Cast Iron Buttery Deep Dish Pizza Crust Recipes

DEEP-DISH CAST IRON PIZZA

Steps:

• Sprinkle yeast and brown sugar over warm water in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. Let stand 5 to 10 minutes until the yeast softens and begins to form a creamy foam.
• Turn mixer to the lowest setting and slowly add 2 cups flour 1/2 cup at a time. Add garlic salt and 1/4 cup butter. Integrate remaining 2 cups flour and knead until dough is smooth and elastic, 5 to 7 minutes.
• Coat a large glass bowl with 1 tablespoon grapeseed oil. Shape dough into a ball and place in bowl, turning to coat all sides with oil. Spray a piece of plastic wrap with cooking spray and loosely cover bowl. Cover bowl with a towel and let rise in a warm area until dough has doubled in size, about 45 minutes. Punch down dough and allow to rest for 20 minutes.
• While dough is resting, heat a skillet over medium heat; cook and stir bulk sausage until browned and crumbly, about 5 minutes. Transfer cooked sausage to a bowl with a slotted spoon, retaining drippings in the skillet. Fry Italian sausage link in drippings until browned and no longer pink in the center, about 10 minutes. Slice sausage.
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease a 12-inch cast iron skillet with 2 tablespoons grapeseed oil.
• Press dough into and up the sides of the prepared skillet. Poke holes in dough with a fork to prevent air bubbles. Spread pizza sauce around the base of the crust. Sprinkle 1/3 cup mozzarella cheese over sauce; layer half the bulk sausage, half the sliced sausage, and half the pepperoni over cheese. Repeat the layers of meat. Top with remaining 1/3 cup mozzarella cheese.
• Bake in preheated oven on the bottom rack until crust is golden brown, about 25 minutes. Brush crust with 1 tablespoon butter; season with Italian seasoning and garlic powder. Remove pizza from skillet and let rest for 3 to 5 minutes before slicing.

CAST IRON BUTTERY DEEP DISH PIZZA CRUST

Steps:

• 1. PREP/PREPARE
• 2. THE DOUGH
• 3. Gather your ingredients.
• 4. Add the flour, cornmeal, yeast, oregano, basil, sugar, and the salt to a large bowl.
• 5. Mix to combine.
• 6. Chef's Tip: The making of the dough is best accomplished using a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook.
• 7. Add the melted butter, and the warm water.
• 8. Mix until the ingredients are combined, and the dough begins to crawl up the hook, about 3 to 5 minutes.
• 9. Place the dough on a lightly floured surface, and kneed for about two minutes. It should be elastic, and slightly sticky.
• 10. Place a bit of olive oil into a large bowl.
• 11. Add the dough, and turn to coat.
• 12. Tightly cover the bowl with cling wrap.
• 13. Place the bowl somewhere out of the way on your countertop, and allow the dough to rest for 1 to 3 hours, or until doubled in size.
• 14. Chef's Tip: You can speed the process up by heating up your oven to about 180f (82c), turning it off, and then placing the covered bowl in the oven.
• 15. After the allotted time, remove the cling foil.
• 16. Place on a lightly floured surface, and pat out, or roll into a rough rectangle.
• 17. Spread the softened butter over the top.
• 18. Roll the dough up, as you would dough for cinnamon buns.
• 19. Form into a ball, and place back into the bowl.
• 20. Chef's Note: DO NOT kneed the dough, just carefully shape into a ball.
• 21. Cover and place into the refrigerator, for about an hour.
• 22. Remove from refrigerator, and place onto a lightly floured surface.
• 23. Roll out into a circle, big enough to cover the bottom of a 10-inch (25cm) cast iron skillet.
• 24. Coat the bottom and sides of the skillet with the olive oil.
• 25. Carefully add the dough, and gently fit it to the skillet.
• 26. Cover the skillet and allow the dough to rest for 1 hour.
• 27. Place a rack in the middle position, and preheat the oven to 425f (220c).
• 28. Add the toppings to your pizza... Your choice.
• 29. Chef's Note: I use a tasty sauce with pepperoni, sausage, and a good buffalo mozzarella.
• 30. Brush a bit of olive oil on any exposed dough.
• 31. Place the skillet on the stove over medium-high heat, and cook for 2 to 4 minutes.
• 32. Chef's Tip: This will help to crisp up the bottom of the crust.
• 33. Add the skillet to the preheated oven, and bake until the cheese is bubbly and golden, about 12 to 15 minutes.
• 34. PLATE/PRESENT
• 35. Since this is pizza, serve it casual style with a nice cold beer, or beverage of choice. Enjoy.
• 36. Keep the faith, and keep cooking.

