Chicago Style Deep Dish Pizza

Having been in Chicago recently I was interested in making some deep dish pizza with a buttery cornmeal crust.  This was really good.  I will have to try it again soon following the directions properly.  As it was I just didn't have the time to "laminate"  the dough, and I didn't pay great attention to the recipe.  I ended up dumping all of the butter into the flour mixture (melted and softened).  I also only let it rise once.  It made a beautiful, soft, fun to work with dough.  I did stick it into the fridge for about 10 minutes while I finished up the rest of the sauce.  With the sauce I didn't add the extra sugar. We are not big fans of sweet tomato sauce, I did use tomatoes and basil from my garden.  The result was delicious.  This recipe is a definite keeper.

Recipe adapted from Brown Eyed Baker

For the Dough:

3¼ cups all-purpose flour
½ cup yellow cornmeal
1½ teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons sugar
2¼ teaspoons instant yeast
1¼ cups water, room temperature
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoon + 4 tablespoons olive oil, divided

For the Sauce:
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
¼ cup grated onion
¼ teaspoon dried oregano
½ teaspoon salt
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes
¼ teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh basil
1 tablespoon olive oil
Freshly ground black pepper

For the Toppings:
1 pound mozzarella cheese, shredded (about 4 cups)
(Pepperoni)
¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS:

1. Make the Dough: Whisk together the flour, cornmeal, salt, sugar, and yeast in a large bowl. Add water and melted butter and mix on low speed, using a dough hook, until fully combined, 1 to 2 minutes, scraping sides and bottom of bowl occasionally. Increase speed to medium and knead until dough is glossy and smooth and pulls away from sides of bowl, 4 to 5 minutes. (You can easily make this by hand, mixing in the water and butter with a spatula and then kneading by hand.)

2. Coat a large bowl with 1 teaspoon olive oil. Using greased spatula, transfer dough to bowl, turning to coat the dough in oil; cover tightly with plastic wrap. Let rise at room temperature until nearly doubled in volume, 45 to 60 minutes.

3. Make the Sauce: While dough rises, heat the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat until melted. Add onion, oregano, and salt; cook, stirring occasionally, until liquid has evaporated and onion is golden brown, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in tomatoes and sugar, increase heat to high, and bring to a simmer. Lower heat to medium-low and simmer until reduced to about 2½ cups, 25 to 30 minutes. Off the heat, stir in the basil and olive oil, then season with salt and pepper.

4. Laminate the Dough: Turn the dough out onto dry work surface and roll into a 15x12-inch rectangle. Using an offset spatula, spread the softened butter over the surface of the dough, leaving a ½-inch border along the edges. Starting at the short end, roll the dough into a tight cylinder. With seam side down, flatten the cylinder into an 18x4-inch rectangle. Cut rectangle in half crosswise. Working with one half, fold into thirds like a business letter; pinch seams together to form ball. Repeat with remaining half. Return balls to oiled bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and let rise in refrigerator until nearly doubled in volume, 40 to 50 minutes. Meanwhile, adjust oven rack to lower position and preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

5. Bake the Pizzas: Coat two 9-inch round cake pans with 2 tablespoons olive oil each. Transfer 1 dough ball to dry work surface and roll out into a 13-inch circle. Transfer dough to the pan by rolling the dough loosely around a rolling pin and unrolling into pan. Lightly press dough into pan, working into corners and 1 inch up sides. If dough resists stretching, let it relax for 5 minutes before trying again. Repeat with remaining dough ball.

6. For each pizza, sprinkle 2 cups mozzarella evenly over surface of dough. (If you're using any meat or veggie toppings, add them now, on top of the cheese.) Spread 1¼ cups tomato sauce over the cheese (or toppings) and sprinkle 2 tablespoons Parmesan over sauce. Bake until crust is golden brown, 20 to 30 minutes. Remove pizza from oven and let rest 10 minutes before slicing and serving.

(Recipe adapted from Cook’s Illustrated)

Stuffed Pizza with Spinach

Dough

3 tsp sugar

1 pkg yeast

1 1/4 cups warm water

3 1/4 cups bread flour

1 tsp salt

4 Tbl veg oil

Sauce

1 28 oz can tomatoes

2 Tbl olive oil

1 tsp oregano

1 tsp basil

1 tsp salt

1 clove garlic crushed

1/4 c. parmesan cheese

Stuffing

1/4 lb fresh spinach

8 oz. mozzarella cheese grated

Let dough rise 1-1 1/2 hours

Sauce- drain liquid, crush tomatoes with hands, then add remaining ingredients. Do not cook.

