Chicago-style Deep Dish Pizza
As quick mozzarella is technically only safe for a couple of days, I had to figure out a way to use the five-liters-worth of mozzarella I had made this week. Recall that no cultures were added to the milk before coagulating; whichever microbes already present in the milk had free run of all available lactose. The answer was simple: deep-dish pizza.
Fortunately, spring-form pans are ubiquitous in Germany, and the local stores seem to carry personal-pan-sized ones. So, having the baking supplies, I needed only to accumulate the crust, sauce, toppings, and cheese. I will admit that I no longer make my own sauce; I prefer to buy the €1 box o’ sauce and reduce it to something creamy. Fortunately, I had plenty of left over ricotta to add to the pot.
The crust is incredibly easy to make. The only tricky part is laminating the dough; but once you have attempted it, it is quite easy to handle.
Dough Recipe:
- 1 1/2 cups of Flour
- 1/4 cup of Cornmeal (found as Polenta here in Germany)
- 1/2 teaspoon of Salt
- 1/2 tablespoon of Sugar
- 1/2 package of Yeast
- Enough water to form a dough
- Some butter (for laminating)
Mix the dry stuff, and add enough water to form a dough. Let that rise in a warm and draft-free spot for about two hours until doubled in size. Punch it down, roll it out into a large rectangle (say 1/4 inch or less in thickness). Spread butter across the surface. If you are accustomed to making croissants, you may want to laminated the dough by folding it. However, this is not going to be that fancy: Roll up the dough as if you are rolling up a sleeping bag. Form this into a ball and place in the refrigerator for one hour, or until you need it. This dough-butter-dough layering is called laminating.
This is when I start reducing the sauce; it usually takes about 30 minutes to do so. I also use this time to cut up some Knackwurst and the mozzarella (I do not yet own a cheese grater, so I just cut it into small chunks). Take out your dough and roll it out to a thickness that gives you enough area to cover the bottom and sides of your baking form.
Add the cheese first!
Then add your toppings:
Finally, cover the pizza in sauce:
Bake at 210°C (410°F) for 20 to 28 minutes. My oven always chooses to take things slow; I always end up baking for 28 minutes.
Enjoy a homemade pizza with a homemade crust, handmade sausage, and homemade cheese!
