Deep Dish Pizza

Three Cheese, Sausage, Green Peppers and Onion

*This made some of the BEST pizza I have EVER tasted!*
For us this made 2  Nine inch pizzas. 


Ingredients:
CRUST: 

• 1 package (1/4 ounce) active dry yeast
• 2/3 cup warm water (110° to 115°)
• 2  cups all-purpose flour
• 2 TB vegetable oil, extra virgin olive oil works too!
• 2 TB Butter
• 1 teaspoon each dried oregano, basil and marjoram/thyme [the two taste very similar in my opinion. I actually used both and halved the amount of basil.]
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 Tsp salt

SAUCE:

• 1 can (28 ounces) crushed tomatoes in puree *original recipe called for diced, but mine were REALLY juicy even after I squeezed the juice out, so NEXT time I’ll go with crushed/puree blend.
• 1 small can tomato paste
• 1 small onion, chopped [ for kid friendly sauce, next time I'll use 1 tsp onion powder, or rounded TB onion flakes. But the adults loved the real onion.]
• 1/2 teaspoon each dried oregano, basil and marjoram *I also added Thyme*
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder

TOPPINGS:

• 4 cups (16 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese, divided
• 1/2 medium green pepper, chopped
• 1.5 cups grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
• 1/2 pound sausage, cooked and drained [I used turkey sausage which tastes a lot like italian sausage with 1/2 the fat] — *I only used 1/4 lb since only 1 pizza needed meat*.
• *optional* 2 ounces sliced pepperoni, ham, bacon, etc.
• **have also made with 1 cup frozen spinach, thawed and added to pan with onions and green peppers to cook off extra juice. **YUMMY!

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand 5-10 minutes. Add 1.5 cups flour, oil and seasonings; beat until smooth. [I did all mixing with my hands]
2. Add enough remaining flour to form a soft dough.
3. Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 4-5 minutes. 
4. Place in a greased bowl; turn once to greased top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 30 min-1 hour. [in oven with oven light on , I find is a great place]
5. Punch dough down; roll out into a 15-in. circle. Transfer to a well-greased 12-in. heavy ovenproof skillet or round baking pan,  letting dough drape over edges. 
6. Sprinkle with 1 cup mozzarella.
7. In a skillet, saute half of onion, the green peppers, and sausage until tender/ browned; drain. 
8. Layer half of the mixture over crust. Layer with half of the Parmesan, sausage and green peppers. 
9. Sprinkle with 2 cups mozzarella. Repeat layers. ending with sauce on top. Fold crust over to form an edge.
10. Bake for 400° for 20-35 -until crust is browned [20-25 minutes for the 9 inch pizza/ 35-40 for a 15 inch large pizza]. 
11. Let stand for 10 minutes before slicing. —NO EASY FEAT, I ASSURE YOU!!

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Here’s what I actually DID for the below goodness:

1. I divided the dough in half and lined 2 Pam Sprayed 9 inch Pie Plates. I don’t have any cast iron *GASP!*
2. I folded the edges down so they all stood about 1 inch tall, then cooked them for 5 minutes at 400 degrees.
3. Then sprinkled each with about 1/2 cup of Mozzarella, and 1/2 cup freshly shredded Parmesan.
4. Next, I liberally sprinkled sausage, peppers and onions over the one crust,  and about half cup of cheddar cheese on the second crust since it was for the kids and was a simple 3 cheese pizza.
5. I made a sauce of the tomato, seasonings, and half of the onion— I also added an additional 1/2 tsp garlic powder to the sauce. Then prepared the sausage, 2nd half of the onion, and green pepper separately.
6. I added a solid layer of sauce, then topped with rest of mozzarella and parmesan.
7.  Finally, I cooked them for 25 minutes. Could have gone with anywhere between 20-25.

3 Cheese Deep Dish

They were magnificent!!!