Sunday Gravy with yeah right: Cast Iron Chicago Style Deep Dish Pizza

Hola fellow survivors!

How is everyone holding up?

There was a discussion in the top secret DFO headquarters a week or two ago, where I mentioned that right out of the goddamn blue I had an anxiety attack. No real reason. I guess going to work Monday through Friday in the middle of a MOTHERFUCKING GLOBAL PANDEMIC has some sort of accumulative effect that can randomly rear it’s ugly fucking head.

Isn’t that just kooky?

After several suggestions were tossed around I decided to take these next three days off to drive – by myself – to San Diego County to visit youngest right, littlest right and possibly even our own Low Commander while socially distancing, wearing a mask and chilling the fuck out outside(!) on a secluded beach or pool area.

Consume some local craft beers, soak up some sun, maybe grab a pie from Pizza Port and just fucking relax.

I need a goddamn break.

I plan on being back here next week as scheduled so there’s no danger of missing your Sunday Gravy fix.

So, Cast Iron Chicago Style Deep Dish Pizza!

Holy shit that’s a lot of goddamn adjectives.

By the way I have no intention of turning this post into a pointless pizza style flame war.

Fuck that!

I love Chicago style deep dish pizza. My personal favorite is Lou Malnati’s and if you take a look at one of their pies…

You will notice that they use real tomatoes rather than sauce to top their pizza.

I also love New York style pizza. We have a Grimaldis’ location here in my town that makes a stupid delicious pie. Alas I haven’t had a chance to consume said pie since the shutdown. Oh, they’re open for carryout/delivery but there is no question that their pizza needs to be consumed right after it comes out of the oven and the drop-off in awesomeness when it cools off is pretty fucking severe.

What I mean is enjoy any and all types of pizza. Our world is too goddamn divisive already and we need to stop the ridiculous food wars.

/end rant.

Let’s go ahead and try this baby out.

Please note: this is my first time using my cast iron skillet to make deep dish pizza. In truth I was inspired by our own Beer Guy Rob who shared his success with making one of these on one of his open threads. I didn’t have much luck tracking the evidence down though. I scrolled through most of the summer and into May and it simply caused too much pain reliving these past few months.

Sorry Beer Guy. Feel free to post a photo in the comment section.

As most of you know the Chicago style pie is built upside down. Meaning crust, then cheese then toppings fillings then sauce. This is surprising pretty simple to do with the one tricky element being the dough. We’ll get to that in a bit.

First, let’s start with the sauce.

For the sauce we will be using my very own uncooked or raw pizza sauce first featured on episode 1 of our flatbread adventure.

Pizza sauce:

(1) 15 oz can of tomato sauce – or diced tomatoes

(1) 6 oz can of tomato paste

1/2 tablespoon of dried oregano

1/2 tablespoon of dried basil

1 1/2 teaspoons of granulated garlic

1/2 tablespoon of paprika

1/2 tablespoon of crushed red pepper flake (optional)

Gather.

You may notice that I’m using the diced tomatoes instead of tomato sauce to pseudo-simulate the authentic tomato topping like Lou’s pie up there.

Combine.

I made the sauce a couple of hours in advance to let the flavors meld. Cover the sauce with some plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to cook.

Next we make with the fuckin’ dough over here!

The inspiration for the dough recipe came from Seasonsandsuppers.ca.

And holy fucking hell is it a challenge to read through the names of some of these online food blogs while researching the recipes without gagging. Jesus.

Dough recipe: verbatim from the aforementioned linked website

3/4 cup lukewarm water
1 Tbsp active dry yeast
1/4 cup cornmeal
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. honey (or white sugar)

It’s key to note that the above recipe is specifically for a 10″ cast iron skillet.

Well guess what? I’m sporting a 12″ uh cast iron skillet.

Therefore I used a full cup of water, 2 packages of yeast, 1/3 cup of the corn meal and it was closer to 2 1/2 cups of flour and 3 tablespoons of olive oil. I kept the sugar to 1 tablespoon.

This was a little tricky adapting the dough recipe on the fly since baking usually requires pretty fucking exact measurements. This is where my frequent baking over the past few months really helped out and I’ll show you why in a bit.

Let’s start by proofing the 2 packets of yeast in the lukewarm water.

Let the yeast bloom for about 5 minutes.

Next we will add the hook attachment to our mixer and add in the cornmeal, sugar, oil and the first cup and 1/4 of the flour to make a “sponge.”

Turn the mixer to a low setting and mix for a couple of minutes.

To build the dough we will gradually add in the flour until we reach the desired consistency. It may need all of the remaining cup and 1/4 of flour, or it may need a little less or it may need a little more.

Let me illustrate.

Learning point here.

See the dough sticking to the bottom of the bowl a bit? This is after 1 full cup of flour had been added to the sponge. This is too damn sticky. Keep adding flour a bit at a time until the dough pulls away from the side while the mixer is kneading it.