DEEP-DISH PIZZA DOUGH

Steps:

• Combine water and yeast in a bowl; let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. Add flour, salt, sugar, and butter, stirring until a ragged dough forms. Transfer to a lightly floured work surface and knead with floured hands until elastic and tacky but no longer sticky, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a medium bowl brushed with oil, turning dough to evenly coat. Cover with plastic wrap and let stand in a warm, draft-free place until doubled in volume, 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 hours; or refrigerate until doubled in volume, at least 12 hours and up to 3 days (return to room temperature before using, 1 to 2 hours).

THE REAL CHICAGO DEEP DISH PIZZA DOUGH

Steps:

• Dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water in a bowl. Let stand for 5 to 10 minutes until the yeast softens and begins to form a creamy foam.
• Combine yeast mixture, flour, corn oil, and kosher salt in a large stand mixer with a hook attachment; knead until dough holds together but is still slightly sticky, about 2 minutes.
• Form dough into a ball and transfer to a buttered bowl, turning to coat. Cover bowl with a towel and allow dough to rise at room temperature until double in size, 6 hours.
• Punch down dough and let rest for 10 to 15 minutes. Press dough into a 10-inch deep dish pizza pan.

PAN PIZZA

Steps:

• Make the dough a day or two before you want to bake; the recipe makes enough for three pies. Combine the flour and salt in your largest mixing bowl. In another mixing bowl, combine the water, butter, olive oil and yeast. Mix well.
• Use a rubber spatula to create a well in the center on the flour mixture, and add to it the liquid from the other bowl, stirring with the spatula and scraping down the sides of the bowl to bring everything together. Mix it all together until it is a large, shaggy ball of wet dough, cover with plastic wrap and allow to sit for 30 minutes.
• Uncover the dough and, with floured hands, knead it until it is uniformly smooth and sticky, approximately 3 to 5 minutes. Move the dough ball into a clean mixing bowl, cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise for 3 to 5 hours at room temperature, then refrigerate, at least 6 hours and up to 24.
• The morning you want to make the pizzas, remove the dough from the refrigerator, divide into 3 chunks of equal size (about 600 grams each) and shape them into oblong balls. Use olive oil to grease three 10-inch cast-iron skillets, 8-inch-by-10-inch baking pans with high sides, 7-inch-by-11-inch glass baking dishes or some combination thereof, and place the balls into them. Cover with plastic wrap, and let rise at room temperature, 3 to 5 hours.
• Make the sauce. Place a saucepan over medium-low heat, and add to it 2 tablespoons olive oil. When the oil is shimmering, add the minced garlic and cook, stirring, until it is golden and aromatic, approximately 2 to 3 minutes.
• Add the tomato paste and a pinch of chile flakes, and raise the heat to medium. Cook, stirring often, until the mixture is glossy and just beginning to caramelize.
• Add the tomatoes, bring to a boil, then lower heat and allow to simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Take sauce off the heat, and stir in the honey and salt, to taste, then blend in an immersion blender or allow to cool and use a regular blender. (The sauce can be made ahead of time and stored in the refrigerator or freezer. It makes enough for 6 or so pies.)
• After 3 hours or so the dough will have almost doubled in size. Stretch the dough very gently to the sides of the pans, dimpling it softly with your fingers. The dough can then be left to rest for another 2 to 8 hours, covered with wrap.
• Make the pizzas. Heat oven to 450. Gently pull the dough to the edges of the pans if it hasn't risen to the edges already. Use a spoon or ladle to put 4 to 5 tablespoons of sauce onto the dough, gently covering it entirely. Sprinkle the low-moisture mozzarella onto the pies, then dot them with the fresh mozzarella and the pepperoni to taste. Sprinkle with the oregano and lash with a little olive oil.
• Place the pizzas onto the middle rack of the oven on a large baking sheet or sheets to capture spills, then cook for 15 minutes or so. Use an offset spatula to lift the pizza and check the bottoms. The pizza is done when the crust is golden and the cheese is melted and starting to brown on top, approximately 20 to 25 minutes.

