It's Pizza Night - Deep Dish Chicago Pizza

You know us - we LOVE pizza.  We love it so much we built a pizza oven in our last house, our daughter built one in her house, we built one in our new house,our other daughter got a Pizza Craft pizza oven she uses in her garage, and my son started Friday Night Pizza Nights at his house.He uses a pizza steel.  

That son and his wife just had a new baby this summer, and he had mentioned he wanted a deep dish Chicago style pizza. I had given him my mom's deep dish pizza pan, but he said it was too big for their family, so I decided to find a recipe and try it.  

I had never had this style of pizza before.  I grew up in Wisconsin, just a few hours from Chicago, and the Chicago style pizza we had wasn't like this.  
The secret to this is the dough.It has butter in the dough and then you laminate it with butter.  
Don't be intimidated by the lamination, it is a lot easier than making croissants. 
The recipe made two so we were able to eat one and his family had one.  
Chicago Style Deep Dish Pizza Crust
3 1/4. C. flour1/2 C. cornmeal1 tsp. salt1 T. sugar1 T. yeast1 1/4 C. warm water1/4 C. melted butter1/4 C. softened butter
Mix everything but the softened butter in your mixer using a dough hook for around 5 minutes.  Let it rise covered in a greased bowl for one hour or until doubled. 
Punch dough down and roll out like you are making cinnamon rolls, into about a 15x12 inch rectangle,and spread the softened butter on the dough.  
Roll the dough up lengthwise and then cut the dough in half.  Form each half into a ball.  
Place the balls in your greased bowl, cover and let rise in fridge for about an hour.
See, that was so easy!  You want the butter to firmup so that the dough has buttery layers when it is baked. 
Spread each dough ball into a 9 inch springform pan, pushing it up the sides.  You want the dough to encase all of the wonderful fillings. 
Layer provolone cheese on the bottom of the dough in the pan, then top with 2 C. grated mozzarella, cooked Italian sausage, and your favorite pizza or spaghetti sauce.  You want the sauce thick, so if you use a prepared sauce, cook it down a bit.  Finish with grated parmesan.  
Bake at 425 for about 30 minutes.  You want the cheese all melted through.  
Let cool for a few minutes and then unmold.  
You will love this pizza. They liked it so much they had it for breakfast the next day.
That crust - amazing!!

Pizza Dip Ring (or Wreath)

It has been one party after another, and I wanted to make 

something for our Craft Group Home Tour that I hadn't made before.  My daughter made this for us last year, 

and we all just loved it. 

Since I was the first one on the home tour, I figured I 

could have something hot out of the oven.  

So, so easy and fast!

This is super simple using either flaky biscuits or Rhodes 

Bread Rolls.  The bread is placed around the outside and 

brushed with garlic butter.  In the center you place the 

cheese mixture, 

then top it with pizza sauce, more shredded mozzarella 

and pepperoni.  We just love these mini-pepperonis and 

they are perfect so that everybody gets a little bite of pepperoni 

in their appetizer portion. 

Pizza Dip Ring Recipe

1 can flaky biscuits

1 C. mozzarella cheese, divided

1/2 C. ricotta cheese

1/2 C. cream cheese

3/4 C. pizza sauce

Pepperoni to cover

Prepared garlic butter

Grease a round baking dish.  Split biscuits in half 

and place around the dish.  Mix together the cheeses, 

using only 1/2 C. of the mozzarella for this part.  Spread 

in the middle of the ring.  Top with pizza sauce, remaining 

mozzarella and pepperoni.  Brush the edges of the dough 

with garlic butter.

Place in a 375 degree oven for about 25 minutes, or 

until you can separate the biscuits and they are not 

doughy.  Serve immediately.  

If you use frozen Rhodes dough instead of the biscuits 

(which my daughter did last year) place the dough 

balls around the edge, and let thaw about an hour, 

then proceed as above.  

Yum!  This gets gobbled up right away.  

I had planned on garnishing it with a sprig of holly, 

to make it look more like a wreath, but the night 

got away with me and so that got left off!

So here is my virtual holly!

I know your week is busy too, so thanks 

for stopping by!

Breakfast Pizzas - Pizza Oven How To

Now that I showed you our wintery

pizza oven mantel decor on my last

post, it is time to make some pizzas.

Yum! We decided to switch our usual 

make your own pizza party up and do breakfast

pizzas.

The dough has already risen once,

and the balls are shaped and have

risen for about 45 minutes when it is time

to eat.  These are just after they have

been shaped.  They are going to get nice

and puffy.  I usually build the fire about

2 1/2 hours before eating is to begin.

Then I make the dough in my Bosch mixer,

let it rise and then shape.

The pizza ingredients are a lot simpler

for breakfast pizzas.

Toppings are cooked bacon, cooked maple

sausage and Canadian bacon.