Stuffing- wash and chop spinach, combine with mozzarella.

Preheat over to 450. Grease pan, place first dough layer, then spinach mix, lay second dough layer on top. Crimp the edges of dough layer together to form a thick border. Press down on filling with hand, cut slit in the center of the top crust to allow steam to escape. Spread tomato mix on top. Bake on lowest rack for ten minutes. Move the pizza up to an oven rack two slots above the lower rack and bake 25-30 minutes until crust in lightly browned. Substitute sausage for spinach if desired. Just like a chicago deep dish pizza- delicious

Daddy's Fabulous Pizza- Mike

Premade crust (like the Boboli or whatever)

Refrigerated Alfredo sauce (it really makes a big difference in taste to be the ref. kind)

1 or 2 large portabella mushrooms sliced

1 can artichoke hearts cut into quarters (not the marinated kind)

1 lb provolone cheese grated

Spread sauce over crust. Arrange mushrooms in a pretty fan around center and then outside. Spread artichoke hearts evenly over all and

top with grated cheese. We often add some leftover chicken if the seasoning goes well. Bake according to instructions on crust package.

Pizza Dough

Basic Pizza Dough

Ingredients:

½ cup warm water (about 110°)

1 envelope (2 ¼ tsp.) instant yeast

1 ¼ cups water, at room temperature

2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil

4 cups (22 oz.) bread flour, plus more for dusting

1 ½ tsp. salt

olive oil or non-stick cooking spray for greasing the bowl

Directions:

Measure the warm water into a 2-cup liquid measuring cup.  Sprinkle in the yeast and let stand until the yeast dissolves and swells, about 5 minutes.  Add the room temperature water and oil and stir to combine.  

Place the flour and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Briefly combine the dry ingredients at low speed.  Slowly add the liquid ingredients and continue to mix at low speed until a cohesive mass forms.  Stop the mixer and replace the paddle with the dough hook.  Knead until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Form the dough into a ball, put it in a deep oiled bowl, and cover with plastic wrap.  Let rise until doubled in size, about 1 ½ to 2 hours.  Press the dough to deflate it.

To bake, place a pizza stone in the lower third of the oven.  Heat the oven to 500° for at least 30 minutes.  Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface.  Divide the dough into two equal pieces.  Form both pieces of dough into smooth, round balls and cover with a damp cloth.  Let the dough relax for at least 10 minutes but no more than 30 minutes.

Working with one piece of dough and keeping the other covered, shape the dough and transfer to a pizza peel or round of parchment dusted with semolina or cornmeal.  Top as desired.  Slide the dough onto the pizza stone.  Bake until the crust edges brown and cheese is golden brown in spots, about 8 to 12 minutes.  Repeat with remaining ball of dough or freeze for later use.

Source: adapted from Brown Eyed Baker, originally from Baking Illustrated by the Editors of Cook’s Illustrated Magazine

Pizza Buns

Here is a fun little twist on pizza.  They are like cinnamon rolls- but savory.   I found the recipe at King Arthur's- but didn't have a lot of the ingredients- so I adapted it to what I had and they were really good.  They came out of the oven and we packed them up and headed to a soccer game.  Nice and portable.  The ingredients in red are in the original recipe- but I didn't have and therefore didn't use.  I added the powdered buttermilk-but it wasn't in the original recipe.
For the dough:
1/2 cup milk
2/3 cup hot water
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/4 teaspoons salt

4 teaspoons Pizza Dough Flavor, optional but good
1 tablespoon sugar
3 tablespoons Baker’s Special Dry Milk or nonfat dry milk
2 tablespoons potato flour or 1/4 cup instant potato flakes
3 1/2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
2 teaspoons instant yeast
3 tablespoons buttermilk powder

Proof your yeast- add the milk and mix it all with the powdered ingredients to make a soft, smooth dough.  May be a little sticky.  Cover it and allow it to rise for 60-90 minutes.  Roll it out and add whatever pizza ingredients you like.  Pepperoni, sausage, mushrooms olives etc.  Sprinkle 1 1/2 cups grated cheese and roll the whole thing up.  Slice just like you would for  cinnamon rolls- about 1 inch thick.  Place six on a baking tray and cover- let rise again for about 60 minutes.  Bake in a 350 over for 15 minutes.  Remove from oven and spread your favorite pizza sauce over the top and cover with about 1/4 cup of cheese.  Return to oven for another 15-20 minutes or until the cheese is as toasted as you would like. 

