Chicago Style Deep-Dish Pizza

Sharlene~W's Note:

An easy to fix deep-dish pizza cooked in a cast-iron skillet. To be sure pizza doesn't stick, I give it a shot of non-stick spray. For pizza sauce, I recommend Steve's Pizza Dough and I haven't used refrigerated store-bought dough since.

• Total Time: 40 mins
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 20 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 6

• 1/2 lb mild Italian sausage
• 1 red bell peppers or 1 green bell pepper, cut into strips
• 1 thinly sliced onion
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons pepperoni, thinly sliced and cut into strips
• 1 teaspoon basil
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 (10 ounce) package refrigerated pizza dough
• 1/2 cup pizza sauce
• 2 tablespoons parmesan cheese
• 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Remove skins from sausage and cook in heavy skillet, crumbling as you cook.
3. Remove sausage to plate covered with paper towel to drain.
4. Remove fat from skillet.
5. Sauté sweet pepper and onion in olive oil in the same skillet over medium heat for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
6. Add the garlic and cook for another minute.
7. Add pepperoni, basil, oregano and black pepper; cook another 2 to 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.
8. Unroll pizza dough and place in well-seasoned 10-inch cast-iron skillet.
9. You may need to stretch slightly so dough comes up about 1 inch on the sides.
10. Spread dough with 2 tablespoons of the pizza sauce.
11. Spread half the vegetable filling evenly over and top with half of the sausage.
12. Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon Parmesan cheese and dot with 3 tablespoons sauce.
13. Top with half of the mozzarella cheese.
14. Repeat layering again.
15. Bake in preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes or until cheese is melted and crust is golden brown.

Reviews

[Amber Dawn]

Made it on a regular cookie sheet with everything except the Italian sausage. Next time I might use two cans of pizza crust because it was a little thinner than I like. One of the best pizzas I've tasted from here to Chicago!

[BarbaraK]

This was pretty good although I used Italian Spice rather than the basil and oregano. I also made Steve Sickenberger's pizza dough (a whole lot of it) #8497. I diced up a tomato as well as some black olives. And added a little garlic. Like I said, it was pretty good.

[Saremca]

Good recipe, but the pan needs quite a bit of oil to make a proper deep-dish crust. It's almost as if the outside of the crust is fried in the oil, but you need that texture for authenticity. Otherwise, this recipe is great!