Chicago Style Deep Dish Pizza- Taylor Brooks- 2

Taylor  Brooks-2

Ingredients:
Dough:
8.125 oz unbleached AP flour
1.375 oz. yellow cornmeal
3/4 t. table salt
1 t. sugar
1 1/8 instant or rapid-rise yeast
5 oz. room temperature water
3/4 oz. unsalted butter, melted
1 oz. softened unsalted butter
1/2 t. + 2 T. olive oil

Sauce: 
1/2 oz. unsalted butter
2 T. grated onion, from 1 medium onion
1/8 t. dried oregano
1 T. table salt
garlic cloves, minced or pressed through garlic press (about 1 t.)
14 oz. crushed tomatoes
1/8 t. sugar
1 T. coarsely chopped fresh basil leaves
1/2 T. extra-virgin olive oil
ground black pepper

Toppings:
1/2 pound (about 2 cups)  mozzarella cheese, shredded
1/4 ounce (1/8 cup) grated parmesan cheese

Directions:
1. While dough rises, heat butter in medium saucepan over medium heat until melted. Add onion, oregano, and 1/4 t. salt; cook, stirring occasionally, until liquid has evaporated and onion is golden brown, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in tomatoes and sugar, increase heat to high, and bring to simmer. Lower heat to medium-low and simmer until reduced to 1 1/4 cups, 25-30 minutes. Off heat, stir in basil and oil, then season with salt and pepper.
2. Mix flour, cornmeal, salt, sugar and yeast in bowl of stand mixer fitted with dough hook on low speed until incorporated, about 1 minute. Add water and melted butter and mix on low speed until fully combined, 1-2 minutes, scraping sides and bottom of bowl occasionally. Increase speed to medium and knead until dough is glossy and smooth and pulls away from sides of bowl , 4- 5 minutes.
3. Using fingers, coat large bowl with 1 teaspoon olive oil, rubbing excess oil from fingers onto blade of rubber spatula. Using oiled spatula, transfer dough to bowl turning once to oil top: cover tightly with plastic wrap . Let rise at room temp. until nearly doubled in volume: 46-60 minutes.
4. To laminate the existing risen dough: Using rubber spatula, turn dough out onto dry work surface and roll into 15 x 12 inch rectangle. Using offset spatula, spread softened butte rover surface of dough, leaving 1/2 inch boarder along edges. Starting at short end, roll dough into tight cylinder. With seam side down, flatten cylinder into 18 x 4 inch rectangle. Fold dough into thirds like a business letter; pinch season together to form a ball. Return dough to oiled bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and let rise in refrigerator until nearly doubled in volume, 40-50 minutes.
5. Adjust oven rack to lower position and heat over to 425. Coat one inch 9-inch round cake pans with 2 T. olive oil. Transfer dough ball to dry work surface and roll out into 13 inch disk about 1/4 inch thick. Transfer dough to pan by rolling dough loosely around rolling pin and unrolling into pan. Lightly press dough into pan, working into corners and 1 inch up sides. If dough resists stretching, let it relax 5 minutes before trying again.
6. For pizza, sprinkle 2 cups of mozzarella evenly over surface of dough. Spread 1 1/4 cups tomato sauce over cheese and sprinkle 1  T. Parmesan over sauce, Bake until crust is golden brown , 20-30 minutes. Remove pizza from oven and let rest 10 minutes before slicing and serving.

In this recipe I used the biscuit mixing method. We made this exact recipe in class but I wanted to try it again to see if I could make it just as delicious as I did in class. This time I made the pizza alone instead of in a group which was much more challenging. I will admit it was hard for a 1 person job because there are so many things to prepare, but I did make it work, it just took me much longer. I did not change anything to the recipe or how I had made it because I knew it would be even more challenging if I would have done that.

The final product was very delicious, when I bit into it, all the flavors hit me at once. I got a taste of the hot melted cheese along with the gooey red pizza sauce. The crust had the perfect moisture, it was chewy but soft. It had the taste that a homemade pizza should have.

I would definitely make this again, because one who doesn't love pizza, and two deep dish pizza is so much better than any other ordinary pizza. Would recommend this recipe to anyone who loves pizza and is willing to explore other ways to make a simple pizza. I learned that yeast is very hard to work with and you have to have the patience with it if you want your final product to turn out delicious.