Deep, Deep, Deep Dish Pizza

Pizza Night is more like a carnival than a meal.  All the family members participate in making their own pizza.  There is no age limit.  There is no height marker like you’ll find at the entrance to the rides at Six Flags. Pizza Night is fun for everyone!

The adults make the pizza dough, prepare the pizza pans, chop, and prepare the ingredients and stand back.  Each person uses his or her own creative talent to craft their masterpiece.  Since this is a regular Sunday Dinner event, even the young children know how to prepare their pizzas.

The secret is to start with an unbelievable pizza dough.  This dough recipe comes from my dad’s bread recipe, with only a couple of variations for pizza.  He has used this recipe a couple of times each week for over 30 years, so you know it’s been well tested.

Pizza Dough Ingredients

• 2 Cup Warm Water, 110 degrees (Temp. must be within 5 degrees)
• 2 Teaspoons of Active Dry Yeast
• 1/2 Teaspoon of Sugar for Testing
• 6 Cups All Purpose Flour, or Better-for-Bread Flour
• 1/4 Cup Sugar
• 1/4 Cup Carnation Non-fat Dry Milk
• 2 Teaspoons of Dry Italian Seasoning
• 1 1/2 Teaspoons of Salt
• 2 Tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Preparation

1. Combine Yeast, Hot Water and Testing of Sugar to “test” the yeast.  Stir briskly, then pour into your mixing bowl.
2. Add half of the Flour, the Carnation Non-fat Dry Milk and the bulk sugar.
3. Mix, using your dough hook. Start slowly and move incrementally to high speed for 3 minutes.
4. Add Salt, Dry Italian Seasoning, Extra Virgin Olive Oil, the balance of the Flour.
5. Mix on Speed 1 for 1 minute and speed 2 for 7 minutes.
6. Remove from mixer and knead by hand for 2 minutes.
7. Place ball in a greased bowl and cover with cellophane wrap.
8. Place bowl of pizza dough in warm location and let rise for 30 minutes. It should almost double.
9. After 30 minutes, punch the dough and knead it for 1 minute.
10. Cut into dough balls.  (Each medium pizza is made from approximately one cup of flour.  If you use this recipe without modification, your 6 cups of flour will yield (7) medium pizzas, (4) large pizzas, or (4) Deep, Deep, Deep Dish Medium Sized Pizzas! Feel free to adjust the size based on your family’s taste.)
11. Roll or toss the dough into pizza shapes and place on greased pizza pans.

The Fun Part!

Let the games begin.  Ask everyone to produce his or her own creation from the pre-prepared toppings.  If you use the original 6-cup flour mix, you will need one cup of each of the toppings such as:

• Cooked Italian Sausage, cut to sugar-cubed size pieces
• Packaged Pepperoni
• Sliced Tomatoes
• Chopped Bell Peppers (preferably yellow and orange)
• Black Olives
• Canned, Chopped Artichoke Hearts
• Chopped, Fresh Asparagus
• Fresh Spinach, cut into ribbons
• Sliced Fresh Mushrooms
• Sliced Fresh Zucchini
• Potatoes, cut into small cubes, sauteed in Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Fresh Garlic and Italian Seasoning.

… along with 2 Cups of Tomato Sauce and  6 Cups of Mozzarella Cheese.

Bake at 375 degrees on LOWER rack until crust turns a rich brown color and the Mozzarella Cheese is thoroughly melted, 10-12 minutes.

Prepare a bowl of Fresh Iceberg Lettuce, Fresh Spinach and additional salad fixins’ and your family can enjoy their salad while they smell the aroma of the pizzas cooking.

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Credit must be given to the man that got me started cooking pizza.  Dave Sherman (Big Papa) from Greenville, Mississippi.  This composite photo is from 2009, 2013 and 2014. Papa is still the reigning champ.  Preston and I are so blessed to be his protégés.

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