The Best Deep Dish Pizza

Everyone loves pizza, but I am surprised at how many people I meet that have never tried a deep dish pizza! The Best Deep Dish Pizza is a whole other ball game in the pizza world! The cornmeal crust creates a crispy nest around a thick layer of melted cheese and is topped with chunky tomatoes and toppings. My mouth waters just thinking about it! If you are a fan of deep dish pizza or have always wanted to try it, then start right here!

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Pick Your Pizza

In our house, pizza is like a hobby as well as food. There really are so many ways to make it and I’m not just talking about different toppings. It all starts with the style of the crust. Do you like it thin and crispy? What about Sicilian style? Brooklyn? Cracker? Stuffed? Flatbread? Cauliflower? There are so many ways to play around and try new styles of pizza and we have fun experimenting. But our favorite is…Deep Dish!

Deep Dish crust style is not your traditional Italian pizza dough, however probably very few styles of pizza that you find in the USA resemble a true Italian pizza. Deep Dish pizzas hail from Chicago and were created by Italian immigrants that thought of switching up the traditional pizza. Ike Sewell and Ric Riccardo were two Italian descendants that did just that. They created this deep pie that could be filled with more toppings, and that meant a longer cooking time. The solution to not burning the cheese with a longer cooking time? The toppings and sauce go on top of the cheese! It’s genius! Ever heard of Uno Pizzeria and Grill? Those are the guys who brought us deep dish 🙂 True pizza saints.

Once deep dish pizzas hit the city, they rooted themselves in America and can now be found all across America! People can be pretty loyal to their style of pizza and especially deep dish lovers.

Perfecting the Best Deep Dish Pizza Dough

I have made the dough for years and have done much experimenting. Some people use butter, oil, shortening, or even a combo of these. I have had luck with a combination of butter and olive oil. It provides the best flavor to the crust and helps it to get crunchy around the walls of the pizza. I liked shortening combined with oil too when I tried it, but I never use it for anything else so I don’t like to buy it and rather just use butter since I always have it on hand. If you have shortening, it will provide a flakier crust like in a pie crust. I would still do a ratio of half butter, half shortening, and then the provided amount of oil stated in my recipe below so that the butter flavor still permeates the crust.

The other component that makes deep dish pizza dough what it is, is cornmeal. Sounds weird I know…follow me on this. It won’t be cornbread ok? There is a small amount of cornmeal that gives the dough a little sweetness, and a little texture that we love. It is unique and you don’t want to skimp out on this! But don’t add too much or it will tear up your dough when you try to shape it into the pan!

Also, we need to talk about what you cook this in. I have tried non-stick deep dish pans and it tastes good, but the crust will never get as crunchy/crispy as it should. If you have a large cast iron skillet (I use a 12-inch for this recipe) then use that! If you don’t have a cast iron skillet then go buy a cast iron skillet because you are missing out on too much in all of your cooking without one. For another cast iron skillet recipe, try my Best Frittata with Potato and Goat Cheese!

Dough Tips…

You can stir the dough ingredients together and knead it a few times by hand on a floured surface, or use a stand mixer as I do. The dough can be made the night before and placed in the fridge until the next morning. Just place it on the counter with a clean towel on top of the bowl the morning of making the pizza so it will be ready by dinner. Once it has doubled in size, it’s ready! If you need it to rise quickly, preheat the oven to the lowest temp and turn it off once it begins to be noticeably warmer. Then place the dough in an oiled bowl on the top rack with a small pot of boiling water on the rack underneath it. The steam from the boiling water will keep the dough moist as it rises in the warm over.

Toppings and Sauce

Typically in deep dish pizzas, you see they are full of greasy meats and definitely sausage. I hate this. These are like dinosaur-massive pizzas anyways and the addition of those heavy meats makes it all too much and you’ll regret eating it haha it feels awful. We prefer a little family of cheeses, each with their own personality and different looks. Mozzarella or Provolone for the base, of course. Then some creamy Ricotta dolloped on top. And yes, the star of the show, crumbled, tangy Blue Cheese. This is our go-to cheese combination. All we ever crave and shove our faces with.

