Deep Dish Pepperoni Pizza

I must admit, I'm not a huge fan of deep dish pizza. I prefer my pizza with as little red sauce as possible and I always felt like deep dish gave you more sauce than thin crust (I've had authentic deep dish in Chicago and thought it was the case there).  But this is about the Cooking Light Deep Dish Pepperoni Pizza.  For those of you who subscribe to CL, this was in the most current issue which is all about the love of my life's "other love"....PIZZA!  So naturally once he saw this he was like 'we gotta make that this week'.  This recipe does force you to make your own dough but I loved it because it was the first time I used the dough hook on my Kitchen Aid stand mixer.  The dough has to chill for 24 hours so if you're planning to make this, make sure you give yourself enough time.  

As far as any changes to the recipe, we had two opened jars of sauce in our fridge from past recipes so we decided to use that up instead.  Next time we will make our own sauce.  Otherwise, we did not change anything.  I didn't have a metal 9 x 13, I only had a glass Pyrex dish so we did some research beforehand to make sure it would be oven safe on the bottom rack to 450 degrees.   It turns out, Pyrex can withstand up to 600 degrees but you have to be careful not to transfer it from super hot to a super cold surface or it will shatter.  I did like the author recommended and put the dish in the oven on top of a baking sheet to help crisp up the crust a bit.  Then we turned off the oven with 2 minutes to go and when we brought it out we put the baking sheet on two potholders.  We also let this cool for ten minutes which I strongly recommend!

As of today's post, three people gave this an average rating of 4 out of 5 stars.  The soon-to-be-legal other half of mine is very fickle with his ratings so a 4 means it's very delicious.  Funny thing is, I enjoyed it too!

I hope you enjoy this in your home as much as we did in ours!

Both Recipes (the pizza and the sauce) by Julianna Grimes, Cooking Light, May 2010

Yield: 6 servings (serving size: 1 rectangle)

Ingredients

• 1  cup  warm water (100° to 110°), divided
• 12  ounces  bread flour (about 2 1/2 cups)
• 1  package dry yeast (about 2 1/4 teaspoons)
• 4  teaspoons  olive oil
• 1/2  teaspoon  kosher salt
• Cooking spray
• 1 1/4  cups  (5 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese, divided
• 1 1/2  cups  Basic Pizza Sauce
• 2  ounces  pepperoni slices
• 2  tablespoons  grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

Preparation

1. Pour 3/4 cup warm water in the bowl of a stand mixer with dough hook attached. Weigh or lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Add flour to 3/4 cup water; mix until combined. Cover and let stand 20 minutes. Combine remaining 1/4 cup water and yeast in a small bowl; let stand 5 minutes or until bubbly. Add yeast mixture, oil, and salt to flour mixture; mix 5 minutes or until a soft dough forms. Place dough in a large bowl coated with cooking spray; cover surface of dough with plastic wrap lightly coated with cooking spray. Refrigerate for 24 hours.
2. Remove dough from refrigerator. Let stand, covered, 1 hour or until dough comes to room temperature. Punch dough down. Roll dough out to a 14 x 11–inch rectangle on a lightly floured surface. Press dough into bottom and partially up sides of a 13 x 9–inch metal baking pan coated with cooking spray. Cover dough loosely with plastic wrap.
3. Place a baking sheet in oven on bottom rack. Preheat oven to 450°.
4. Arrange 3/4 cup mozzarella evenly over dough; top with Basic Pizza Sauce, pepperoni, Parmigiano-Reggiano, and remaining 1/2 cup mozzarella. Place pan on baking sheet in oven; bake at 450° for 25 minutes or until crust is golden. Cut pizza into 6 rectangles.

Nutritional Information

Calories: 404

Fat: 16.3g (sat 5.9g,mono 7.8g,poly 1.5g)

Protein: 16.9g

Carbohydrate: 47.1g

Fiber: 2.7g

Cholesterol: 26mg

Iron: 3.9mg

Sodium: 607mg

Calcium: 244mg

Yield: 6 servings (serving size: about 1/3 cup)

Basic Pizza Sauce

Ingredients

• 2  tablespoons  extra-virgin olive oil
• 5  garlic cloves, minced
• 1  (28-ounce) can San Marzano tomatoes
• 1/2  teaspoon  kosher salt
• 1/2  teaspoon  dried oregano

Preparation

1. Heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic to pan; cook 1 minute, stirring frequently. Remove tomatoes from can using a slotted spoon, reserving juices. Crush tomatoes. Stir tomatoes, juices, salt, and oregano into garlic mixture; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Nutritional Information

Calories: 66

Fat: 4.7g (sat 0.7g,mono 3.3g,poly 0.6g)

Protein: 1.2g

Carbohydrate: 6.2g

Fiber: 1.4g

Cholesterol: 0.0mg

Iron: 1.4mg

Sodium: 175mg

Calcium: 48mg