Stuffed Pizza

So this recipe has been a long time coming! Stuffed pizza- Giordanno's style: chewy, cheesy, saucy pizza. We've made this about 5 or 6 times now and have definitely perfected it to our liking. We found a crust recipe online that we follow pretty much exactly (original source). The rest is modified to our taste but you can do whatever you please. As most of you know, I'm a pretty plain pizza eater so cheese (and maybe some spinach) is about the extent of my adventurous-ness but Danny's been known to add some pepperoni or switch up the cheeses. Do whatever floats your boat...just know that the original cheese is not boring! This takes some time and preparation so plan ahead...the dough takes about 2-4 hours to rise and then you'll need some time to shred the cheese and roll out the dough, make the sauce, etc. The prep time after your dough has risen is probably about another hour, however you can do a lot of the prep while the dough is rising so it's easy to split it up. You'll also need a deep dish pizza pan...ours is a Chicago Metallic from Bed Bath and Beyond. Danny and I find that this is a super fun weekend recipe when we have all day to plan and prep for it. Even when we made this the first time there were no complaints- it's so good- and the recipe has only gotten better from there!

COPYCAT GIORDANO'S STUFFED PIZZA

What you need for the dough:

bout 6 cups of flour

1 tablespoon sea salt

4 ½ teaspoons instant yeast

3 teaspoons sugar

7 tablespoons Canola oil

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 cups warm water

To make the dough:

1. Pre-heat your oven to 200F. Mix flour, salt, yeast, and sugar in large, deep bowl with a wooden spoon.

2. Pour oil into flour mixture and mix well. 

3. Add water in 1/2 cup increments and mix well with wooden spoon.

4. As you mix, a rough dough should start to form. At first it will be sticky in some places and completely flour in others. Once a semi-cohesive ball starts to form, dump the entire contents out onto a clean work surface.

5. Using your hands, create a big pile of the dough and any loose flour. Press down and fold in half. Keep pressing down and folding the dough in half, varying the direction in which you fold slightly each time.

6. Continue to knead dough until it becomes smooth, about six to ten minutes. If the dough sticks to your hands or the work surface after several minutes of kneading, add a tablespoon or two of flour. If there's lots of extra flour or the dough is too dry, splash a teaspoon or two of water over the dough and use your hands to incorporate the flour. Just add what is needed to make the dough even in all areas.

7. Once well kneaded and smooth, shape the dough into a large, flat disk. Fold in four sides of the disk to a point, flip it over, and shape the dough to form a ball. Lightly dust with flour.

8. Turn off the oven that you pre-heated earlier. 

9. Lightly coat a large bowl with cooking spray or olive oil. (I just wash the same big, deep bowl that we started the dough in.) Place dough in bowl and cover with a kitchen towel (or plastic wrap).

10. Let rise for 2-4 hours (4 is better than 2) in the warm oven that you had on earlier (just be sure it is off- you don't want it to start cooking!)

In the meantime, you can start preparations for the rest of the pizza...

What you need for the sauce:

1 jar Ragu pasta sauce (we use the Parmesan Romano)

1 small can of tomato paste

1-2 T of granulated sugar

Cayenne pepper or Crushed red pepper to taste (optional)

To make the sauce:

1. In a small saucepan, mix together your sauce, paste, sugar and any additional seasonings.

2. Let simmer until thick and bubbling, about 15-20 minutes. Be patient with this, it really makes a difference once it's cooked for a while.

  

What you need for the rest of the pizza:

Cornmeal 

3 Tablespoons butter (melted) 

About 24oz of mozzarella cheese (I know it takes longer but I recommend buying the fresh, unshredded variety...it melts and tastes so much better than the stuff out of the bag!)

All of our freshly shredded cheese!

Putting the pizza together:

1. Preheat oven to 450 F.

2. Spread melted butter in the bottom of your deep dish pizza pan. 

3. Sprinkle with cornmeal until coated.

4. Take your risen dough and punch it down to separate into two pieces. Make one piece slightly larger than the other (about 60-40 split).

5. Roll the larger piece of dough out with a rolling pin until it's slightly larger than your pan (about 16' in diameter). 

7. Line your pan with the large piece and fill with cheese and toppings.

8. Roll out your second piece of dough the same size as the pan (about 14').

9. Place this on top of your filled pizza and pinch the sides together to form a crust. Cut a few slits in the top piece of dough to allow it to air out.

10. Cover with pizza sauce. If you have some left over, save it for extra dipping of the pizza!

11. Bake in your pre-heated oven for 20-25 minutes until edges are golden brown. Let sit for 5-10 minutes, then transfer to cutting board and slice.

 

Perfection!! ENJOY!

