Deep Dish Pizza Recipe

If you love pizza as much as me, then you know not all pizza is the same. The crust makes a huge difference in the end result of your homemade pizza, as well as the sauce, cheese, and toppings.

There’s thin crust, thick crust, stuffed crust, grilled pizza, and so on!

This deep dish pizza recipe is everything I love about pizza with a thicker crust. This pizza gets baked in a square baking dish, and I like to cut the pizza into small squares before serving.

This is not Chicago-style deep dish pizza, but more like Detroit-style pizza or even Sicilian-style pizza.

Related: If you like this, try Stuffed Crust Cast-Iron Pizza and my Easy Calzone
Recipe. For dessert, try Chocolate Chip Pizza—yum!

This pizza features a thick, rectangular crust with crispy edges and a soft interior. The dough is stretched out and pressed into a well-oiled square or rectangular pan, creating a caramelized, cheesy crust.

If you wanted this deep dish pizza to be more like an authentic Detroit-style pizza, then I’d recommend putting the sauce on top of the cheese rather than the other way around.

I add oil to the bottom of the pan the edges, also being sure to spread the cheese to the edge of dough so it touches the pan. This creates that crispy, crunchy edge to the pizza that reminds me of childhood Pizza Hut thick crust pizza. Lol.

You can use any kind of sauce, homemade or store bought. But I do recommend having some extra sauce on the side, as this is the kind of pizza you might want to dip into more sauce!

And even though the pizza may not look big, I think you can easily feed four or five people with this if you have some kind of side since the deep dish crust is so thick and filling. This is a great pizza recipe to serve alongside a big, delicious salad.

Salad Recipes:

• Broccoli Salad
• Cucumber Salad
• Caesar Salad Dressing
• Ranch Dressing
• Lemon Vinaigrette
• Honey Mustard Dressing
• Fruit Salad

Deep Dish Pizza Ingredients:

• Instant-dry yeast
• Water
• All-purpose flour
• Salt
• Olive oil
• Tomato sauce – make your own or store-bought is great too
• Mozzarella cheese
• Toppings – pepperoni, bell peppers, mushrooms, you choose!

You can top the pizza with any toppings you prefer, but here’s some quick ratios to give you an idea of how much of this and that to use.

I use 1/3 cup of sauce, 3 ounces mozzarella, and a handful of whatever toppings I have or am using (pepperoni, sliced vegetables, etc.).

To get that crispy edge, be sure to sprinkle the cheese all the way to the edge so that it’s touching the pan.

Here I tried to show you the thick and fluffy crust with that crispy edge. It’s soooo good! I love this deep dish pizza recipe. Enjoy!

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4.67 from 21 votes

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An easy to make recipe for deep dish pizza using an 8-inch square baking pan.

Yield 9 slices

Prep 35 minutes mins

Cook 15 minutes mins

Ingredients

1x2x3x

• ▢ 2 ¼ teaspoons yeast (instant)
• ▢ 1 cup water
• ▢ ⅛ teaspoon sugar
• ▢ 2 cups all-purpose flour (plus more for kneading)
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon salt
• ▢ 1 tablespoon olive oil
• ▢ ⅓ cup tomato sauce
• ▢ 3 ounces mozzarella (shredded)
• ▢ toppings of your choice

US CustomaryMetric

Equipment

• ▢
  oven

Instructions

• In a glass mixing cup or small bowl, stir together the water and sugar. Then, sprinkle the yeast over the top of the water and allow to activate for a couple minutes.
• In a medium to large size bowl, add the flour and salt. Pour the yeast water into the bowl and stir until a dough ball forms. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead a few times to help the dough stick together.

  Then, place the dough back into the bowl, sprinkle with some flour so it doesn't stick too much, cover with a kitchen towel and allow to rise for 30-40 minutes until doubled in size.

  If your kitchen is cold or drafty (like mine is the winter), you can place the bowl inside a slightly warmed oven to rise.
• Oil the inside of an eight-inch square pan. Then, turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and roll into a small square.

  Place the dough in the oiled pan. Top with the sauce, cheese, and toppings. Make sure to sprinkle the cheese all the way to the edge, so it touches the pan (this will let it get crispy as it bakes).
• Bake the pizza at 400°F for 15-16 minutes, until the edges are browned and the cheese is melted and bubbly.

© Author Emma Chapman

Course Main Course

Keywords deep dish pizza, pizza

Nutrition

Nutrition Facts

Deep Dish Pizza Recipe

Amount per Serving

Calories

155

% Daily Value*

Fat

 

4

g

6

%

Saturated Fat

 

2

g

13

%

Polyunsaturated Fat

 

0.4

g

Monounsaturated Fat

 

2

g

Cholesterol

 

7

mg

2

%

Sodium

 

170

mg

7

%

Potassium

 

93

mg

3

%

Carbohydrates

 

23

g

8

%

Fiber

 

2

g

8

%

Sugar

 

1

g

1

%

Protein

 

6

g

12

%

Vitamin A

 

103

IU

2

%

Vitamin C

 

1

mg

1

%

Calcium

 

55

mg

6

%

Iron

 

1

mg

6

%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Notice: Nutrition is auto-calculated, using Spoonacular, for your convenience. Where relevant, we recommend using your own nutrition calculations.