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Deep Dish Pizza
Quiche & Savory Pies and Tarts

Deep Dish Pizza

During my last move I broke my baking stone, and so have not been able to make home-made pizza, or so I thought. My son has moved to Chicago and love's it there ( a little too cold for me). This got me thinking, always a dangerous proposition, and I thought about "world-famous" Chicago deep dish pizza.

All I needed was a good sized cast iron pan and I was off to the races. This recipe isn't so much about ingredients as it is techniques. You make up your pizza any way you want red, white, green a combination the choices of what to add to a pizza are astronomical. You can use a home-made dough if you have a good recipe or buy some at a pizza shop or in most grocery chains today

Directions

  1. For the Pizza Dough: In this recipe I used a 12' cast iron skillet with a 10' diameter bottom.
  2. If you want a crisper pie crust substitute bread flour in the same amounts.
  3. In a large bowl place the flour yeast and salt and stir to combine.
  4. Make a well in the center of the flour and add 1 cup of warm water and the 2 Tbs.
  5. of Olive oil.
  6. Either by hand or with a large spoon mix the ingredients until a dough forms and most of the raw flour is nor visible.
  7. If the dough is too dry continue to add water a tablespoon at a time.
  8. You should end up with a not too sticky dough.
  9. place the dough on to a lightly floured surface a knead until you have a smooth ball of dough.
  10. Place the dough in a bowl with a little Olive oil and turn to coat the dough, place a towel over the bowl and let the dough rest and rise for 1-2 hours until about doubled in size.
  11. The dough once risen is ready for use, or you can refrigerate in an oiled plastic bag to use another day, just allow to come to room temperature before proceeding.
  12. Take your finished dough and work or roll it out to about a 14' circle that will be about ¼' thick.
  13. Here's the important part take your cast iron skillet and generously oil the bottom and sides.
  14. Place the dough in the pan and evenly up all the sides and oil the top of the dough.
  15. If you want a thicker crust allow the dough to rise for 30 minutes to an hour before assembly, other wise begin to build your pizza.
  16. Preheat you oven to 500º.
  17. Bake your assembled pizza for about 20 minutes until the top of the crust is golden brown and the ingredients are bubbling.
  18. Remove from the oven and allow the pie to sit for about 5 minutes before slicing and serving.
  19. For an alternative you could also use a good foccicia recipe and make a pie with a slightly thicker crust: http://www.rantsravesandrecipes.com/focaccia /.
  20. For one pie use abour 1/3 of the recipe.