Chicago Deep Dish Pizza
from a cozy mystery: Six Feet Deep Dish by Mindy QuigleyThis recipe will fill a 12-inch round deep-dish pan and will feed 4 to 6 people. If you don't have a pan that big, you could use a 9-inch cake pan and either cut this recipe down by about one-third or keep the leftover dough for another purpose.
Ingredients
Dough/Crust
- 3 cup flour
- 2 Tbsp cornmeal
- ¾ tsp sea salt
- 2¼ tsp (just shy of 1 packet) instant yeast
Did you notice that we're using instant yeast, not active dry? Okay, good.
- 3 Tbsp melted unsalted butter
- 3 Tbsp corn oil
- ¾ cup (just shy of 1 packet) instant yeast
Did you notice that we're using instant yeast, not active dry? Okay, good.
Sauce
- 2 Tbsp butter
- 1 small onion, diced extremely fine, or better yet zhuzhed in a food processor for about a minute (should yield about 1/2 cup)
- ¾ tsp salt
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- ¼ tsp crushed red pepper flakes
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
- 1 tsp sugar
Instructions
Dough/Crust
- Combine all the dry ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer and give everything a little how-do-you-do with a wooden spoon.
- Add the butter, oil, and water and stir again until the dough just begins to come together. Do not over-mix or use boiling water here.
- Pop the dough hook on to your mixer and let that sucker spin on medium-low for about 6 minutes.
- Form that bad boy into a ball and pop it into an oiled pizza pan (i.e., the pan you're going to cook it in).
- Make sure the pan is well-oiled, sides and all, and flip the dough ball once to coat it in oil. Cover the whole shebang with foil and throw a clean kitchen towel over it. Let it hang out in a warm spot for about an hour.
- start cooking your sauce (while the dough is rising.
Sauce
- Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat.
- Add the zhuzhed/diced onion. Toss in your salt, oregano, and red pepper flakes.
- Cook for about five minutes until the onion is translucent.
- Add the garlic, tomatoes, and sugar.
- Simmer on very low heat for 30 minutes or so. Taste for seasoning, and adjust as necessary. Let it cool slightly.
Dough Crust
- After the first rise, unveil your dough.
- Press the dough down to fill the pan and mold it up the sides. Fix any holes by sticking the dough to itself with wet fingers.
- Re-cover the pan with the foil and towel and let it rise for another 15 minutes.
Assemble Pizza
- Take the foil and the towel off your pan and behold your gorgeous dough. If the shape has gone funky during the second rise, press it back into submission.
- Layer mozzarella directly on top of the crust. If you use sliced mozzarella, lay the slices out with a slight overlap, as if you're making a fruit tart. If you want to add sausage, veggies, or other toppings, now is your moment.
- Pour sauce on top of the mozzarella then sprinkle the grated parmesan across the top.
- Super-Important Note: Deep-dish pizza layering goes cheese, then toppings, THEN sauce. If you do it the other way around, you're not making deep-dish pizza. You're making hot garbage and you have only yourself to blame.
- Pop your pan in the oven and bake it in a preheated 425°F oven for about 30 to 35 minutes. The crust around the edges should be lovely and golden brown. Let the pizza cool for a few minutes on a wire rack.