December 18th, 2016
I have always loved cooking in Cast Iron, especially Dutch Oven Cooking. Years ago we had a huge Cast Iron pan, I believe it was 15", anyhow we had a broken dishwasher that we stored it in. It was forgotten and a few years later we replaced the dishwasher, do you think we would have looked inside to see if there was anything in it? Nope, so our beautiful CI Pan made its way to a landfill, or hopefully someone found it before it became landfill.
Fast forward to this month, I been wanting to get a replacement but wanted something bigger, my research led me to a 17" lodge skillet with excellent reviews. I ordered the skillet and seasoned it 6 or 7 times with flax seed oil, then cooked some eggs, and pork roll to test. The next day Laura done some thighs on it. A few days later I used it on my Schwenker to cook up some breakfast sandwiches.
Bacon, Pork roll, sausage, fried ham and eggs. Later on we used it to cook some pork tenderloins.
Anyhow, not to get too far off of track, we made some pizzas Sunday for my wife's annual, "make cookies, and Christmas ornaments" with the entire family... funny this tradition started out as my parents coming over and making gingerbread houses with the kids. I'll post a few photos of that at the end of this post.
OK, First lets start with the dough, for the dough Laura decided to use the recipe found on Food Networks Recipe courtesy of Bobby Flay. Sorry, no pics, it's just dough for goodness sake!
Yield:
2 (14-inch) pizza crusts
Ingredients
Directions
Combine the bread flour, sugar, yeast and kosher salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and combine. While the mixer is running, add the water and 2 tablespoons of the oil and beat until the dough forms into a ball. If the dough is sticky, add additional flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the dough comes together in a solid ball. If the dough is too dry, add additional water, 1 tablespoon at a time. Scrape the dough onto a lightly floured surface and gently knead into a smooth, firm ball.
Grease a large bowl with the remaining 2 teaspoons olive oil, add the dough, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and put it in a warm area to let it double in size, about 1 hour. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and divide it into 2 equal pieces. Cover each with a clean kitchen towel or plastic wrap and let them rest for 10 minutes.
Recipe courtesy of Bobby FlayLaura made 4 of these.
Sauce
For my sauce I always make a modified sauce, I start with a few cans of Peppinos pizza sauce, the Peppinos has a nice tart taste and not too sweet, I then add some spaghetti sauce, a can of tomato paste, a bit of Parmesan Cheese, Oregano, Basil, Parsley, Onion powder, teaspoon of fresh garlic and a tablespoon of Olive Oil. Sauce is simmered for twenty minutes then tasted and salt and pepper are added, if I am making the sauce for me, I add a bit of crushed red pepper.
We made 6 pizzas, the first two were thin crust 14" pies, a white pizza, the other a plain, then I started the two deep dish pizzas, one was a plain and the larger was a Hawaiian Pizza, we had some dough, sauce and cheese leftover so I made some bread sticks and Laura made another plain pizza.
Back to the deep dish Hawaiian Pizza.
Whoa, stop here if you plan on making this... This is where I will be adding a pound of cooked bacon next time. OK, Back to the program.
Then its into the 500°F oven for 20 - 25 minutes.
I would love to make a traditional Chicago Deep Dish but my family is pretty much "plain Pizza people", but I can get away with a Hawaiian now and then, and Like I said before, next Deep Dish is gonna have some bacon!
Deep Dish Pizza
I have always loved cooking in Cast Iron, especially Dutch Oven Cooking. Years ago we had a huge Cast Iron pan, I believe it was 15", anyhow we had a broken dishwasher that we stored it in. It was forgotten and a few years later we replaced the dishwasher, do you think we would have looked inside to see if there was anything in it? Nope, so our beautiful CI Pan made its way to a landfill, or hopefully someone found it before it became landfill.
Fast forward to this month, I been wanting to get a replacement but wanted something bigger, my research led me to a 17" lodge skillet with excellent reviews. I ordered the skillet and seasoned it 6 or 7 times with flax seed oil, then cooked some eggs, and pork roll to test. The next day Laura done some thighs on it. A few days later I used it on my Schwenker to cook up some breakfast sandwiches.
Bacon, Pork roll, sausage, fried ham and eggs. Later on we used it to cook some pork tenderloins.
