Bake 52 Week 37 - Deep Dish Pizza

Jonathan loved this pizza, said it was the best he ever had.  It is really simple to make too.  It takes a little time to make with the rising and what not, so probably not something I can whip up after work.  But given how much Jonathan liked this I'm certainly going to be making it again. 

I halved the recipe, since it's just me and Jonathan.  But it was so good we ate the whole 9" pizza!  I left the pepperoni off too since Jonathan and I aren't real fond of that. 

The dough can be made ahead and refrigerated for up to 16 hours or frozen for up to one month.  If you put it in the frig you need to let it sit for 30 minutes before using it.  For frozen you have to let it thaw on the counter for 2 - 3 hours or overnight in the frig. 

The recipe directs you to roll the dough out to a 7" round and then use your hands/fists to stretch it to 9" with a thicker edge.  I had a bit of trouble with that... I ended up with a really thin spot in the middle and it wasn't quite 9" so when I tried to push it into the edges of the 9" cake pan quite a bit of the olive oil came over the top of the dough.  For all of that it worked just fine.  But next time I would roll it out to 9-1/2" or 10" and then use the extra to make the thicker edge. 

Once sort of as big as the pan I set it aside to raise.  It didn't look all that different to me (I forgot to take pictures for all of this) but I moved on with the recipe. 

I had made the pizza sauce that they suggest in the book - crushed tomatoes, olive oil and garlic.  I ended up using garlic powder because I forgot to buy any garlic.  But it worked out well and thickened up really well after simmering and stirring for 15 minutes.  It makes a ton of sauce and supposedly only lasts for 4 days in the frig.  I made garlic cheese bread with the left over french bread (from the next recipe) later in the weekend and used the left over pizza sauce as dipping sauce - that was really tasty too!

Anyway, back to the pizza...  After spreading 2/3 of a cup of sauce on the pizza and topping it with about 3 handfuls of mozzerella cheese I tossed it in the oven for 20 minutes. 

When it was done it looked beautiful!

The crust was crunchy and flavorful and super yummy!  I thought there was more sauce than necessary so it was a bit messy but Jonathan thought it was perfect. 

You really have to try this!  Check out Amanda's blog for the whole recipe. 



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