Deep-Dish Pizza

Deep-Dish Pizza

The husband and I are not deep-dish pizza kinda people. We were raised on thin it-better-be-able-to-stand-on-its-own pizza. So when I told the husband I wanted to make a doughier pizza than normal tonight, I didn't expect him to jump up and down - and he didn't. But he was willing to give it a try, and I'm glad he was game because tonight's dinner was goooood.

I had wanted to make a polenta-crust pizza. I'm not sure what planted this seed in my brain, but I thought it sounded interesting and I really wanted to give it a try. I thought we had two boxes of cornmeal in the cupboard, which meant we'd have more than enough to make polenta. Unfortunately, we had two boxes of cornstarch in the cupboard. Big difference. 

I searched a few of my cookbooks without any leads, so I turned to the Web. Luckily I found a Flickr gallery that happened to hold the key to a really great dinner.

Deep-Dish Pizza Crust

Adapted From a Recipe by Craig Sorenson

1 package active yeast

1 cup warm water

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon honey

1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup all-purpose flour (plus more for dusting)

1/2 cup cornmeal

1 tablespoon olive oil

Stir water and yeast together in a glass bowl. Let the mixture sit until small bubbles start to form on top. Slowly add in the flours, salt and honey with a wooden spoon. When the mixture starts to form a ball, mix with your hands. Add in the cornmeal and olive oil.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured counter or cutting board. Knead until the dough is smooth and elastic. Form the dough into a ball and cover with a lightly sprayed sheet of plastic wrap. Let the dough rise for about an hour or until it has doubled in size. (The time the dough takes to rise will be dependent upon the type of yeast you use. We used fast-rising yeast for pizza dough and it took about 30 minutes. A regular package of yeast could take up to an hour or longer.)

Let the dough rise on the counter.

The dough will rise. Just be patient!

Grease a cast iron skillet with a small amount of olive oil. Spread the dough across and up the sides of the skillet. Let the dough sit while you chop up our veggies or prepare your pizza toppings. 

Deep-Dish Pizza Dough

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

Spread 1/4 cup pizza sauce onto the bottom of the crust. Layer your desired toppings into the pizza crust. (I went with peppers, mushrooms, tomatoes and cheese. The husband just wanted cheese, pepperoni and finely chopped peppers.)

Bake the pizza for 15 minutes on the bottom rack of the oven. Transfer the pizza to the top rack and cook an additional 5-10 minutes or until the pizza is lightly browned and dough is fully cooked. (Our pizza took a total of 20 minutes, but we realize ovens may vary.)

The husband and I both really enjoyed this pizza - and that says something coming from two people who prefer extremely thin-crust pizza. We actually liked this so much we're looking forward to leftovers tomorrow.