Let’s talk sauce. Deep Dish sauce goes on top of the pizza toppings (minus some cheeses like ours) to prevent the burning of the other ingredients since it is a deep pie. I have made sauces cooked with herbs and garlic and whatnot before and it’s good, but not our taste for deep dish pizza. The deep dish pizzas we always loved have a simple tomato sauce. Buy a big can of whole San Marzano tomatoes and squish them in your fingers to break them apart into large chunks. Cook them in a pot until almost all of the water has cooked off. This will prevent the tomato juices from spilling over the edge of your crust and making it soggy. This is great to do the day before if you can and just place the sauce in the refrigerator.

*If you think the tomatoes have too much acid for your taste, add a tsp or so of sugar and cook into the sauce. But in our opinion, the acidity of the tomatoes is rounded out by all the cheese once combined in the pizza. But do whatever you want. I don’t care what you do. 🙂

Making the Best Deep Dish Pizza

Pretty simple and like any other pizza, just in a different order. Punch your dough down and give it time to rest. REST!!! Resting your dough allows it to stretch without breaking. Try pressing it out into your pan, and if it is too springy and resisting…REST IT. Just like 2 minutes will do it. Give it as many rest periods as it needs until it fits your pan.

So get it into your pan and squeeze it up along the sides of the pan. Brush it with olive oil and parbake it for about 5-7 minutes at 425 and then add the cheese. Start with your mozzarella or provolone. Top it with your sauce and it’s ok if it is in dollops more than spread evenly on top. Lastly, add the ricotta and blue cheese. Cook it for 30 minutes or until the edges of the pizza dough are golden brown and the ricotta starts to brown.

Let this baby sit for a while or you will be cutting and eating slices of lava! Honestly, let it sit for 20-30 minutes and it will be the perfect temperature to slice and eat. We like to shimmy our pizza out with some teamwork: my husband holds the cast iron skillet at an angle while I use two large spatulas to gently bring the pizza onto a large stone cutting board. We’ve got this down to a science now and would win gold if this ever became an Olympic sport.

Feast!

After consuming this delectable deep dish pizza, you have maybe thirty minutes to find a safe place. You will probably need to nap this dinner off just like Thanksgiving haha. It is worth the love that you’ll put into it and I know you’ll enjoy this Best Deep Dish Pizza!

pssst….dip it in ranch!!! 🙂

The Best Deep Dish Pizza

Print Recipe

Crispy crust surrounding dense layers of cheese and sauce make this Chicago-style deep dish pizza the best you can get!

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 tsp Active Dry Yeast can substitute Instant Dry Yeast
• 1 tsp Sugar
• 1/2 Cup Warm Water 105-115 degrees F is ideal for blooming the yeast if you have a thermometer to test the temperature
• 2 Cups All-Purpose Flour
• 2 Tbsp Yellow Cornmeal
• 3 Tbsp Butter melted
• 3 Tbsp Olive Oil
• 1 tsp Salt
• 1 28 Can of San Marzano Whole Peeled Tomatoes
• 16 oz Sliced or Shredded Mozzarella or Provolone
• 4 oz Container Blue Cheese
• 8 oz Ricotta

Instructions

• For the Crust:

  Combine the yeast, sugar, and warm water in the bowl of a stand mixer with a dough hook attached and let sit for 5 minutes until foamy. Mix flour, cornmeal, salt, 2 Tbsp oil, and melted butter into the yeast mixture and turn on to medium-low speed to combine the ingredients. Give the sides of the bowl a scrape down if needed. Once the dough has come together, shape it into a ball and place it in a bowl oiled with 1 Tbsp of olive oil. Cover with a clean towel and let sit until it has at least doubled in size.
• For the Sauce:

  Dump the can of tomatoes in a pot. Using your hands, squeeze and break the tomatoes in half or large chunks. Cook over medium-low heat until most of the water has evaporated. This might take about 30 minutes and make sure to stir often. Add 1 tsp of sugar, if desired, to cut down on the acidity of the tomatoes.
• Build the Pizza:

  Gently form the dough into the pan or skillet. If the dough is resisting being stretched, then let it rest for a few minutes before trying again. Press the dough high up along the sides of the walls of the skillet. Brush the dough lightly with olive oil and parbake for 5-7 minutes at 425. Pull the skillet out of the oven and add the mozzarella, sauce, and lastly top the pizza with dollops of ricotta and crumbled blue cheese.
• Bake the Pizza:

  Bake at 425 for 30 minutes or until the crust is golden brown and the top cheeses have begun to carmelize. Let the pizza rest for 20-30 minutes before attempting to slice and eat it. Enjoy!