Chicago deep dish pizza

180 servings

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
2 cups Water
2 packs Yeast
½ cup Oil, salad
¼ cup Olive oil
1¾ cup Flour
¾ cup Corn meal
THEN ADD
3 cups Flour
2 pounds Mozzarella cheese, grated or sliced thinly
4 cups Spagetti sauce*
2 pounds Italian sausage, part ground, part cut up
½ pounds Mushrooms, sliced

Directions

From: Larry Haftl

Put warm water and yeast in large mixing bowl and let stand 5 minutes. Then blend in oils, corn meal and first 2 cups of flour.

When well blended, mix in the remaining 3 cups of flour, form into a ball and then knead for 5 to 10 minutes on a well floured board. This dough is a bit moist and the initial flour on the board is absorbed might tend to cling to the board. Don't worry, just knead as best as possible. After kneading, place on lightly floured board or counter, cover with a large bowl and let dough rise about 2 hours.

The dough makes about 180 square inches of pizza so use an appropriate sized 2 inch deep pan (12 x 15 rectangular or 15 inch diameter round for example.) Very lightly oil the pan with vegetable oil. After the dough has risen, punch down and then arrange in the pan (this takes a bit of doing as the oiled pan is a bit slippery.) Cover the bottom of the pan and form a thin (¼ inch thick) crust all the way up the sides of the pan. Let the dough rise another 30 minutes.

While its rising, grate your cheese and brown your sausage (you can do both ahead of time if you want). Lay a nice thick layer of cheese on the dough (critical as it keeps the juices from getting through to the crust and turning it into a soggy mess). Then layer on your sauce, sausage, and finally the mushrooms. Bake in a 375~ oven for 25 to 30 minutes (when edges of crust are a nice golden brown color).

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