I live in a house made of Pizza. Well okay not literally but my God I love pizza. I mean seriously, if I could only have 1 thing to eat for the rest of my life it would have to be pizza. There’s just something magical that’s produced with the minimalist of ingredients. I mean think about it – flour, salt, yeast water for the dough. A simple sauce of sorts and toppings. Heck, forget toppings and go basic with great cheese. Now pizza can be made 9 bajillion different ways from Sunday. You have your stuffed crust, deep dish, thin crust, thick crust, hand tossed, pan and so forth.
One this you must know about me is that I’m a huge food snob. Well okay, you probably know that already but when it comes to pizza the bar is set ridiculously high. Seriously there has only ever been 1 commercial pizza place that has met my standards. People will argue “it’s the sauce that makes the pizza” or “no, it’s the crust”. Sorry guys but you’re both wrong. It’s EVERYTHING. It’s the dough AND the sauce AND the cheese. Toppings matter – that is, quality of the toppings. Never EVER canned mushrooms *you should be slapped!* blech!
Lately I’ve been getting a lot of requests on how to make a thick crust Sicilian pie. Yeah I think I can help you out with that…
Tee hee… I see that smile you have and how you got that twinkle in your eye from this. You want this….
This is super simple to make and so incredibly yummy! The crust is thick and crusty on the outside while the inside is warm and chewy. Now you can top this with whatever you want but I went pretty classic here – rich thick pizza sauce (sorry, not giving you my recipe), blend of cheeses, spicy pepperoni and fresh basil. Don’t you just love fresh basil on a pizza?! It’s the best!
Classic Sicilian Thick Crust Pepperoni Pizza
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Ingredients
- 1lb pizza Best Pizza Dough, halved
- 1 1/2 cups pizza sauce
- 1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded
- 1 cup provolone cheese, shredded
- Sliced pepperoni
- 10–12 large, fresh basil leaves
- Pinch of oregano
- Olive oil
Instructions
- Follow the instructions on how to make the Best Pizza Dough up to step 9 where you form a smooth ball.
- Divide the ball in half and gently reshape to 2 uniform smooth pieces of dough.
- Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil in 2 10″ Cast Iron Pans OR 2 10″ Round Cake Pans (be sure the cake pans can tolerate 550F). *550F is the max of my oven.
- Place 1 ball of dough in each pan and turn to coat evenly with oil.
- Using a flat palm, press the dough around the pan, flattening it slightly and spreading oil around the entire bottom and edges of the pan.
- Cover tightly with plastic wrap and let the dough sit at room temperature for two hours.
- After 1 hour has passed place a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat it to 550°F. Yes, your oven will be on for an hour. You need a really, REALLY hot oven for this!
- After 2 hours the dough should be mostly filling up the pan to the edges.
- Using the tips of your fingers, press it around until it fills up the entire bottom of the pan, popping any large bubbles that appear.
- Lift up one edge of the dough to allow any trapped air bubbles to escape.
- Do this all the way around.
- Equally divide the sauce on top and spread it all the way to the edges (leave like a 1/4” space).
- Add the cheese, pepperoni and pinch of oregano.
- Bake 13-18 minutes or until the bottom is golden brown and crisp (use a thin spatula to lift).
- Top with basil leaves and bake for 30 seconds to a minute.
- Remove from the oven.
- To get a super crispy crust, place the cast iron pan on the burner (medium heat) and kind of move the pan around in a circular motion (like you’re making old fashioned popcorn) for a couple of minutes.
- Remove the pizzas from the pans and place on a serving board.
Notes
The additional things you would need for this is either 2 10″ Cast Iron Pan or 2 10″ Round Cake Pans . Just make sure the cake pans are heavy duty and can handle high heats!
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