Deep Dish Pizza

Submitted by CindiJ

"I got this recipe from Jeff Smith, The Frugal Gourmet back in 1987. He made this recipe and ran it by Pizzeria Uno in Chicago and they smiled and nodded "It's almost as good as ours." This is easy, no roll recipe."

 

• Ready In: 2hrs 40mins
• Ingredients: 13
• Yields: 2 9inch pies
• Serves: 16

ingredients

• Crust

• 2 (1/4 ounce) packages quick-rising yeast
• 2 cups tepid water (90 degrees)
• 1⁄2 cup vegetable oil
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 1⁄2 cup cornmeal
• 5 1⁄2 cups flour

• Filling

• 1⁄3 lb sliced mozzarella cheese
• 2 cups canned plum tomatoes, drained and squished
• 1 teaspoon basil leaves
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
• 3 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese, for topping
• 3 tablespoons olive oil

directions

1. In the bowl of your electric mixer- KitchenAid is perfect for this- dissolve the yeast in the water.
2. Add the oils, cornmeal, and 3 cups of the flour.
3. Beat for 10 minutes with the mixer.
4. Add the dough hook and mix in the additional 2½ cups flour.
5. Knead for several minutes with the machine.
6. It is hard to do this by hand since the dough is very rich and moist.
7. Pour out the dough on a plastic countertop and cover with a very large metal bowl.
8. Allow to rise double in bulk.
9. Punch down and allow to rise again.
10. Punch down a second time and you are ready to make your pizza.
11. Oil round cake pans or deep dish pizza pan.
12. Put a bit of dough in each and push it out to the edges, using your fingers.
13. Put in enough dough so that you can run the crust right up the side of the pan.
14. Try to make it approximately 1/8" thick throughout the pan.

15. The filling for 9 or 10 inch pan:

16. Place the cheese in tilelike layers on the bottom of the pie.
17. Next put in the tomatoes and the basil, oregano, garlic and salt- reserve the Parmesan cheese for the top.
18. Drizzle the olive oil over the top of the pie and bake.

19. Additional variations: BEFORE you put on the Parmesan cheese and olive oil drizzle you might like to add any or all of the following:

20. Italian Sausage- hot or mild.
21. Yellow Onions- peeled and sliced or diced.
22. Pepperoni- sliced thin.
23. Mushrooms- sliced.
24. Green Sweet Bell Peppers- cored and sliced thin.
25. Sliced Black Olives.
26. Very Thinly Sliced Ham or Canadian Bacon.
27. Put any or all of these on your pie and then top with the Parmesan and the olive oil.
28. Bake the pie in 475º oven until the top is golden and gooey and the crust a light golden brown.
29. This should take about 35-40 minutes.

Reviews

[Michael W.]

First off, I've eaten at Pizzeria Uno about seven times so I know what it tastes like. Second, I'm 62 YO and have been making this recipe since The Frugal Gourmet was on PBS originally. I actually made this last night (see pic), it is authentic and delicious. I press dough down as described and then allow it to double in cooking pan before applying cheese. How I process the tomatoes, I buy Hunts whole Italian/Pear, setting aside the loose juice, then with my hand, crush up the whole tomato with the juice inside the tomato. Also; heavily oil cooking pans to ease removal plus gets a slight crisp to bottom of dough. I divide the dough into thirds and use three 9" pans, or one 14" pan. As Jeff used to say, this is to die for! Now whether or not it is an exact copy of recipe, it tastes just like PizUno. The only valid contention that I've seem was perhaps semolina is actually used instead of yellow corn meal (don't use self-rising!).

 

[Phil likes to cook]

Who cares whether this is the real deal...all I know is it tastes great when I don't want the same old carry out. Biggest problem is waiting for it to cool as not to burn my mouth. A winner. Sometimes I add a bit more cornmeal on the bottom of the pan just to make it different. Crust reciepe can be easily 1/2'ed and makes two 9 inch pies when halfed

 

[erickarndt]

I really enjoyed it. Deep dish crust has a slight buttery flavor in Chicago so I greased the pan with butter and then some olive oil. I also cooked the sausage and pepperoni first a little to get off some of the fat. The flavor was great.

 

[renoopsk]

i like the crust of this pizza. it is very easy to work with and it rolls out nicely on the pizza dish. i use it for a deep crust and for a regular pizza.

 

[Gamerchick1]

I only used the crust part of the recipe, but it was yummy! This will replace my old crust recipe from now on. I made one deep dish pizza in a cast iron skillet and another thin crust in a large cookie sheet. Both were excellent and the whole family loved them. Used my food processor so it required a little kneading, but still very easy for anyone who doesn't have a Kitchen Aid. Thanks!