Deep Dish Pepperoni Pizza is a pizzeria favourite! And you can make it at home with the best Homemade Pizza Dough, Homemade Marinara Sauce and lots of spicy pepperoni!
Growing up the only kind of pizza I knew was the deep dish kind or the “fat” crust. There were no Italian style artisan thin crust pizzas anywhere near us. In fact, I thought the only kind of pizza that existed was the fat kind. And I was a-okay with that.
Well, those, Mini Pizzas and Homemade Pepperoni Calzones.
What is a Deep Dish Pizza
Technically, this isn’t a deep dish pizza.…oops.
A real Deep Dish Pizza is pressed into a deep dish with the dough going up the sides. Almost like how you would make a pie or a tart. That is how you get the deep dish. Then you use tons of sauce and ingredients to fill it up and then it really does become a deep dish pizza. Like a pie!
So, why am I calling this a Deep Dish Pizza? Simply because it’s the fat crust kind. The kind you get at pizzerias and take outs. And it’s amazing! In fact my 13 year old, said it was his favourite pizza yet. And by favourite, he meant favourite that we’ve made in the house not in the entire world…ha!
Ingredients
For the dough:
- 4 Cups strong bread making flour
- 1 level teaspoon of sea salt
- 1 1/4-ounce or 7 grams packet Instant yeast
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 1/2 cups luke warm water
Other:
- 1 1/2 Cups pizza sauce
- 8 oz Mozzarella cheese
- 8 oz Pepperoni
- Oregano
REMEMBER, The full recipe and instructions can be found at the end of the post in the recipe card.
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl combine the flour, salt, sugar and yeast. Stir to combine. Add the olive olive oil and incorporate with your fingers.
- Make a well in the middle of the flour and pour in the warm water. With a fork, start incorporating the flour into the water in the middle. Do this until you have a sticky dough. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead until the dough is elastic and smooth, about 5 – 8 minutes. Put the dough back in the bowl and cover. Leave to rise for about an hour or until it has doubled in size.
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Place a cast iron plate, pizza stone or baking steel in the oven on the lowest rack.
- Divide the dough into two equal parts and form into balls. Place one ball of pizza dough on a lightly floured surface and press down with your hands until you have a disk. Start pushing the dough out with your hands, lifting and stretching as you make it bigger. Keep the edges quite high, about 1/2 inch. Place the pizza base on a large sheet of parchment paper.
- Top the base with sauce, cheese, oregano and pepperoni. Slide the pizza with the parchment paper onto a board. Transfer the pizza to the oven using the board to slide it onto the hot baking stone in the oven. Cook for about
- 8 – 10 minutes or until the pizza has risen and the base is crisp.
- Remove from oven and serve straight away. Repeat for other pizza if using immediately.
Notes about making the pizza
- Homemade Pizza Crust – I used my Pizza Dough Recipe with full step-by-step instructions that you might want to take a look at to help you along if you are new to making pizza.
- What the dough should be like – It needs to be sticky when you start. It will be a sticky to touch and difficult to knead for about a minute, but then it gets easier as the dough becomes more and more elastic. Just flour your hands to help with the stickiness of the dough in the beginning. Knead the dough long enough until it bounces back with pressed. This will take between 5 – 8 minutes. Once it’s reached this stage, you are good to go.
- Pizza sauce – Yes, you can make your own Pizza Sauce if you feel up to it! It’s not a difficult as you might think and really tasty. Or you can buy a jar, there’s no shame in that!
Notes About Cooking The PIzza
- To get that great crispy base, you do need a preheated surface in the oven to cook your pizza on. Ideally cast iron like show here is fantastic. Well in my experience that is what works best. But a baking steel or a pizza stone will give the same results. If you have none of these and just a regular pizza pan, the results in your base will vary. Still, I recommend heating up the pan in the oven before transferring the pizza.
- I put my pizza on a lightly floured sheet of parchment paper.
- And I lay that on top of a pizza board or a wooden board.
- Then dress the pizza and slide it onto the preheated surface in the oven with the parchment.
Frequently Asked Questions
Traditionally a deep dish pizza is a pizza that’s baked in a deep sided dish. the pizza is a few inches thick and it’s layered with sauce, meat and cheese.
Although the two are often used interchangeably, they are different. Thick crust (like this one), in fact has a thicker crust and the toppings are put on like a normal pizza. Whereas, deep dish has a normal crust and layered fillings.
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Deep Dish Pepperoni Pizza
Ingredients
For the dough:
- 4 Cups strong bread making flour
- 1 level teaspoon of sea salt
- 1 1/4-ounce or 7 grams packet Instant yeast
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 1/2 cups luke warm water
Other:
- 1 1/2 Cups pizza sauce
- 8 oz Mozzarella cheese
- 8 oz Pepperoni
- Oregano
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl combine the flour, salt, sugar and yeast. Stir to combine. Add the olive olive oil and incorporate with your fingers.
- Make a well in the middle of the flour and pour in the warm water. With a fork, start incorporating the flour into the water in the middle. Do this until you have a sticky dough. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead until the dough is elastic and smooth, about 5 – 8 minutes. Put the dough back in the bowl and cover. Leave to rise for about an hour or until it has doubled in size.
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Place a cast iron plate, pizza stone or baking steel in the oven on the lowest rack.
- Divide the dough into two equal parts and form into balls. Place one ball of pizza dough on a lightly floured surface and press down with your hands until you have a disk. Start pushing the dough out with your hands, lifting and stretching as you make it bigger. Keep the edges quite high, about 1/2 inch. Place the pizza base on a large sheet of parchment paper.
- Top the base with sauce, cheese, oregano and pepperoni. Slide the pizza with the parchment paper onto a board. Transfer the pizza to the oven using the board to slide it onto the hot baking stone in the oven. Cook for about
- 8 – 10 minutes or until the pizza has risen and the base is crisp.
- Remove from oven and serve straight away. Repeat for other pizza if using immediately.
*A note on times provided: appliances vary, any prep and/or cook times provided are estimates only.
Notes
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