Saturday, February 09, 2008

Dive In The Deep End

Let's just jump right in. Recipes will be at the bottom.

First we get a little starter going in the mixing bowl. Flour, Sugar, Yeast, Water.

We add more flour, salt and some oil. It's starting to pull together.

The dough pulls into a ball after nearly 4 minutes!

Oil it up and let is sit.

It'll double in size.

Press the dough into your spring form pan, don't forget the sides.

First you need to lay in some slices of mozzarella. Then add in some pre-cooked sausage, broken into pieces.

We need some tomatoes. I'm moving, so I choose to use my 28oz can of San Marzano! Sweet heaven.

Break those whole, peeled tomatoes into chunks.

Add the sauce on top of the sausage and cheese.

Sprinkle some Italian seasoning on top, more or less to taste.

A handful of grated Parm.

Bake for almost fifty minutes in a very hot oven.

You may need to cut around the sides to release, if any of the tomatoes spilled over and caramelized.

The first slices really 'melted' when cut. There was a lot of liquid in that deep dish.

Carnage! But dang good!!! Seriously tasty. Take that Pizzeria Uno...I drove a quarter of the way across the country to have the original and I liked this so much more.

And now the instructions:

Pizza Dough

2 to 2 1/4 cups flour
1/4-ounce package fast acting yeast
1/2 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt

In the your mixers bowl, whisk together 3/4 cup of flour, yeast, sugar, and 2/3 cup hot water (130 dgrees F).

Add the oil, 1 1/4 cups of the remaining flour, and the salt and blend the mixture until it forms a dough, about 4 minutes on medium speed.

The dough may be used immediately, but for better flavor it is best to let it rise once. Put the dough in an oiled bowl and turn it to coat it with the oil. Let the dough rise, covered, in a warm place for 30 minutes, or until it is double in bulk, and punch it down.
Topping and Sauce

1/2 lb mozzarella cheese slices
1/2 lb bulk sausage
1 28 oz can of whole, peeled tomatoes
Pinch of sugar, salt, pepper, onion powder
Italian seasoning
Grated Parmesan cheese

*Preheat the oven to 475F.

Cook the sausage, in small discs, until browned and cooked, over medium heat.

Meanwhile, form the dough into your spring form pan. Press the dough out into a large disc shape, gently lay the dough into the pan, press the dough up the sides of the pan.

Lay your cheese slices for the first level. Break the sausage into bite size pieces, this is your next layer.

Break the tomatoes into pieces. Season with the sugar, salt, pepper, onion powder. Spoon the tomatoes on top of the cheese and sausage.

Sprinkle the top with Italian seasoning and the grated Parm.

Bake for 40-50 minutes, the edges of the dough will be peeking from the pan with a light golden brown kiss.

Remove from the oven and allow to rest for 5-10 minutes, cut into wedges and serve.

NOTE: This came from several recipes I had in my files, with no credit. If you know who these came from, or have seen them online elsewhere, please let me know and I'll give proper credit.

4 comments:

Dancer in DC said...

Oh yeah - Chicago, baby!

It's all about the quality of the ingredients. Great tomatoes made a real difference.

Anonymous said...

I visit a friend in Chicago so I can get real deep dish pizza. This would definitely be cheaper.
I am trying to watch my weight and am constantly thinking now about how I can make something a little healthier and less fattening. When in to comes to something like this, you just have to give it up and just be satisfied with a few bites of real goodness and then stop.
The only possible swap out might be to use farmers cheese instead of Mozzarella. When cooked, most people can not tell the difference and it has about half the fat, but with a recipe like this, why bother.

Barbara said...

Yum, ooey, gooey and delicious! Hope the move goes smoothly.

DC Food Blog said...

That actually looks a lot like Zachary's pizza in Berkeley. Best pizza in the world. They use San Marzano tomatoes for their sauce.