Southwestern Deep Dish Pizza Recipes

CHICAGO DEEP-DISH PIZZA

Steps:

• Pour water into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Sprinkle in yeast and let dissolve, about 10 minutes. Add olive oil, melted butter, sugar, salt, cornmeal, and most of the flour. Knead, stopping to scrape down the sides occasionally and adding more flour as needed, until smooth and elastic.
• Transfer dough to a lightly floured work surface. Knead in extra flour if needed. Roll into a ball and place in a bowl greased with 1/2 teaspoon olive oil. Cover with a plate and let rise in a warm spot until doubled in volume, 1 to 2 hours.
• Meanwhile, let pizza sauce simmer in a pot over low heat until very thick, 60 to 90 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
• Poke dough to deflate and turn out onto your work surface. Press and stretch out dough into a round shape 3 to 4 inches larger than a 12-inch cast iron skillet. Brush skillet with 1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil. Place dough in the skillet; stretch and pull to evenly distribute it over the bottom and sides.
• Lay provolone cheese over the bottom of the crust. Scatter fresh mozzarella on top. Add Italian sausage and firm mozzarella. Ladle pizza sauce generously on top. Grate Parmesan cheese on top. Fold the edges of the crust in towards the center to seal in the sides. Drizzle crust and center with 1 tablespoon olive oil.
• Bake in the center of the preheated oven until crust sounds hollow and pizza is beautifully browned, about 35 minutes. Let rest for 10 minutes before slicing.

TRUE CHICAGO-STYLE DEEP-DISH PIZZA

Steps:

• Mix sugar, yeast and 11 ounces room temperature water (about 80 degrees) in a bowl and let bloom for 15 minutes. Combine flour, salt and cream of tartar in the bowl of a stand mixer. Once yeast has bloomed, add to dry ingredients along with corn oil. Gently combine with a rubber spatula until a rough ball is formed.
• Knead on low speed with the dough hook for 90 seconds. Transfer to a lightly oiled bowl and proof until doubled in size, about 6 hours. Punch down and let dough settle for 15 more minutes.
• Position an oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 450 degrees F.
• Coat bottom and sides of a 12-inch cake pan or traditional Chicago style pizza pan with melted butter. Using your hands, spread out about three-quarters of the dough across the bottom and up the sides of the pan (save the remainder for another use). Cover entire bottom in mozzarella, all the way up to the edge. Cover half with a thin, even layer of raw sausage. Cover the other half with the pepperoni. Top with a couple handfuls of crushed tomatoes. Spread out with hands to the edge. Sprinkle top evenly with grated Parm.
• Bake, rotating halfway through, until golden around the edge, about 25 minutes. Let rest for about 5 minutes, then either gently lift pizza out of pan or just cut your slice out of the pan like a pie!

FOUR SEASONS SKILLET PIZZA

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.
• For the pizza sauce: Add the tomato puree, olive oil, dried oregano, salt, pepper and 1 tablespoon water to a bowl and mix together.
• For the pizza: Heat the olive oil in a large cast-iron skillet over high heat. Season the mushrooms with salt and pepper. Saute on high, tossing and moving them so they cook quickly, until the mushrooms have released their water and have started to brown, 3 to 5 minutes. Remove them to a plate and wipe the skillet carefully with a paper towel.
• To assemble the pizza: Place the pizza crust in the skillet. Spread the pizza sauce over the crust leaving a 1/2-inch border around the edge. Sprinkle with the mozzarella. Imagine the pizza divided into four quadrants representing the seasons.
• For spring: Arrange the artichoke hearts over one quadrant and sprinkle with the fontina.
• For summer: Arrange the tomatoes on a second quadrant cut-side up, placing the mozzarella pearls around them.
• For fall: Arrange the sauteed mushrooms on a third quadrant.
• For winter: Arrange the pepperoni and olives on the last quadrant.
• Transfer the skillet to the oven and bake until the pizza is hot and the cheese is melted, about 10 minutes. Garnish with the Parmesan and basil.

THE REAL CHICAGO DEEP DISH PIZZA DOUGH

Steps:

• Dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water in a bowl. Let stand for 5 to 10 minutes until the yeast softens and begins to form a creamy foam.
• Combine yeast mixture, flour, corn oil, and kosher salt in a large stand mixer with a hook attachment; knead until dough holds together but is still slightly sticky, about 2 minutes.
• Form dough into a ball and transfer to a buttered bowl, turning to coat. Cover bowl with a towel and allow dough to rise at room temperature until double in size, 6 hours.
• Punch down dough and let rest for 10 to 15 minutes. Press dough into a 10-inch deep dish pizza pan.

DEEP DISH PIZZA

Steps:

• Add flour, cornmeal, salt, honey and yeast to a bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. Mix on low speed until incorporated.
• Add in water and 3 tbsp melted butter and mix on low until combined, 1-2 minutes.
• Increase the speed to medium and knead the dough until it is glossy and pulls aways from the sides of the bowl, 5 minutes.
• Coat a large bowl with olive oil and add the dough ball to the bowl turning to coat the dough ball in oil. Cover with plastic wrap and allow the dough to rise until doubled, about 60 minutes or so.
• Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Coat two 9 inch cake pans with olive oil, set aside.
• Roll dough onto a dry work surface and roll into a 15 x 12 inch rectangle. Spread with 4 tbsp softened butter.
• Starting at the shortest end roll up dough into a cylinder. With the seam-side down, flatten the dough into a 18 by 4-inch rectangle. Cut the rectangle in half. Working with one half at a time, fold the dough into thirds like a business letter. Pinch the seams together to form a dough ball. Repeat with the remaining dough ball then transfer both balls of dough to the oiled bowl. Cover and let rise this time in the refrigerator to 45 minutes or until doubled in size.
• Heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium high heat.
• Add in onions and saute until softened, 4-5 minutes. Add in garlic and cook for an additional minute.
• Stir in the crushed tomatoes and spices and simmer for 20 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
• Transfer 1 dough ball on a dry work surface at a time and roll into a 13 inch disk. Transfer it to the prepared baking pan. Lightly press dough into pan and push dough up the sides about 1 inch.
• Sprinkle each pizza with 2 cups mozzarella cheese, 1 1/4 cup sauce and 2 tbsp parmesan.
• Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the crust is golden brown.
• Allow pizza to rest for 10 minutes before removing from pan and slicing.

SOUTHWESTERN DEEP-DISH PIZZA

Steps:

• In a large bowl, combine biscuit mix and cornmeal. Stir in water until mixture forms a soft dough. Press onto the bottom and up the sides of a lightly greased 15x10x1-in. baking pan. Bake at 425° for 10 minutes or until lightly browned., Meanwhile, in a large skillet, cook beef and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. Add the tomato sauce, chili powder and cinnamon. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat., Combine refried beans and hot pepper sauce; spread over crust. Top with meat mixture; sprinkle with cheese. Bake at 425° for 10 minutes or until cheese is melted. Let stand 10 minutes before cutting. Serve with salsa and olives if desired.