Hail Caesar!! Chicken Caesar Pizza

CHICKEN CAESAR PIZZA

Alright everyone, time to break the dessert baking trend! I’m blogging about my first savory recipe today! And oh my gosh, this was hands down the best thing we have ever made! When Danny and I were in Florida on vacation, we went to a place called Mellow Mushroom. It was the most amazing pizza…completely different flavors and ideas than you would ever think about for pizza. Our favorite was the chicken Caesar. It was awesome! Cheesy, buttery, garlicky pizza with a Caesar salad on top. We actually went there two nights in a row it was so good! When one of our sets of plans was canceled we decided it couldn’t get much better than MM and that is when we discovered this gem. We’ve been in withdrawal since coming home because there isn’t one around us so of course, we went on our quest for a copycat recipe. I am so excited and ecstatic to tell you that on our first try- we nailed it! That never happens…the first time is always rough and full of ‘next time, we’ll do this instead’. Not yesterday!! I hope that one of you will enjoy this as much as Danny and I did :) I will separate the crust recipe from the toppings so you can top it however you wish. The crust was out of this world and I must give props to www.food.com for the ‘easiest best focaccia bread recipe’ as this was hardly tweaked at all! If Caesar salad and pesto isn’t your cup of tea I would still recommend trying this crust recipe and topping it with whatever you please. If you’re up for a completely new twist on pizza though, then give this a shot! (Side note: this is NOT a healthy recipe, you can modify if you wish but I won’t promise the same amazing results. The reason this is so good is because it’s super buttery…just don’t eat lunch ;)

What you’ll need for the crust:

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon white sugar

1 (1/4 ounce) packet active dry yeast

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon oregano

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

1/2 teaspoon dried basil

1 dash ground black pepper

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 cup warm water (105-115 degrees)

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons parmesan cheese (I used the Kraft crumbly kind for this because I think it bakes better on the dough)

2 tablespoons butter (for the pan)

Crisco (for the pan)

To make the crust:

1. Mix the yeast and water in a small bowl. Let proof for 10 minutes (until bubbles begin to form).

2. In large bowl, stir together flour, salt, sugar, garlic powder, oregano, thyme, basil, and black pepper.

3. Add the yeast mix and vegetable oil to the dry ingredients and combine.

4. When dough has pulled together, turn out onto lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic.

5. Lightly oil a large bowl, place dough in bowl; cover with damp cloth and let rise in warm place 25 minutes.

6. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

7. Prepare the baking sheet or pizza pan (we use a deep dish pizza pan) by greasing with Crisco; then melt 2 tablespoons of butter in the bottom (like I said, this isn’t healthy).

8. Punch dough down, form into whatever shape you please about 1/2 inch thick (we did a circle for pizza pan); place on buttered and greased baking sheet.

9. Brush top with olive oil, then sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

10. Bake for about 8 minutes until starting to bubble; then take it out so you can put on your toppings. (Caesar topping recipe below.) Put back in oven and bake for another 6-10 minutes until golden brown and cheese is bubbling.

What you’ll need for the chicken Caesar toppings:

1 chicken breast

1 tablespoon of olive oil (for chicken)

~1/2 cup Basil Pesto (I used the Classico brand)- I’m not sure exactly how much we used but you’ll need some for cooking the chicken and some for the pizza crust

2-3 cups shredded Mozzarella cheese (we used fresh- it melts so much better)

1 cup shredded Fontina cheese

1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese

1/4 cup olive oil

2 large cloves of garlic

1 head romaine lettuce

Caesar dressing

1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

To make the chicken Caesar pizza:

1. Get a sauté pan very hot to cook the chicken. Use about a tablespoon of olive oil in the bottom and start the chicken breast. Flip once about 3 minutes in; cook another 1-2 minutes. Take chicken out of pan (it won’t be cooked all the way through) and slice into thin pieces.

2. Put the chicken slices back in the pan and top with about a 1/4 cup of pesto. 

3. Turn heat up in pan (to get a nice sear) and cook until the chicken is done (about 4-6 minutes more). Make sure the chicken has a nice golden color to it. Turn chicken off and leave in pan until you’re ready to top your crust.

Our golden pesto chicken

4. Crush the two cloves of garlic and mix with the olive oil; sauté in a pan or heat in the microwave to cook the garlic for a bit (not long; 2-3 min sauté or 30 seconds in microwave).

5. After the dough is close to done baking (about the 8-10 minute mark) take it out the oven and use the garlic oil as the sauce. Spread it around evenly across the top of the crust.

6. Coat with some pesto (we probably used another 1/4 cup but it's up to your preference) as additional sauce. 

Here is the crust with the sauce; you can tell that it's not quite done yet because the edges are not golden

LOTS of cheese!!

7. Place slices of chicken on top of the sauced crust.

8. Top with the shredded cheese. 

9. Put back in oven and finish baking. (We did about 5 minutes at 425; then broiled on high for a final 5 minutes until the cheese was golden and bubbling.)

Right after it's come out of the oven

10. While your pizza is finishing 

it’s bake, cut the head of romaine and toss with the Caesar dressing and shredded parmesan cheese.

Danny's making a guest appearance in my blog!

11. When your pizza is all done baking, take it out and let it rest for a few minutes (we also soaked up a little extra oil/grease with paper towels from the top). Then slice into triangles and top with the Caesar salad. You’ve now made the most magnificent pizza! Crack open a beer or pour a glass of wine and

Topped off with the salad: A-MAZ-ING!!

ENJOY!!