of the dough where it is thicker. You can pinch the very edges if you want to form a lip.
5 Brush dough top with olive oil: Brush the top of the dough with olive oil (to prevent it from getting soggy from the toppings). Use your finger tips to press down and make dents along the surface of the dough to prevent bubbling. Let rest another 5 minutes.
Repeat with the second ball of dough.
6 Sprinkle pizza peel with corn meal, put flattened dough on top: Lightly sprinkle your pizza peel (or flat baking sheet) with corn meal. (The corn meal will act as little ball bearings to help move the pizza from the pizza peel into the oven.)
Transfer one prepared flattened dough to the pizza peel.
If the dough has lost its shape in the transfer, lightly shape it to the desired dimensions.
7 Spread with tomato sauce and sprinkle with toppings: Spoon on the tomato sauce, sprinkle with cheese, and place your desired toppings on the pizza.
8 Sprinkle cornmeal on pizza stone, slide pizza onto pizza stone in oven: Sprinkle some cornmeal on the baking stone in the oven (watch your hands, the oven is hot!). Gently shake the peel to see if the dough will easily slide, if not, gently lift up the edges of the pizza and add a bit more cornmeal.
Slide the pizza off of the peel and on to the baking stone in the oven.
9 Bake pizza: Bake pizza one at a time until the crust is browned and the cheese is golden, about 10-15 minutes. If you want, toward the end of the cooking time you can sprinkle on a little more cheese.

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