CAST-IRON FAVORITE PIZZA

Steps:

• In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. In a large bowl, combine butter, eggs, grated Parmesan, salt, yeast mixture and 2 cups flour; beat on medium speed until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough., Turn dough onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease the top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour., Punch dough down; let rest for 5 minutes. Grease a 12-in. deep-dish cast-iron skillet or other ovenproof skillet; sprinkle with cornmeal. Press dough into pan; build up edges slightly., Preheat oven to 400°. In a large skillet, cook beef, sausage and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink and onion is tender, breaking meat into crumbles, 8-10 minutes; drain. Spread pizza sauce over dough to within 1 in. of edges; sprinkle with meat mixture. Top with mushrooms, pepperoni, ham, olives, mozzarella and shredded Parmesan., Bake until crust is golden brown and cheese is melted, 30-35 minutes. Serve with additional pizza sauce.

CAST IRON DEEP DISH RECIPE (CHICAGO-STYLE!)

Steps:

• Set out a large 12-14 inch deep-dish cast iron skillet. Brush the skillet with olive oil, then sprinkle the bottom with cornmeal. Flour a clean work surface and roll the pizza dough out into a circle, 2 inches wider than the bottom of the skillet. (So a 14-inch circle for a 12 inch skillet.) Move the crust to the skillet and press the dough around the sides of the skillet. Let it rest while you make the sauce.
• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Move one rack to the lowest position.
• Set a separate skillet over medium heat. Add the sausage and break it apart with a wooden spoon as it browns. Once cooked, turn off the heat and set aside.
• Set a medium saucepot over medium heat. Add the butter, chopped onion, and garlic. Sauté for 3-4 minutes to soften. Then add in the crushed tomatoes, Italian seasoning, sugar, and salt. Simmer for 5 minutes.
• Spread the shredded cheese in an even layer over the bottom of the pizza crust. Cover the cheese with the cooked sausage. Gently pull the edges of the pizza crust up the create a rim around the fillings. Then spread the chunky tomato sauce over the sausage.
• Bake on the lowest rack for 25-30 minutes, until the edges are golden-brown.
• Once out of the oven, sprinkle the top with parmesan cheese and parsley. Cut and serve.

CHICAGO DEEP-DISH PIZZA

Steps:

• Pour water into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Sprinkle in yeast and let dissolve, about 10 minutes. Add olive oil, melted butter, sugar, salt, cornmeal, and most of the flour. Knead, stopping to scrape down the sides occasionally and adding more flour as needed, until smooth and elastic.
• Transfer dough to a lightly floured work surface. Knead in extra flour if needed. Roll into a ball and place in a bowl greased with 1/2 teaspoon olive oil. Cover with a plate and let rise in a warm spot until doubled in volume, 1 to 2 hours.
• Meanwhile, let pizza sauce simmer in a pot over low heat until very thick, 60 to 90 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
• Poke dough to deflate and turn out onto your work surface. Press and stretch out dough into a round shape 3 to 4 inches larger than a 12-inch cast iron skillet. Brush skillet with 1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil. Place dough in the skillet; stretch and pull to evenly distribute it over the bottom and sides.
• Lay provolone cheese over the bottom of the crust. Scatter fresh mozzarella on top. Add Italian sausage and firm mozzarella. Ladle pizza sauce generously on top. Grate Parmesan cheese on top. Fold the edges of the crust in towards the center to seal in the sides. Drizzle crust and center with 1 tablespoon olive oil.
• Bake in the center of the preheated oven until crust sounds hollow and pizza is beautifully browned, about 35 minutes. Let rest for 10 minutes before slicing.