The sauces are Alfredo sauce, Salsa, Ranch dressing

and Country Gravy.

Country Gravy turned out to be the big hit.

A lot of people made theirs and then topped

it with salsa.

I scrambled up 36 eggs, but also placed some

fresh ones on the table in case anyone wanted to

crack an egg on top.

Only two cheese were served, shredded cheddar

and shredded mozzarella.  

Wow so much easier with so few ingredients.

Everyone rolls their own dough and chooses

their toppings.  

Then they deliver it to the pizza

oven to be cooked.  Of course you can do the

exact same thing in your own oven and on a

pizza stone.  We did it that way for years.

Just be sure that you really do heat the pizza

stone at 550 degrees for at least an hour

before you bake it.  That creates the crisp crust.

See the layers of sauce (country gravy), scrambled

eggs, meats and cheeses.  

We did this for a brunch after a meeting with

our Young Single Adult Leaders and fed

about 22 of them.  Some said they were

their favorite pizzas they have made at our

house, and we have had them over many times,

but never for breakfast ones.

Pizza Dough Recipe

(Recipe from Mugnaini Ovens, they said not

to use oil or sugar as that makes the dough

burn more easily.)

2 T. yeast hydrated in 3/4 C. warm water

12 C. all-purpose flour

1 T salt

4 1/2 C. additional warm water

Hydrate the yeast for about 5 minutes, then

place it, flour and salt in bottom of your

mixing bowl.  Add the additional water.

Knead on medium low for about 5 minutes.

Turn out into a large bowl sprayed with

Pam, spray top of dough with more Pam

and cover with plastic wrap.  Let raise

for about 1 hour.  Punch down.

Shape into balls.  This will make about 20 balls.

Spray baking sheet or proof box with Pam and

place balls in to raise.  Cover with plastic

wrap or proofing box lid.  Let raise about

45 minutes.

To shape pizzas, remove a ball and gently press

around edge keeping about 1/2 inch lip for

your crust edge.  Lift up and gently stretch into

a round.  Let the weight of the dough do the

stretching to avoid tears.  The larger you stretch

it the thinner the dough.

Top with sauce of your choice, toppings

and then cheese.  Bake in pizza oven or

oven.  In pizza oven you will have it back

close to the fire, and you need a log burning

with a flame to melt the cheese.  Turn the

pizza several times to even brown the crust.

In the oven, just leave in place, but be sure 

you heated up your pizza stone.

Pizza Oven Tips

A lot more people are building pizza ovens.

My daughter just finished her new house and

she installed a pizza oven inside. Be sure to

season your pizza oven as directed by the

manufacturer before you begin making pizzas.  

It usually is a several day process of small fires,

building up to a big fire.

Clear out any old ashes using your

long handled pizza peel

Build a fire, log cabin style by placing

2 double split hard wood logs (fruit or oak)

down and then two going across, and then

one on top.  The logs have to be close enough

to each other to catch fire, but far enough

to let the air circulate.  Use a firestarter

to start the fire.  I like the Diamond Strike

A Fire (at grocery store) or Weber Lighter Cubes

(online or during BBQ season I have found at

Home Depot).

Watch to make sure the fire starts well.

After the flame is roaring, use your metal

pizza peel to carefully push the fire back

to the middle of the oven.  You want to heat

the middle floor of the oven. At about 1/2 hour,

check to make sure the fire is still burning and

then add another piece of wood.  This really

takes very little wood when you think that 

the wood is double split, or each piece is

a quarter of a log.  (We get our wood from

a nursery that sells wood.  We actually saw

them delivering to Carrabas and contacted them.

A load will last us about a year.)

Now is when I make the dough so they

are both finished about the same time.

You can use the door at an angle to

create a draft to help the fire get going.

Check every half hour and add another

piece of wood to keep the fire going.  See

how the flame spread up and over the round

pizza top.  By the time the oven is heated, that

area will turn ash white.

(Long handled pizza peel for handling the pizzas in the oven,

wire brush for cleaning the floor of the oven, and proofing

box.)

About 15 minutes before you are going to

begin baking pizzas, push the coals to the back

of the oven and brush the floor clean with a metal

pizza oven brush.  Add another piece of wood so

that you have a flame for melting the cheese.

We place the pizzas across the back, in

front of the fire, although at our class in

Italy they had us push the fire to the side and

place them front to back - that was too difficult

to manage that back pizza.  

Add a piece of wood as needed to keep a flame

On occasion we have made the oven too hot

on the floor and the first pizzas burned.  I just

got an old dish towel damp and placed it

over my metal brush and gave the floor a

quick wipe.  It cooled it down enough without

being too wet or cold to cause damage to

the stone on the bottom of the floor.

No clean up is necessary, just close the door

and let the fire burn anything out that

got on the stone.  Remove the ashes before

next use.  Don't remove hot ashes without

having a metal container and a safe

place for them, so they don't start a fire.

