Deep Dish Pizza
What’s your favorite type of pizza? Do you like thick, soft(ish) crust, or thin, crispy crust? Are you a deep dish person? I usually go for a nice thin crust and sparse toppings to just add some extra flavor. Every once in a while, though, I want a nice thick crust, that’s able to hold up some heavier toppings. A couple of weeks ago, I wanted to indulge that craving, so we made a deep dish pizza, topped with Italian sausage, mushrooms and fresh basil. Oh, so good!
It so happened that Andra and I were talking on Twitter about deep dish pizza. Our local Uno’s closed a few years back, much to my disappointment. Every once in a while, all I needed was a personal size deep dish pizza from Uno’s to satisfy my hunger. Since I can’t do that anymore, I had to make one at home. By the way, if anyone’s got a killer recipe for Uno’s buttery crust, I’d love it! Andra and I decided we’d both make some pizza over the weekend.
I started with this recipe at Food Network.com. It had seriously mixed reviews. I decided to try it, though--I’m not totally inexperienced with yeast dough--I’ve been making it for years. I weighed out my ingredients and followed the directions carefully. This dough…wasn’t soft and didn’t have that “ahh, this is a nice dough” consistency. Not even close. In fact, my Kitchen Aid stand mixer was really struggling with it. That poor mixer was wheezing and straining like someone that has smoked three packs a day for fifty years! I had to stop it before it blew a gasket and gave up the fight. And no, I didn’t add the cornmeal, like some reviewers did. The dough was like clay. That awful, stinky gray clay that we used to get in elementary school. Remember? It was almost hard as a rock! Rather than try to fix it, (and let’s face it, if a KA mixer can barely knead it, how much worse would it get when it was baked?!) we gave it to my 7 year old to play with in the kitchen. And then, we do what we usually do--hit the local pizza joint for dough balls. I still can’t replicate theirs, and it’s absolutely perfect. At $3.50 for a 2 pound ball--totally worth it.
After the dough fix, we were on a roll. Ha! I removed the sausage from it’s casings, and browned it, then sautéed the mushrooms. I love mushrooms, but don’t really care for their raw flavor a whole lot.
We followed the remaining directions for cooking the pizza in the recipe I linked to above. Oven at 425 degrees, dough in the pan (reminder-we used a 2 pound dough ball), layer the cheese first-mozzarella and parm, then the sauce, and then the toppings. Ours was fully baked after 30 minutes. Let it set up for about 10-15 minutes, then stuff your face! We also topped ours with sliced, fresh basil after baking. Oh, we also heated the pan slightly and added a bit of oil and butter to it before pressing the dough in, and then baked the pizza (in the pan) right on our baking stones for a nice crunchy bottom crust.
This one’s filling, so it’ll definitely feed a crowd. Make two for a huge crowd, though!
Elle | Print Article | Share Article | Email Article | 21 Comments tagged Chicago style, basil, deep dish pizza, mozzarella, mushroom, new england, recipe, sausage
Reader Comments (21)
I love deep dish pizza - more bread!
Yes please! I would eat this pizza up.
thin crust is also my favourite! yours looks delicious and I wouldn't mind to grab a slice now! :)
At my table, alone, with a sixer, that constitutes a meal for one. Noms!
This made me hungry! I've been craving pizza all day and I come home to this. I'd love to try to make my own some time. I've made normal pizzas but I've never tried making a deep dish one. I always leave that to the professionals.
I am usually a thin crust fan, but being from Chicago originally, I crave a good deep dish every now and again. This looks delicious! I am so sorry to hear about the dough fiasco. I can't imagine something so tough that even the KA has trouble with it!!
I, too, am usually a thin and crispy crust kind of girl, but the occasional deep dish style is just wonderful - almost like having a bowlful o' pizza! I usually make my dough with either the recipe that came with my Cuisinart food processor, or the one out of Secrets of a Jewish Baker. I know - go figure! But neither one has ever failed me.
I HAVE to stop reading your posts at work!!!! You're Killing me!....OMG that looks good....
A while back there was a pizza dough recipe by Wolfgang Puck that I used that was wonderful.
It was very easy and I dont usually have much luck with the dough/yeast thing....made with the KA & came out nice and silky.
Problem is I dont remember which magazine it was in.... I save WAY too many.....If I find it (and I've been trying to find it myself for a while) I'll email you....
Oh man, this looks fantastic. I've made my fair share of thin crust pizzas, but never a deep disher!
Looks like its from a pizza place! I'm not a fan of the deep dish but that looks so good.
love this one!! awesome!
I admit, I'm a thin crust fan...and I know; probably sacrilege in a pizza discussion but I prefer olive oil and toppings instead of tomato sauce. Can we still be friends?
That being said...your photos are making me hungry; so maybe I could be persuaded, I think easily, to try this.
I love deep dish pizza. Extra mushrooms for me:)
Love, love, love deep dish pizza. I always make mine in a cast-iron pan, which really gives the crust a nice crispy edge. I think the only thing that might make this better would be a handful or two of fresh spinach! YUM.
I had to come by and say hi to a fellow NH blogger!
Homemade pizza is one of my favorite quick & customizable meals :)
for me, the only thing more important the the pizza's crust is its cheese content. cheese is key. :)
we like simple thin crust pizza - either a traditional mozz, tomato, basil or fennel, sausage & peppadew on thin crust - divine!!
Now I want a sausage and mushroom pizza. :/
It's only 8 in the morning here but all of a sudden I am craving deep dish pizza! Your pizza looks incredible, yum
Very Nice!!!
A Chicago style deep dish pizza and a glass of ice cold beer is my treat for a long week of hard work, dieting and exercise.