Deep-Dish Pizza!

Last night I tried a recipe for deep-dish pizza that I had pinned on Pinterest a few weeks ago. We gave it two thumbs up!

The recipe was from The Comfort of Cooking. If you want to see a picture, click on the link because after waiting 3 hours for it to be done (due to circumstances I wasn't able to start the dough rising til 5pm), we were in too much of a hurry to eat it for me to grab my camera! I've never tried deep-dish pizza before but it was quite easy. I made mine in a 9-inch pie plate and it worked perfectly. The dough was soft and chewy on the inside and crispy on the outside, the toppings were perfect (although I wish I would've had some fresh basil), and...it was just yum. I was also happy with the thriftyness of the recipe because it makes enough dough for 2 pizzas and only uses half package of Italian sausage! Also, I had some leftover for lunch today. I put the other half of the dough in the freezer as the recipe mentions, and I'm excited to make it again and play with some more toppings. =)

Here's the recipe:

Pizza Dough
Makes 2 pizza crusts

Ingredients
3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. sugar
2 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/3 cups warm water
1 envelope yeast

Directions
Add the yeast to the warm water and set aside for 5 minutes.

Mix together the flour, salt, sugar and olive oil. Stir the yeast into the water and make sure it’s all dissolved. Add it to the flour mixture. Mix until everything is combined, and knead with a dough machine or by hand for about 8 minutes.

Oil two bowls lightly with olive oil and set aside. Divide the dough into two pieces and roll into balls. Place each ball into the oiled bowls, seam side down, and brush the tops with a little olive oil. Top each bowl with plastic wrap or a clean, dry towel and place the dough in a warm place (I use a turned-off oven). Let rise 2 hours.

Once risen, use the dough or wrap in plastic wrap, then a plastic baggie, and freeze or refrigerate.

Deep Dish Sausage Pizza with Spinach Salad
Serves 4


Ingredients
3 1/2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
6 ounces Italian sausage, casings removed
12 ounces pizza dough, homemade or frozen store bought, at room temperature
1/2 pound mozzarella, grated (2 cups)
1 14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes, drained
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

Directions
Add 1 tablespoon olive oil to a pan and cook sausage over medium heat until browned, 6-7 minutes. As it cooks, break the sausage into crumbles with a potato masher (this makes it much easier!) or large spoon. Drain on a paper towel-lined plate and set aside.

Heat oven to 400° F. Coat a 9-inch oven-proof skillet or cake pan with 1 ½ tablespoons of the oil. Stretch and press the dough into the pan, covering the bottom and sides. Top with half the mozzarella, then the tomatoes, oregano, and remaining mozzarella.

Scatter the crumbled sausage over the pizza. Bake until the crust is golden brown, 30 to 35 minutes.