Delicious homemade deep dish pizza recipe with a thick crust, a stack of mozzarella cheese and slathered in sauce. This easy recipe is our go-to pizza recipe every Friday night.
Since the boys were little we’ve had pizza movie Friday night – as they call it. I make homemade pizza and we all enjoy it while watching a movie. For years I made a regular pizza crust but after venturing to Toledo last fall for a concert we had our first deep dish pizza at Pizzapapalis and we were hooked.
I’ve never been to Chicago. (Full disclosure.) All I know is after having deep dish pizza for the first time and loving it, we had to replicate it at home. After testing a few recipes and tweaking them to our tastes I came up with what I believe is the best deep dish pizza! My kids now prefer this over any we could buy at a restaurant.
This recipe is easy to make as I didn’t want a huge long process to get the best flavor out of the pizza, especially on a Friday night. It makes two pizzas which is perfect for our family (as of now.) I hope your family enjoys pizza movie night with this pizza!
How to Make Deep Dish Pizza
Combine the active dry yeast, sugar and lukewarm water. Let sit for one minute.
Yeast Tip! I put the one cup of water in my glass measuring cup. I microwave it for around 45 seconds. The ideal temperature for yeast is around 105˚ to 110˚ F. I always test it with my digital thermometer before adding the yeast and sugar to the lukewarm water.
In a large bowl mix together flour, corn meal and salt.
Stir together the yeast, flour mixture, melted butter and olive oil. The dough will be a little dry, so just knead a bit until it all comes together.
Place pizza dough in a bowl and rub with olive oil. Place a kitchen cloth over it to rise for one hour.
Dough rising tip! My kitchen is a little chilly certain times of the year. To help the dough rise, I put my oven on at 350˚ F for one minute and turn it off immediately. I put the oven light on and let the dough rise in the oven with the oven off. It keeps the dough nice and warm. I take it out after about 45 minutes and let it continue to rise on the counter while I preheat the oven.
After doubling in size, divide into two balls of dough and roll to about 12 inches. Push into the sides of a 9 inch cast iron pan or deep dish pizza pan.
Add a layer of mozzarella cheese. I buy the cheese in blocks and then shave them and place in layers. It makes it easy and I find that this creates a better melted cheese than shredded mozzarella.
Top with your favorite toppings. Our favorites are pepperoni or green pepper and onion.
Layer the sauce onto the pizza. I’ve tried to make my own, but I keep coming back to Dei Fratelli. It’s so good that we just buy cans of it to enjoy on our pizza every Friday night. Remember, easy!
Bake in a preheated oven at 425˚F for 25 minutes or until the bottom crust is lightly golden. I test by taking my pie server and lifting up (very carefully) the pizza out of the pan to see the bottom and make sure it’s fully cooked and golden brown.
Let cool for about 5 minutes and then cut in to enjoy! I can’t tell you how good this pizza is and how easy it is to make! The buttery crust is just delicious and the cheese is just the best. It’s hard to eat deep dish pizza anywhere else! And while I’ve never been to Chicago to taste anything famous, my family loves this recipe just fine and I hope you do too!
Deep Dish Pizza Notes and Tips
What pan should I use for deep dish pizza? I use a 10 inch cast iron pan as well as a pampered chef deep dish baker pan I found at Goodwill. Either makes a great deep dish pizza.
Should I roll out the pizza dough on flour or cornmeal? I roll mine out on flour.
Does your pan need to be oiled or greased before adding the dough? I’ve never oiled or greased my cast iron pan or pampered chef pan and have never had a problem with sticking.
Should you pre-cook the toppings before adding them to the deep dish pizza? If you’re adding sausage, then yes. Definitely pre-cook the sausage until it’s fulling cooked. I like my peppers and onions pre-cooked as well if I have time. But they’re equally delicious if raw.
My deep dish pizza looks watery, what happened? If you add too many toppings that have a high-water content like spinach or tomatoes, you will find that your sauce layer gets watery since it’s trapped in the pizza sauce. I like to saute ingredients like that to most of the water out before adding them to the pizza. They taste great that way as well!
More Pizza Recipes
Deep Dish Pizza Recipe
Ingredients
Crust
- 2 1/2 teaspoon instant dry yeast
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 1 cup lukewarm water
- 4 Cups all-purpose flour
- 3 Tablespoons yellow corn meal
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 4 Tablespoons melted butter
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
Toppings
- 16 oz. mozarella cheese
- your favorite pizza toppings
- 20 oz. of your favorite pizza sauce
Instructions
- In a small bowl combine water, yeast and sugar. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine flour, cornmeal and salt. Stir. Add the yeast, melted butter and olive oil. Combine to form pizza dough. Drizzle dough with olive oil to coat. Cover and let dough rise for one hour.
- Preheat oven to 425˚ F.
- Once dough has doubled in size, divide into two dough balls. Roll each half until 12 inches in diameter. Add to cast iron or deep dish pan. Top with mozarella, then your favorite toppings and finish with pizza sauce.
- Bake for 25 minutes or until edges and bottom are golden brown. Let cool for 5 minutes and slice to enjoy!
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