Deep Dish Pizza

This is one of my favorite ways to make pizza. Instead of baking the pizza on a baking stone, it is baked in a cake pan. The really nice part is that the cake pan bottom is covered in olive oil. As the pizza bakes, the oil fries the bottom of the crust. The result is a crispy and very tasty crust.

If you are not going to be able to eat the two pizzas shortly after baking, you can freeze half the dough for later. Pizza sauce and cheese freeze very well too.

To make the pizza sauce, I just take a can of crushed tomatoes and cook them in a saucepan with a little olive oil, garlic and herbs of my choice (oregano, thyme, basil). Season with salt and pepper.

Deep Dish Pizza
2 tablespoons olive oil
3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons milk, any fat
2 teaspoons sugar
1 1/3 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all purpose flour
2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 1/3 cups pizza sauce, see notes above
3 cups mozzarella cheese

To make the dough, combine all the ingredients in a stand mixer and mix with a dough hook for 5 minutes. Oil the bowl and let the dough rise until doubled in size.

Place 3 tablespoons olive oil on the bottom of a 9 inch cake pan and swirl it around so all of it stays on the bottom and does not go up the sides. Repeat with another cake pan if making two pizzas.

Divide the dough in half and work it into a 9 ½ inch circle Place it into the pan, cover with plastic wrap and let it rise until puffy. Repeat with the other half or freeze it. Preheat the oven to 400 F with the bottom rack all the way on the bottom.

Ladle 2/3 cup of sauce on the center of the pizza and spread it to ½ inch from the border. Cover with 1 ½ cups cheese and slide the pizzas into the oven. Bake for about 20 minutes or until the cheese has browned a little.

Remove and let cool for a couple of minutes. This pizza is best eaten fresh when the crust is still crispy from being fried in olive oil.