For weeks now I have been craving the deep dish, and tonight I had to satisfy that craving. Deep dish pizza aka Chicago-style pizza is, in my opinion, one of the best ways to make pizza. Loaded with tons of cheese, chunky tomato cause, and loads of toppings – what could be better? Tonight for the filling I went with Italian sausage, pepperonis, green peppers, and mushrooms… it was simply amazing. Basically, you could make just about any kind of pizza with a deep dish and if you have never tried to make a deep dish I think it’s time to give it a try. In this article, I will explain 2 simple ways to make a deep dish pizza. Using a deep dish pan would be the best but I will explain how to make a double crust deep dish pizza in a springform pan or how to make a deep dish pizza in a cast iron pan. Two different methods, both equally delicious. Enjoy.
Deep Dish Pizza Recipe
Ingredients
- 1–2 packages of your favorite pizza crust (homemade or store-bought, 2 packages for springform, 1 package for cast iron pan.)
- Sauce –
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons garlic
- 1 28 oz can plum tomatoes
- 3 Tablespoons tomato paste
- ½ cup onion (minced)
- 1 ½ teaspoons basil
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 2 teaspoons red wine
Filling – - 1 lb Italian sausage (cooked)
- 1 package pepperonis
- 1 can sliced mushrooms
- 1 onion (sliced)
- 1 green bell pepper (sliced)
- 1/3 cup parmesan cheese
- 1 ½ lbs mozzarella cheese
- 1 tablespoon cornmeal
Instructions
- To make pizza sauce – sauté garlic in olive oil for 30 seconds. Add canned plum tomatoes, tomato paste, minced onion, basil, oregano, salt, sugar, and wine and mix well. Simmer for 20 minutes or until sauce thickens.
- Lightly grease a 10” inch springform pan or a cast iron pan (I will be giving separate instructions for each).
Deep Dish Pizza with a Spring Form Pan –
- Roll out 3/4 of pizza dough in a flat circle so its 3-4 inches bigger than the springform pan (all the way around). Place into springform pan letting it overhang the edges.
- Spoon in half of the sauce, then the Italian sausage, green peppers, mushrooms, and onions. Top with half of the mozzarella cheese. Roll out remaining pizza dough and place on top of the filling. Crimp the edges together including the overlapping crust.
- Baking in the oven at 400 degrees for 25 minutes. After 25 minutes remove pizza from the oven and add remaining sauce and remaining cheese to the top half. Bake for an additional 10 minutes or until the crust is golden brown. Let cool before cutting.
Deep Dish Pizza with a Cast Iron Pan –
- Press pizza dough onto the bottom and about 1 ½ inch up the side of a cast iron pan (don’t press all the way to the very top of the pan but close).
- Layer crust with cheese, sausage, pepperonis, mushrooms, onions, green peppers, and sauce. Add additional cheese on top of sauce if desired.
- Bake in the oven at 400 degrees for 30 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Let cool 10 minutes before serving. and the end result…
Phil E. Drifter
Sunday 20th of June 2010
Defeats the purpose of eating pizza if you need a knife and fork to eat a slice, not being able to pick it up, fold it in half lengthwise, and take a bite.
Tim
Sunday 7th of February 2010
used a bit less cheese than the recipe called for, but this pizza turned out amazing... love the idea of cast iron for cooking pizza.
Vegas pizza lover
Thursday 16th of April 2009
Wow that looks really good. My mouth is seriously starting to water. Actually I made deep dish pizza once when I was a teen following a recipe, I can't remember where from, maybe Joy of Cooking or something, and it turned out delicious.
I think it's easier to get deep dish pizza right when doing homemade than thin pizza. Thin pizza just never tastes like a real pizza place.
TL
Monday 2nd of February 2009
The cast iron skillet is a great idea. I used a 10 inch pro. grade cake pan. Only problem is that I had to remove it first before I could slice it. That was tricky to do.
Chicago Junk Food Junkie
Sunday 11th of January 2009
Not to be nitpicky, but "Deep Dish" and "Chicago Style" descriptions are not interchangeable.
While your recipe is a deep dish pizza as it is cooked in a deep pan and has the crust rising up the sides, it is not a Chicago style deep dish pizza. Chicago style pizzas never have cheese on the top; the cheese is placed directly on the crust followed by the fillings (sausage, pepperoni, onions, etc), then topped with the sauce. In some some cases, additional cheese is mixed into the crust before baking.
In any case, this deep dish pizza still looks mighty tasty! :)