The wife loves a deep dish pizza. So for her birthday this year I made authentic Papa Del's Deep Dish Pizza. She grew up mostly in Illinois and knows her deep dish. I tweaked a few things in the recipe below from the finished product as the feedback was that it needed a little less sauce and much more cheese. I thought I put on so much cheese! This recipe makes 1 giant 12 inch pie, 2- 9 inch pies, or 1-10 inch and 1-8 inch pie, you will want a deep dish pizza pan or to use spring form pans (that is what I did and they worked great). You can use any fillings/toppings you like, we did 1 with pepperoni and 1 with sausage and mushroom.
Ingredients
4 cups flour
1 cup milk
1/2 cup warm water
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 package instant dry yeast
First scald the milk. Then add the milk with the butter, sugar, salt, and water to the bowl of a mixer fitted with a dough hook. Allow the milk mixture to cool to 100-110 degrees. Add yeast and mix thoroughly. Allow the yeast to sit for 3-5 minutes until foamy.
Slowly add the flour until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl and forms a ball. Knead for 5-10 minutes, I do this in the mixer rather than by hand. Grease a proving bowl with olive oil and roll the dough in the oil so it is covered, cover the bowl with a towel or plastic wrap before allowing to prove until doubled in size. Mine took about 1 hour but it can take up to 2 hours. Once doubled, punch down and knead a few times, replace in the bowl and allow to rise until again doubled. The second time it took just more than 1 hour but again, it may take closer to 2 hours.
Sauce Ingredients
16 ounce can diced tomatoes
6 ounce can of tomato paste
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
Sauté the garlic in a splash of olive oil. When fragrant add the remaining ingredients and allow to simmer for about 30 minutes. Smoosh with the backside of a spoon or zhuzh with a stick blender. Set aside to cool.
For your filling, prep about 2 1/2 cups filling depending on your preference. We did 1 cup of sliced pepperoni and 1 1/2 cup of cooked and crumbled Italian sausage and sautéed mushrooms. You can use any other fillings you love!
For your cheese, you need 16 ounces mozzarella shredded, 6 ounces of sliced provolone, and 2 ounces parmesan shredded. You are welcome to add slightly more cheese, but this is apparently the perfect amount :-)
Assembly! Don't forget you are making two pizzas here, so divide everything in 1/2 or a slightly skewed 1/2 if you are making 1 pizza larger than the other like I did. Roll the dough and fit into the pan and up the sides. It should come to the top of the pan on the sides. Layer 1/2 the mozzarella and provolone first then, all the filling, then the other half the cheeses, and finally top with the sauce. Sprinkle with the parmesan cheese.
Bake at 425 for about 45 minutes. You will know it is done when the pizza looks like hot lava. YUM!
It just looks so good.
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