Deep Dish Pizza in a Cast Iron Pan

Yes, lately, I've been a little obsessed about my cast iron pan.  My dad swore by his and I grew up watching him cook everything in it except acidic foods.  I had one for 20 years that was so seasoned, like my dad's, you could fry eggs on it and they slid out like they were on teflon.  My son left mine on a burner he was heating when he was young(er) and forgot it for hours.  Thankfully, it never burnt the house down, but the bottom fell out!!!  I was so devastated, I had to buy a new one (Lodge) and it's taken me over 5 years to get it seasoned properly.  It might even be 10 years, I can't remember when that happened now...Cast irons take time to "perfect" - depending how much you use them, but when they get there, nothing is better...you could 'google' for days and read about the glorious meaning they have to cooks - if that interested you, of course.  ;)

OK, back to the recipe.  I saw this and HAD to make it.  I did my own thing but I liked hers too and I followed the dough/cast iron instructions.

Chicago is still on my "to do" list and going for deep dish pizza is probably number 1 on my list once I'm there.  I've only had it once - in Vegas and I have no idea if that is what it would be like in Chicago - I doubt it though.  One day, I hope to find out...

I bought my "Calabria Bakery" dough from Urban Fare.  When I got it home and put it back in the freezer, I noticed it was 60% whole wheat.  Well, that would not do for my first "deep dish" so I had to make a return trip and get good ole "white death" dough.    When I made it, I took the dough out, covered it with olive oil and let it sit in a bowl with a tea towel over it for 8 hours.

I made my own tomato sauce.  I used:

•  28oz can of San Marzano tomatoes, whole - I crushed them with my hand.  I wouldn't use any other type!
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 Walla Walla onion, diced
• 1 teaspoon of oregano
• Kosher salt
• Fresh cracked pepper
• 1 can of tomato paste (no salt)
• Pinch of sugar
• Parmesan cheese rind

I sauteed the onion and garlic and then simmered the rest of the ingredients until thickened and the onions were almost melted, which took about an hour or two.

I put a stalk of basil in just before the end and removed it when the sauce was done.  It was wonderful.  It was simple but really, really delicious and complex with rich flavour.

For my toppings (and just be advised, I held nothing back - this was "go big or go home") I used:

• Johnsonville sweet basil sausage meat, fried with some chili flakes (fat drained off and put in a bowl lined with paper towels)

• Sliced mushrooms
• Sliced red onion
• Genoa salami, each slice cut in sixths
• Country deli ham, in pieces

• Sliced green pepper, halved
• Fresh basil leaves 
• LOTS o' Mozzarella cheese, grated
• Parmesan Reggiano, freshly grated

I preheated my oven to 400°F.  I patted the dough into an olive oil coated cast iron pan and tried to push it up the sides as high as I could - this would turn out to be tricky as the sides kept sliding down...

I ended up having to pull and hang the dough over the edges to get it to stay up.  When everything was in, I took the overhang off.

The first layer that went in was the Mozza.  I used about 2 cups.

Then I put in the sausage.

Then the mushrooms.

Then the salami.

Then the basil and green peppers.

Then the ham and red onions.

I topped with sauce - all of it.  The sauce is my fave thing on a pizza.

My friend at work (who gets to sample a lot of my cooking) gave me a Starfrit grater for Parmesan so I tried it out.

I cut off a little hunk and grated.

I think I had it assembled backwards (it can go left handed or right) because I held it and cranked the opposite of the way I would have, which made it awkward, but I got some fine grated cheese for the top of the pizza.

I finished the pizza with the Parm and tucked the hanging edges inside the pan.

Into the oven it went for 45 minutes.

I took it out and let it rest for the same amount of time. I think it didn't have to rest that long, so next time I would maybe wait 15 minutes - it held together fine which was what I was worried about - like a lasagna...

We enjoyed this.  I wasn't as blown away by it as I was hoping to be.  It wasn't as heavy as I thought it would be which was a good thing, I think because it wasn't heavy with dough, just toppings - above is my slice...  My final thoughts were that I really need to get to Chicago to compare!  :)  Below is how the inside looked like inside the pan.