Deep Dish Pizza

Ahh, Pizza…I could eat pizza every Friday night and be very happy. I have tried to make my own pizza crust, finally stumbling along one that is okay but still not as good as a pizzeria pizza crust. Recently, I have been buying a pizza dough ball from a local Italian restaurant, Lido’s, and bringing it back to the Diner to make my own pizza. I have to admit, it is much better than my pizza crust.

I usually cook the pizza on my pizza stone, to get it crispy and cooked, not mushy. HH recently commented that he preferred a deep dish pizza with a crust a little softer, not so crunchy. Well, that was a dilemma, how do I do deep dish on a pizza stone?! Then I was reading one of my many food magazines a few weeks ago and ran across a recipe for a do-it-yourself, at-home deep dish pizza. I tried it, HH liked it! I liked it! Now I want pizza all the time!

Here’s the at-home, deep dish secret – use your favorite seasoned cast iron pan to make your pizza. And viola - delicious, at-home (or should I say at the Diner) deep dish pizza!

I made the pizza as usual, the crust just stayed thicker because it didn’t have as far to stretch; heated The Good Oven to 450º F; put the assembled deep dish pizza in the cast iron skillet in The Good Oven for 25 minutes and it came out perfect. And perfectly delicious! (P.S. – HH still hasn’t figured out that I’m using turkey pepperoni, tastes the same and helps our hearts!)