Once you’ve reached the right dough consistency form the dough into a ball

Place in a large lubed-up bowl and cover with a clean kitchen towel. Let rise until doubled in size. About an hour should do it.

Now what should we consider as the fillings for this deep dish beast?

How about…

Saucisse!

Any self respecting Chicago style deep dish fan knows that the primary ingredient to that fat ass pie is almost always sausage.

It’s the Chicago way.

I’m using a full pound of “hot” Italian sausage and about half a pound of “sweet” sausage.

Give them links a quick circumcision and remove the sausage from their casings. The bulk sausage is a bit easier to do.

I combined the 2 types and added them to a skillet to brown.

Psst! Hey you! Yeah you. Every recipe I read said to fully brown the sausage during this step.

Know what I say to that?

FUCK OFF!

This motherfucker is going into a 425 degree oven for 40 minutes to cook. That sausage would be dryer than a prairie dogs butthole if we fully browned it at this stage.

Get it brown but not fully cooked.

Remove the mostly cooked sausage to a bowl and cover with foil and make sure nobody stops by for a quick sneak bite. That could be like, bad and shit.

We’re using our bad ass 12″ beast for this ‘un. Coat it well with some olive oil.

Think this recipe might be a good test of how well your skillet surface is treated?

Bet your damn ass it is.

Let’s check on the dough.

Well that certainly fluffed right the fuck up, didn’t it. Remove the dough to a floured surface to roll out. If the dough is still slightly sticky at this point tossing it around in the flour that’s now on the rolling surface should suffice.

Now form the dough into what will be our crust. Spread it out over the skillet surface.

You want to push the dough up the sides of the skillet to get the full “deep dish effect.” Maybe 2/3rds of the way up the side. The linked recipe site up there said to make sure the filling of the pizza is right at the top of the dough so the crust doesn’t brown too much.

Sage advice.

To build our monstrosity today you’re going to need some cheese.

That is one pound of fresh whole milk mozzarella right there. Cut it into 1/2″ wedges and cover the entire bottom surface of the pizza.

.

Now you got it!

Next we add in the sausage.

You’re probably looking at that and thinking “Holy shit that’s a lot of fucking sausage!”

And you would be right!

But why stop there? If we are fully commiting ourselves to the full-on deep dish experience you’ve got to basically say “Fuck counting calories, man!”

How about some trusty pepperoni too?

Goddamn right we did. Full layer. Ain’t no skimping on this bastard.

Then the sauce.

Be sure to cover that entire layer of meaty goodness. The sauce acts as a type of insulation to ensure the filling fully cooks and it also keeps the layer of cheese nice and gooey!

We want that yes?

But wait! There’s more!

That is some fresh grated parmigiano reggiano right on top.

Using both hands to lift the skillet, into the pre-heated oven this baby goes. Maybe calling this a “baby” isn’t appropriate because that’s gonna be one fat fucking baby if it weighs as much as this thing does.

Cook the pizza for 30 minutes. After the 30 minutes add a loose sheet of aluminum foil over the top and let cook for an additional 10 minutes. The extra time makes sure the filling is fully cooked through and the foil keeps the crust from over-browning.

Let’s take a peek shall we?

OHHHH MAN! Lookit that!

Know what you are going to do now?

Set a goddamn kitchen timer for 10 minutes and leave this damn thing alone. You want to retain the skin on the roof of your mouth dontcha? Plus the pie slices better once it’s had a chance to set-up.

But what does a slice look like?

I mean up close?

I mean up really close?

Can we sprinkle some extra parmesan on there?

Now we’re fuckin’ talking!

Holy Jesus is this thing good! I mean, how can it it NOT be delicious the way we prepared it?

“Sausage forward” would be a good way to describe it. The cheese is perfectly gooey and that sauce on top? Very tomato – centric with the little added kick from the basil, oregano and paprika.

It’s rich – no shit – it’s filling –  I’m stating the obvious aren’t I? It’s caloric?

It’s fucking fantastic. Absolutely as delicious as it looks and really, really close to some of the best Chicago style deep dish pies I’ve had.

And the skillet cleaned up with a simple wipe from a paper towel. ZERO sticking!

No, you can’t eat this every day, no matter how suicidal you may be.

But on a special occasion break this bastard out. This thing can EASILY feed 4 people and it would be a great dish to spring on unsuspecting friends or family. Maybe not if they are vegan but you know what I’m saying over here.

The day after serving this I did do an extra mile on my morning walk but that probably didn’t even scratch the surface.

Times are really fucked up right now and this meal will not only distract you from our current world events, it will feed your soul. Besides, you wouldn’t even have the energy for anything but a nap after eating this.

Welp, I’m heading to the beach tomorrow for some sun and surf and a different fucking vista if nothing else.

See you on the other side.

Be well folks!

PEACE and UNITY!