Anyhow, not to get too far off of track, we made some pizzas Sunday for my wife's annual, "make cookies, and Christmas ornaments" with the entire family... funny this tradition started out as my parents coming over and making gingerbread houses with the kids. I'll post a few photos of that at the end of this post.
OK, First lets start with the dough, for the dough Laura decided to use the recipe found on Food Networks Recipe courtesy of Bobby Flay. Sorry, no pics, it's just dough for goodness sake!
Yield:
2 (14-inch) pizza crusts
Ingredients
- 3 1/2 to 4 cups bread flour, plus more for rolling (Chef's Note: Using bread flour will give you a much crisper crust. If you can't find bread flour, you can substitute it with all-purpose flour which will give you a chewier crust.
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 envelope instant dry yeast
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 1/2 cups water, 110 degrees F
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, plus 2 teaspoons
Directions
Combine the bread flour, sugar, yeast and kosher salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and combine. While the mixer is running, add the water and 2 tablespoons of the oil and beat until the dough forms into a ball. If the dough is sticky, add additional flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the dough comes together in a solid ball. If the dough is too dry, add additional water, 1 tablespoon at a time. Scrape the dough onto a lightly floured surface and gently knead into a smooth, firm ball.
Grease a large bowl with the remaining 2 teaspoons olive oil, add the dough, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and put it in a warm area to let it double in size, about 1 hour. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and divide it into 2 equal pieces. Cover each with a clean kitchen towel or plastic wrap and let them rest for 10 minutes.
Recipe courtesy of Bobby FlayLaura made 4 of these.
Sauce
For my sauce I always make a modified sauce, I start with a few cans of Peppinos pizza sauce, the Peppinos has a nice tart taste and not too sweet, I then add some spaghetti sauce, a can of tomato paste, a bit of Parmesan Cheese, Oregano, Basil, Parsley, Onion powder, teaspoon of fresh garlic and a tablespoon of Olive Oil. Sauce is simmered for twenty minutes then tasted and salt and pepper are added, if I am making the sauce for me, I add a bit of crushed red pepper.
We made 6 pizzas, the first two were thin crust 14" pies, a white pizza, the other a plain, then I started the two deep dish pizzas, one was a plain and the larger was a Hawaiian Pizza, we had some dough, sauce and cheese leftover so I made some bread sticks and Laura made another plain pizza.
Back to the deep dish Hawaiian Pizza.
- The oven is preheated to 425, pan is coated liberally with olive oil and placed in the oven as I roll out the dough, about 10 minutes or so. I used three of the divide dough balls for this pie. Then about 8 string cheese sticks are split in half.
- The pan is taken out of the oven and the oven is bumped up to 500, the pan receives another tablespoon or so of olive oil. The dough is folded in half and unrolled into the hot pan, working quickly the bottom of the pizza is layered with provolone cheese
- Then string cheese is pushed into the edge of the crust and the crust is then worked over the cheese. YES! This is gonna be a stuffed crust pizza.
- Ham is added.
- Drained pineapple
- Mozzarella Cheese is added.
- Sauce is added, I just dolloped it on top from a spoon, then the top is dusted lightly with Parmesan cheese. Olive oil is then drizzled heavily on the crust and the crust is coated with a heavy dose of Parmesan cheese and a bit of coarse salt.
Whoa, stop here if you plan on making this... This is where I will be adding a pound of cooked bacon next time. OK, Back to the program.
- Then more cheese and dolloped sauce is added.
Then its into the 500°F oven for 20 - 25 minutes.
- Meanwhile there's some crust and string cheese leftover that I make some stuffed Parmesan Bread sticks to munch on with the pie.
- Pizzas are done.
- Here is another pizza, to give you an idea of how big this thing is.
- The pizza needs to be removed from the pan or it will never cool. A wire rack will help cool quicker and keep the crust crispy, I don't bother. Pizza needs to rest at least twenty minutes, 30 is not out of the question. This was cut into 12 slices and one slice is fairly filling, I could eat two but three would be too much.
- I hope you enjoyed my cook, here's a slice on me. Enjoy!
I would love to make a traditional Chicago Deep Dish but my family is pretty much "plain Pizza people", but I can get away with a Hawaiian now and then, and Like I said before, next Deep Dish is gonna have some bacon!
From my Family to yours, Happy holidays,
Merry Christmas
Merry Christmas
