Deep Dish Pizza

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Make your own delicious Deep Dish Pizza with a homemade yeast pizza crust that’s crispy on the outside and soft on the inside that’s piled high with toppings, cheese, and sauce!  This post originally published in July 2011.

Let’s talk about pizza.  I love pizza.  My family loves pizza.  We could probably have pizza several times a week and no one would get tired of it. 

While I like to make homemade pizza dough it’s a pain and it takes a lot of time to make.  Instead I usually buy the Pillsbury pizza dough that comes in a can and bake it myself to make my own pizza. 

However I’ve been craving Deep Dish Pizza lately and decided it was time to make it.  When I looked back at my blog I realized it’s been over ten years since I made it and that’s definitely way too long.

Ingredients:

• flour
• salt
• sugar
• yeast
• water
• butter
• oregano
• mozzarella cheese
• pizza sauce
• toppings

I was a little nervous about making the dough.  While I’ve made plenty of yeast pizza dough before this time I needed to make it large enough to cover the bottom and the sides of a pan.

It turns out I worried in vain.  The dough is actually really easy to make.  It’s also easy to handle because it’s not sticky.  This makes working with it a piece of cake.

The deep dish pizza was easy to make and assemble.  I used a springform pan and formed the dough up the sides of the pan.  I didn’t get fancy with the toppings we just had half pepperoni for my husband and half vegetable for me.  Then I topped it off with cheese, sauce, and more cheese.

Do I need to cook the toppings before putting them on the pizza?

The short answer is yes.  If you have a meat like sausage or chicken or something else that needs to be cooked make sure you cook it ahead of time. I also find it helpful to saute the vegetable toppings for just a few minutes before baking.  They don’t have to be fully cooking but giving them a little cook helps.

Can I freeze the other half of this dough?

Yes!  Once you divide the dough in half wrap one portion in plastic wrap then put it in a freezer bag and freeze.  It will keep for up to 6 months.   When ready to use place in the refrigerator overnight to thaw and then follow the instructions for rolling and putting it in the pan.

Can I use other types of cheese?

Use whatever pizza cheese you normally would use.  It like mozzarella because it melts nicely and helps hold everything together but you can use whatever you’d like.

Do I have to use a springform pan?

You don’t have to but it’s the easiest pan to use because the sides come off and makes it easy to slice and serve the pizza.  However, if you don’t have one you can use a cake pan or a pie pan, just make sure you grease the sides well and know that your first piece probably isn’t going to look too pretty.

This pizza is amazing.  While the dough takes a while to make it’s totally worth it.  The crust tastes fantastic.  My husband could not stop raving about it.

The pizza has that freshly made bread taste.  The crust is crispy of the outer edges but it’s soft and fluffy on the inside.

More Pizza Dough Recipes:

• Easy Pizza Crust
• Sourdough Pizza Crust
• No Rise Pizza Crust
• Easy Seasoned Pizza Crust

I used half of the dough to make this deep dish pizza and I had enough to freeze the other half to use for a different day.  That’s the great thing about this recipe.  You can make two pizzas with it and the dough is easy to freeze so you can make it ahead of time!

 I was afraid to cut into the pizza for fear everything would come running out of it.  It didn’t seem like it would hold together but it held firm! 

I will definitely be putting this pizza dough into our rotation more often because it’s just that good.

If you’ve tried my Deep Dish Pizza or any other recipe on Hezzi-D’s Books and Cooks please take a minute to rate the recipe and leave a comment letting me know how you liked it. I love hearing from you! You can FOLLOW ME on:

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Deep Dish Pizza

Make your own delicious Deep Dish Pizza with a homemade yeast pizza
crust that's crispy on the outside and soft on the inside that's piled
high with toppings, cheese, and sauce!

5 from 5 votes

Print Pin

1x2x3x

Prep Time: 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes minutes

Additional Time: 4 hours hours

Total Time: 5 hours hours

Servings: 2 deep dish pizzas

Author: Hezzi-D

Ingredients

For the Dough:

• 3 ¾ c. flour
• 1 ½ teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 packet instant yeast 2 ¼ t.
• 1 ¼ c. warm water around 110 degrees
• 3 Tablespoons butter melted
• Cooking spray
• 2 Tablespoons butter softened
• 1 teaspoon oregano

For the Toppings:

• 2 c. mozzarella cheese
• 2 c. pizza sauce
• Meats and Vegetables for topping

Instructions

• In a large bowl combine the yeast and 1/2 cup of the warm water. Stir and let sit for 5 minutes.
• After letting the yeast stand add the flour, salt, and sugar to the
  bowl.  Mix by hand or use a stand mixer with a dough hook and mix 1-2
  minutes. 
• Add in the remaining water and melted butter and continue mixing until
  everything is well incorporated.  Then, either mix on medium speed for 5
  minutes or turn onto a floured surface and knead the dough for 5
  minutes until it is smooth.
• Spray a separate bowl with cooking spray.  Put the dough ball into the bowl, turning to coat with oil.  Cover with plastic wrap and then a kitchen towel and let sit in a
  warm area for 1-2 hours or until doubled.
• After doubling turn the dough onto a lightly floured table and roll
  into a 12 x 12 square.  Brush with the softened dough and sprinkle with
  oregano.  Begin rolling the dough into a tight cylinder.  Place the
  dough seam side down and push down to flatten.  Fold the dough into
  thirds like you are folding a letter pinching the ends to form a ball. 
• Put the dough back into the bowl and cover with plastic wrap. 
  Cover and let rise 1-2 hours on until doubled in size.
• Divide the dough in half.  Wrap half in plastic wrap then place in a freezer bag.  Freeze for later.  Roll the remaining half into a 10 inch circle.  At this point
  preheat the oven to 500 degrees.
• Spray the sides of a 9 inch springform pan with cooking spray. 
  Put the dough circle in the springform pan and press against the bottom
  and sides of the pan.  Pour the meat and veggie toppings on the bottom
  and cover with 1 cup of the cheese.  Heat in the oven for 15 minutes.
• After 15 minutes reduce oven temperature to 400 degrees.  Remove the pizza from the oven and cover with the sauce, then top with remaining cheese.  Bake for an additional 10-15 minutes or until crust is golden brown.  Remove from oven and let
  cool 5 minutes.  Remove from springform pan and let cool an additional 5
  minutes.  Cut into slices and serve hot.

Notes

Recipe adapted from Bite me New England