Pizza crust

I normally hate homemade pizza cuz I never like the crust but here is a crust recipe we used last Friday and guess what? I love it!

2-2 1/4 C flour
1pkg (1T) yeast
1t salt
1C warm water
1T olive or canola oil

In a mixing bowl, combine 2C flour, yeast, and salt. Add water and oil. beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough. Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 4 min. Cover and let rise for 15 min. Coat baking pan with cooking spray; sprinkle with cornmeal. Press dough into pan. (I prefer to roll in out and then set it on the pan) prick generously with fork. Put toppings on the pizza and bake at 475 deg. for 8-10 min.

Cool Veggie Pizza-Sara

COOL VEGGIE PIZZA (Pampered Chef, of course!)

• 1 pkg crescent roll dough
  1 pkg cream cheese, soft
  1 ½ tsp mayonnaise
  1 clove garlic, pressed
  1 tsp Pampered Chef Dill Mix or ½ tsp dill, ¼ tsp onion powder
  Salt and Pepper to taste
  2 cups assorted fresh veggies, cleaned, cut and sliced or diced 
  ¼ cup cheddar cheese, shredded
• Preheat oven to 350ºF.  Unroll crescent dough; separate into 8 triangles.  On large pizza stone (or large cookie sheet) arrange triangles in a circle with points in the center and wide ends 
  toward the outside.  Using lightly floured roller, rollout dough to 12-inch circle, pressing seams together to seal.  Bake 12-15 minutes or until lightly brown.  Remove from oven.  Cool crust completely (best to remove carefully from pizza stone before adding toppings).
• Combine cream cheese, mayo, garlic and dill spices.  Season 
  with salt and pepper; mix well.  Spread ¾ of cheese mixture over top 
  of crust. 
• Mix remainder of cheese mixture with diced vegetables and 
  spread evenly over pizza.  Top with sliced vegetables (tomatoes 
  always look great) then sprinkle with cheese.

Stuffed Pizza with Spinach

STUFFED PIZZA WITH SPINACH-Heather

• Dough
• 3 tsp sugar
  1 pkg yeast
  1 1/4 cups warm water
  3 1/4 cups bread flour
  1 tsp salt
  4 Tbl veg oil
• Sauce
  1 28 oz can tomatoes
  2 Tbl olive oil
  1 tsp oregano
  1 tsp basil
  1 tsp salt
  1 clove garlic crushed
  1/4 c. parmesan cheese
• Stuffing
• 1/4 lb fresh spinach
  8 oz. mozzarella cheese grated
  • Let dough rise 1-1 1/2 hours
    Sauce- drain liquid, crush tomatoes with hands, then add remaining ingredients.  Do not cook.
    Stuffing- wash and chop spinach, combine with mozzarella.
  • Preheat over to 450.  Grease pan, place first dough layer, then spinach mix, lay second dough layer on top.  Crimp the edges of dough layer together to form a thick border.  Press down on filling with hand, cut slit in the center of the top crust to allow steam to escape.  Spread tomato mix on top.  Bake on lowest rack for ten minutes.  Move the pizza up to an oven rack two slots above the lower rack and bake 25-30 minutes until crust in lightly browned.  Substitute sausage for spinach if desired.   Just like a chicago deep dish pizza- delicious

Daddy's Fabulous Pizza- Mike Stone

DADDY'S FABULOUS PIZZA-Mylinda (or rather, Mike?)

• Premade crust (like the Boboli or whatever)
  Refrigerated Alfredo sauce (it really makes a big difference in taste to be the ref. kind)
  1 or 2 large portabella mushrooms sliced
  1 can artichoke hearts cut into quarters (not the marinated kind)
  1 lb provolone cheese grated
• Spread sauce over crust.  Arrange mushrooms in a pretty fan around center and then outside.  Spread artichoke hearts evenly over all and 
  top with grated cheese.  We often add some leftover chicken if the seasoning goes well.  Bake according to instructions on crust package.