If we are making dessert pizzas we leave them

closer to the front as the sugar burns quicker.

You can also bake bread on the hot stone,

just keep turning the loaf.  You can cook a

casserole, again turning it once in a while.

You can pull the hot coals forward and 

grill if you have the grill accessory.

You can bake a turkey in the oven.

You can slow cook a roast overnight, but we 

found it was better to have it frozen so as

to not overcook it.

With a larger flame, you can broil.  It really

can do just about anything, not just pizzas. 

This was Hubby's creation.  He likes

to make two different kinds per pizza -

kind of a half and half.

He always likes to finish the meals with 

a dessert pizza.  This one was a S'Mores

pizza with a sprinkling of cinnamon sugar!

He generally cooks a few and brings around

a bit for those that want to indulge, since a

whole dessert pizza might be too much for them.

Really, your imagination is the limit on 

make your own pizza parties.

I will be posting with

Dishing It and Digging It

Pesto, Pear and Gorgonzola Pizza

It was a really busy week last week

with two pizza parties, a birthday dinner,

my daughter in law competing in the

regional yoga competition (and taking

first place so now she is going to 

the National Competition), 

a family sleepover at the cabin

with ski lessons for the little ones

and one 

more dinner party!  Whew!!!

Did I make it through last week?!!

We fired up the pizza oven two nights in a row 

and had around 20 to 25 both nights.

Remember the luscious pizza I told you

about from Hotel California in Cabo?

Well, I made a copy of it,

even running to a couple of stores

to find Mexican Crema to finish

it off with

and I think I made a great rendition of it!

When we remodeled our house

about 9 years ago, we put a wood burning

pizza oven in the kitchen and use it often

for entertaining.  

You could make this pizza on a pizza stone

in your own oven.  The trick is to really take the

hour or more to heat up the stone.  In the pizza

oven, the floor is around 650 - 700 degrees and

the roof of the oven is around 1200 degrees so

the pizza cooks in just minutes.

We love to have everyone make their

own pizzas so we started with this one

as an appetizer to let everyone have a taste

and then they created their own signature pizzas.

(The baked pizza was finished off with

a swirl of Mexican Crema.)

Pesto, Pear and Gorgonzola Pizza

Prepared Pizza Dough

1 sweet onion, sliced and caramelized in a frying pan

1 pear, cored, sliced and pan fried in butter until soft

prepared pesto

gorgonzola cheese (I used Boar's Head)

Mexican Crema (or table cream)

Prepare the pizza dough at least 2 hours ahead.

Let rise, then punch down and shape into

individual balls, cover and let rise again about 30-45

minutes.

Thinly slice and caramelize the onions in a little

oil until tender and evenly caramelized.  Use medium

heat so you don't burn them.

In another frying pan, melt a teaspoon of butter and 

lay the slices of pear in the butter.  Let them cook

for a few minutes until light golden and turn and 

cook the other side.

Shape the ball of dough into a round by

stretching.  Place it onto a well floured pizza peel.

Top it with prepared pesto.  Then lay the cooked

pears around the center forming a circle.  Top

with a circle of gorgonzola cheese and a final

ring of caramelized onion.

Bake on a hot pizza stone (following manufacturer's

directions) until bubbly and brown and crisp on

the bottom.  Remove from heat and top with a swirl

of Mexican Crema (or table cream).

Slice and Enjoy!

Click here for printable recipe.

The mix of the savory pesto, onions and gorgonzola

against the sweetness of the cooked pears and

the creaminess of the Crema really make this

a fabulous pizza.

Pizza Fondue

The weather is turning chilly 

and we start to cook more 

comfort foods.

This Pizza Fondue is a quick and

easy comfort food that is

great for an appetizer

for a party or for a simple dinner.

Yummy pizza ingredients make up

the fondue that come together in

a few minutes,

then choose some fun dippers to 

serve it with.

Pizza Fondue Recipe

1/2 medium onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 lb ground beef

1 - 101/2 oz jar pizza sauce

1/2 tsp. fennel

1/2 tsp. oregano

1 C. shredded cheddar cheese

1 C. shredded mozzarella cheese

Place the onion, garlic and ground beef in

a medium saucepan and brown the beef.  Drain off

excess fat.  Add the jar of pizza sauce and

the fennel and oregano.  Heat through until

bubbling.  Stir in the cheese and heat until

the cheese is melted.  Serve while hot

with dippers.

This can be served in a fondue pot

if you want to keep it warm for a period

of time but you can just serve it in a bowl

if you are going to eat right away.

Dippers

Crostini

Bread cubes

Bread sticks

Cheese sticks

Celery sticks

Click here for a printable recipe.

So easy and great.

Perfect for football games

or parties.

I will be taking these goodies

to 

Foodie Fridays