Deep Dish Pizza

This is my deep dish pizza recipe, which was the result of about a month of on-and-off trials trying to find the best deep dish pizza recipe. It's sort of a summary of all of the recipes I had tried. The final breakthrough for this one was the sauce, which is my favorite part.

Materials

  • instant yeast packet (1)
  • hot water (1 cup)
  • white sugar (excess)
  • butter (excess)
  • finely ground corn meal (0.5 cups)
  • kosher salt (excess)
  • all purpose flour (3 cups)
  • olive oil (2 tbsp)
  • garlic (3 cloves)
  • oregano (2 tbsp)
  • red pepper flakes (3 tsp)
  • tomato paste (2 tbsp)
  • san marzano tomatoes w/ water (1 28 oz can, whole & peeled)
  • pepper (excess)
  • mozzarella (sandwich slices, 8)
  • provolone (sandwich slices, 8)
  • italian sausage (0.5 lbs, raw, no casing)
  • parmesan (excess, grated, garnish)

Procedure

Dough

  1. Add one packet of instant yeast to 1 cup of hot water. Add 2 tbsp of white sugar and allow the mixture to bloom for about ten minutes.
  2. Add 1 tbsp of melted butter, 1/2 cup of finely ground corn meal, and 1 tsp of kosher salt to the water, yeast, and sugar mixture. Stir to combine.
  3. Using a wooden spoon, stir in 2.5 cups of all purpose flour until the dough is shaggy. Pour the dough out onto a lightly floured workspace.
  4. Gently kneed the dough unti it is combined in a single mass, but it should still have a few cracks in it. Place dough ball in a lightly oiled bowl, roll it around to coat, then cover the bowl with a plate for 1 hr.

Sauce

  1. Cover the bottom of a dutch oven in olive oil. Add three minced cloves of garlic and simmer gently for about five minutes.
  2. Add 2 tbsp of dry oregano, 3 tsp of red pepper flakes (or to taste, if averse to spicy foods), and 2 tbsp of tomato paste. Mix to combine and continue to simmer for 2 min.
  3. Add an entire 28 OZ can of whole, peeled san marzano tomatoes. Break each tomato in half with the edge of a wooden spoon. Rinse out the can with 1/4 cup of cold water and add it to the sauce.
  4. Turn the heat to high until simmer is reached, then reduce the heat to gentle simmer . Reduce the sauce until you can "part it in half" with a wooden spoon.
  5. Turn the heat to low, then add sugar, salt, and pepper to taste. The sugar will help curb the acidity of the concentrated tomato sauce, so don't be shy with it. It should be about 2-3 tbsp.
  6. Add 1 tbsp of butter and turn the heat to low. Once the butter melts, turn the heat off and allow to cool.

Pizza

  1. Pre-heat the oven to 400F. As it heats, leave a 12 inch cast iron skillet in the oven until it is just hot enough to melt butter. Remove the skillet and, using a fork, melt 1 TBSP of butter all along the bottom and sides of the pan. Set aside to cool.
  2. Remove the dough from the bowl and transfer to a floured table top. Dust with flower until the surface of the ball is no longer moist.
  3. Cut about 1/3rd of the dough off the ball and set aside.
  4. Working the dough as little as possible, roll it out to about 1/4 inch thickness. Carefully drape the dough over the buttered and cooled skillet and gently push it against the sides and bottom of the pan. Since the dough is buttery, it may rip, but just use some of the dough you set aside to 'patch it'. Give the dough a minute to settle into the pan.
  5. Using a sharp knife, trim off the excess dough so that the top of the crust is flush with the top edge of the skillet.
  6. Arrange 8 slices of mozzarella and 8 slices of provolone evenly around the bottom of the pizza.
  7. On top the cheese, arrange 0.5 lbs of raw, bulk Italian sausage around the bottom, ripping it the meat into bite sized chunks and using your wet thumb to flatten them out against the bottom.
  8. Using the remaining dough, roll out a small disk 1/4 INCH thick disk. Gently place the dough disc at on top the cheese and the sausage. It should not overlap with the sides. Pinch the edges of the disc so it is flush with the crust. Using a sharp knife, poke a few holes through the crust to allow steam to escape and prevent bubbling.
  9. Gently ladle and spread the red sauce on top the pizza. You should use almost all the sauce, but if it forms a pool on top the pizza than it's too much.
  10. Bake the pizza at 400F for 30 min. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with freshly grated parmesan cheese. Allow pizza to cool for about ten minutes.