Winner Winner Pizza Dinner!

I love homemade pizza, but my kids don't.  They, of coarse, would rather have take out or even frozen pizza over a fresh, homemade pizza.  So, I'm on a quest to find one that they will love.

First of all, I want to share a little something with you..

I had never even attempted to make a yeast dough until a few months ago.  The idea of it really intimidated me for a long time.  I wouldn't even try it.  But then out of the blue, this past winter, I decided to make The Pioneer Woman's cinnamon bread, and now I'm hooked!  I love making yeast doughs now.  I can not tell you how gratifying and satisfying it is to make a successful dough. It's my new favorite thing and really makes me gitty. 

Anyway..

Tonight I made a deep dish pizza that I could make in my iron skillet.  I used the crust and sauce recipe from the Food and Whine blog.  I really liked the crust, but the sauce was a "Chicago style" sauce and was made with diced tomatoes instead of tomato sauce. It was a little "juicier" than regular sauce and made the crust a little soggy in spots.  But, other than that, it was pretty good.  I made regular cheese pizza for the boys, and they loved it!  For mine and Rod's, I used pepperoni, mushrooms, onion, bell pepper, olives, and pineapple, and it was pretty darn good. :)

Deep Dish Crust

3/4 cup warm water
1 Tbsp. active dry yeast
1/4 cup cornmeal
1 - 2 cups all-purpose or bread flour
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. honey or sugar

Sprinkle yeast over the warm water and let sit for 15 min.

In a large bowl, combine 1 cup of the flour, cornmeal and yeast/water combo., olive oil and honey or sugar. Stir until moistened then dump out onto a well-floured surface. Add more flour in 1/4 cup increments while kneading dough until you achieve a soft dough that is neither sticky or stiff. (I have a Kitchen Aid mixer with a dough hook, so, I combined the first four ingredients with the paddle attachment, on a med-low setting, and then switched to the hook and let it do the kneading.  You can stop it after adding the extra flour, to test the texture.) Remove dough to a well-oiled large bowl and let rise at room temperature for 1 hour.

While the dough is rising you can get the sauce going..

Chicago Style Pizza Sauce

2 Tbsp. olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
28 oz. can of tomatoes with juice (whole or diced)
1 tsp. salt *or less, depending on saltiness of tomatoes
2 tsp. dried oregano
1 teaspoon red chili flakes

Heat oil in a large skillet or saucepan. Add garlic and saute until fragrant and softened. Add tomatoes and spices. Crush with a spoon if using whole tomatoes. Bring to a boil and then reduce temperature and simmer until sauce thickens.

Assemble Pizza

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Grease bottom and sides of cast-iron skillet with Crisco. Transfer dough to skillet and press into bottom and sides until even thickness. Cover bottom of pizza with sauce and then a generous layer of mozzarella cheese.  Add toppings of your choice. Sprinkle a little more cheese on top and bake for 30-45 min or until crust is golden.