Hi, I’m Chef Tony Matassa with BBQGuys.com, today we’re making something for all you
pizza lovers out there.. now I went through all my old recipes to see what we already
have done and what needs to be done for you pizza lovers.. and somehow.. and I don't know
how you guys didn’t comment in.. but somehow we never made deep dish pizza.. well today
we settle that by putting together a deep dish pizza, which I’ll show you how to do,
make the sauce and everything.. we’ll throw it together and bake it in our Lynx Napoli
Pizza Oven. We’ll begin by making the dough because it takes a little bit longer to rise,
a deep dish dough than a standard pizza. Let’s get started.
Begin by combining your dry ingredients, here I am adding some bread flour….semolina flour...and
sea salt into a mixing bowl.
In this bowl, I have some warm mineral water, whisk in a little bit of honey, and follow
that with some active dry yeast. Set the mixture aside and while the yeast activates, add some
corn oil to some butter that is just melted.
This will give the crust that great buttery richness that people love about deep dish!
After a few minutes, the yeast should be activated, and you can whisk in the butter oil mixture,
and follow that with the dry ingredients.
Once you have everything mixed up, add an additional 2 cups of bread flour, this will
bring the dough to the right consistency. Deep dish dough is a bit different than thin
crust pizza dough, you really don’t have to knead it longer than 2 to 3 minutes. I
like to just knead it briefly in the mixing bowl, then form a ball. Coat the bowl with
a little olive oil, and your dough is ready to rise.
“ At this point, you can cover your dough and set it in a warm spot for about 2 hours
to rise.. or optionally place it in the refrigerator covered for either overnight, or up to two
days and i will really develop a lot of rich flavor and texture, if you have the time,
I highly recommend it, but it’s your pizza.. so do whatever you like! While that is happening,
I’ll put together a red wine reduction onion marmalade that we’ll be using as one of
the toppings for the deep dish pizza.”
For the reduction, pour a cup and a half of red wine into a saucepan, and let it simmer
on medium low until reduced by about half. While that finishes up, throw some thin sliced
onion rings into a pan with some butter, and season with a little salt and sugar.
Now just pour the reduction over the onions, toss to coat, and pop it in a 350 degree oven
for about 20 minutes. When they look caramelized and delicious like
this.. they are ready to set aside to top our pizza!
and finally we will put together one of the key ingredients to this recipe, and that’s
our sauce, this will only take but about 10 minutes.
Over medium heat, pour in some crushed, fire roasted tomatoes… a little fresh garlic
paste, and season with some coarse salt, sugar, and a little black pepper…and to me, it
wouldnt be pizza sauce without some fresh chopped basil. Let this simmer for about 5
minutes to reduce and thicken up, then you can shut off the burner and stir in some freshly
grated parmesan.
Now It’s time to build this monster pizza.. here I have a 15 inch cast iron skillet, oil
the bottom well with some corn oil so the pizza will be easy to remove once baked. Be
careful not to oil the sides of your pan, it can cause the dough to fall.
Place your dough in the center of the pan and begin pressing it out, working from the
center towards the edge of the pan. You want the bottom of the crust to be between an eighth
and a fourth of an inch thick, then you can start working it up the sides.
Bring the dough up the sides allowing at least ½ inch from the top of the pan, this will
keep the crust from burning. I also like to press dents into the base of the crust, to
help the center bake more evenly.
For the cheese, we have some sliced mozzarella and provolone. Start layering in the cheese
with a little overlap of each slice, we wouldn’t want any square inch not to have full coverage
.. that would be a crime!
After establishing a good foundation of cheese, spread on a thin layer of pizza sauce. For
an essential deep dish ingredient in my opinion.. we’ll add some italian sausage! After you
add a layer, press it all down, so that we can fit the most toppings possible on our
pie! Next, I’ll add the caramelized onions from
earlier, and some sliced, fire roasted bell peppers. Again, lightly press them down, and
add some fresh baby spinach.. which, of course, will allow you to get your pizza vegetable
serving for the day! Now, finish your pizza in true Chicago style
by coating the top with some of your sauce, this keeps the toppings from burning, since
deep dish takes longer to bake than a regular pizza.
Finally, I like to finish the top of mine with a layer of grated parmesan cheese.
With my Lynx Pizza Oven preheated to around 500 degrees, it’s time to get the pizza
in the oven! Once the pizza is in, reduce the temp to between 425 and 450 degrees.
Keep an eye on your pizza, mine has been baking for about 20 minutes and it’s starting to
brown up a good bit around the crust, if this happens to you, don't freak out.. just tent
it with foil until the last five minutes of bake time.
Alright, it’s been about 40 minutes, I’ll just remove the foil and let it bake, uncovered,
for the next five minutes. I can’t wait to eat this.. just look at that crispy caramelized
Parmesan cheese!
Let this molten hot pizza cool for about 10 minutes, I know it’s hard to wait, but it
will make the removal and slicing a lot easier!
I think it’s time to dig in!
That slice of deep dish was like a little slice of heaven.. I mean finishing it off
with a good bottle of wine and a nice cigar.. It’s almost like truly being in Chicago.
Thank you for watching today, I hope you enjoyed it. Check back often to see our latest videos,
or subscribe to our youtube channel. I’m Chef Tony Matassa, and remember at BBQGuys.com..
we smoke.. the competition!