The Deep Dish Pizza That Ate Orangevale

I was watching a show on the Food Network and they were making Deep Dish Pizza.  I just fell in love with the idea of making my own.  I saved the episode and sat down and wrote down every thing they did to make their wonderful pizza.  I promptly erased the episode no longer needing it, but I don't remember what the show was called.  I'll have to think on that.

Anyhow with some web research my plan and recipes were complete.  So, yesterday afternoon I went to work with the below recipe.  After the 2nd rise I punched it down and began shaping it to my pan.  What I encountered was not a resistant dough, but a dough that reminded me more of "The Blob" from movie fame.  How so you ask?  Well, it kept growing and growing quickly.  Rising I guess would be the term in the bread world.  It was rising in such a fast fashion that I couldn't even get the dough pressed on one side when it was rising out of the pan on the other.  I was literally shaping and punching it down at the same time.  It was becoming a joke.  Finally I decided to make sure all my toppings were ready.  Punch the crust down quickly top it and throw it in the oven not to just bake it, but to kill it.  Unlike "The Blob" which needed cold to stop it my blob needed heat.

After about 10 minutes the heat did the job and stopped it in it's tracks.  Clearly I needed to tweak this recipe.  Fortunately, I knew it was still going to be very tasty even though it had about 1 1/2 inches of crust on all sides.  I topped my pizza with mozzarella, sweet Italian sausage, pepperoni, diced bell pepper, diced red onion, 1 15 oz. can of crushed tomatoes, Italian seasoning, mozzarella cheese and Parmesan cheese.  Yes, I did all that before the blog had time to consume me.

Not one piece of pizza is left today.  DH had it for dinner.  A snack after he returned from reffing and took the rest for lunch today.  That's why I have no picture.

What I'll do next time is use half the amount of yeast and see how that goes.  As for the rest of the dough recipe it made a very tasty dough with the right taste of Deep Dish Pizzas I've had at the restaurant.  The corn meal, olive oil and lack of salt in the recipe was really in the right direction for a tasty crust.  I had 2 other concerns.  One is did I use the right size pan.  I didn't have a 15 inch round pan.  I used my 13" X 9" rectangular pan.  I also wondered should I have cut the dough blob in half.  Maybe I put too much dough in the pan to begin with.  All things to consider the next time I make Deep Dish Pizza since I don't have Steve McQueen to save the day.

Deep Dish Pizza
Dough:
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 cups warm water
1/2 cup corn meal
5 1/2 cups all purpose flour
4 1/2 tsp dry yeast

Put all ingredients in mixing bowl in the order listed making sure to put the flour and yeast in last.  Mix on low speed with dough hook until dough forms a ball then mix on medium speed for 10 minutes.

Take the dough out of bowl and form it into a ball.  Then place it back into the bowl with a damp towel over it.  Let it rest until it almost doubles in volume.  Takes about 30 minutes.  Punch down and let rise again.  It can now be shaped in pan.

Coat the bottom of a well seasoned 15" X 2" deep dish pan with regular olive oil.  Place dough ball in the center of the pan and press it out until it cover the entire bottom.  Then, using your fingers pull the dough up the sides of the pan.

The edge should be pinched up against the side of the pan.  If the dough resists holding shape cover with a towel and allow to rest for 15-20 minutes before trying again.

Using mozzarella or provolone cover bottom of the dough.

Add desired toppings.  Top with crushed tomatoes then Italian seasoning and finally Parmesan cheese.

Place pan in the center of the bottom oven rack and bake at 475 degrees F for 20 to 25 minutes turning half way through until the crust is golden brown.  Remove from oven and allow to cool about 3 minutes.