recipe: chicago deep-dish pizza

I made this pizza for the first time after Tony and I got back to D.C. after Christmas. And I'm not ashamed to say that I made it again three days later because both of us were craving it. Tony has since declared this to be his favorite pizza ever.

I found this recipe when I was poking around the recipe pages of the King Arthur flour website. The crust is the best part about this pizza. It's thick like a Chicago pizza should be, and the bottom is crispy-fried. The sauce is the second best part about this pizza. It's chunky and spicy and unexpected.

Chicago Deep-Dish Pizza

Adapted from King Arthur Flour

Crust

• 1 cup + 2 tablespoons warm water
• 2 3/4 teaspoons yeast
• 4 cups flour
• 3 tablespoons cornmeal
• 1 3/4 teaspoons salt
• 4 tablespoons butter, melted
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons olive oil for crust + 4 tablespoons olive oil for pans

Sauce

• 28-ounce can petite diced tomatoes
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 teaspoon pepper flakes
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 garlic cloves, minced

Toppings

• 3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
• toppings of your choice (I used 1 pound cooked Lightlife ground veggie sausage, 2 cans mushrooms drained and sauteed, and a handful of green olives and a handful of onions)
• 4 tablespoons olive oil to drizzle on top

Preheat oven to 200 degrees, and turn off when it comes to temperature.

Dissolve yeast in warm water.

In stand mixer bowl, combine flour, cornmeal, salt, butter, vegetable oil and olive oil. Add yeast mixture. On speed 2 with a dough hook, mix until dough comes together. Continue to knead for a few minutes after dough comes together.

Place dough in a greased bowl. Cover bowl with a towel, and place in warm oven for 1 hour.

Prepare 2 9-inch cake pans by pouring 2 tablespoons olive oil into each pan, and tilt pans, so oil covers the bottoms. (The original recipe calls for a 14-inch round pie plate, but I do not have that.)

Once dough has risen, divide in half and roll each half into a 11-inch circle with a rolling pin. Place the circles into the cake pans, and mold the dough up the sides of the pan.

Cover and let rise for 30 minutes.

Poke 10 holes in the bottom of each crust. Par-bake the crust for 10 minutes at 425 degrees.

For the sauce, drain the tomatoes thoroughly. In a large bowl, combine tomatoes, oregano, basil, hot pepper flakes, salt, sugar and garlic.

Cover bottom of each par-baked crust with 1 cup cheese. Add toppings. Add sauce. Add additional 1/2 cup cheese. (Original recipe called for grated Parmesan here, but I only had mozzarella.) Top with 2 tablespoons olive oil on each pizza.

Bake for an additional 25 minutes at 425 degrees. Use a spatula to transfer the pizzas to a cutting board. Cutting through the crust will require a big whack with a sharp pizza cutter.

Makes 2 9-inch pizzas.

recipe: pesto-spinach-feta pizza

All this fall, Tony and I have been spending our Monday nights at Valerie and Andrew's apartment, eating dinner, hanging out and watching The Walking Dead. (Except we haven't seen the mid-season finale yet - no spoilers!) Valerie and Andrew both are great cooks, and a few weeks ago Andrew made us a pesto-spinach-feta pizza that I have not been able to get out of my head.

So when Dena came over to our house for dinner Sunday, I wanted to replicate the deliciousness that Andrew created. You will love this pizza.

For the crust, I used my hands-down favorite crust recipe from Cook's Country, which is crispy like Pizza Hut crust.

The recipe that follows will make two 9-inch pizzas. (I made three pizzas Sunday by increasing all of the ingredients by 50 percent.)

Pesto-Spinach-Feta Pizza

For the crust

• 1/2 cup olive oil, divided
• 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons milk
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 2 1/3 cups flour
• 1 tablespoon (1 packet) yeast
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

For the pesto

• 1/2 cup nuts (pine nuts, walnuts or almonds -- I used walnuts)
• 2 cups greenery (basil, spinach or arugula -- I used spinach)
• 1/2 cup cup olive oil
• 1 garlic clove
• dash of salt

Toppings

• 2 handfuls spinach, chopped
• 2 ounces feta
• 2 cups shredded mozzarella

As you start on the dough, heat the oven to 200 degrees. When it comes to temperature, turn it off.

In a saucepan, heat milk to almost boiling. Off heat, add sugar and 2 tablespoons olive oil.

In a stand mixer bowl, mix flour, yeast and salt. With the dough hook attached and the mixer on speed 2, slowly add the milk mixture. When dough comes together, continue mixing for 5 minutes.

Shape dough into a ball with your hands and placed into a greased bowl. Cover and set in warm oven for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare the pesto. In a frying pan, toast the nuts over medium heat. Then add all of the ingredients to a food processor and pulse until pesto comes together.

Prepare two 9-inch round cake pans by placing 3 tablespoons of olive oil in each pan. Note: 8-inch pans also will work.

Once dough has risen, divide in half. Use a rolling pin to roll each half into a 9-inch circle. Place dough into the prepared pans. Cover and let sit for 20 minutes.

After dough has risen, poke each crust with a fork 8 times. Top each pizza with 1/3 cup to 1/2 cup pesto. Add half of the spinach, half of the feta and half of the mozzarella to each pizza.

Bake for 20 minutes at 400 degrees. Remove from oven and let sit for 1 minute. Use a flexible spatula to slide the pizza from the pan and onto a cutting board. Cut each pizza into six pieces.

dining out: we the pizza

Here are my thoughts about going out to dinner on a Friday. I like to go right from work, so Tony and I can spend the rest of the evening in our PJs on the couch with Netflix. (I acknowledge that makes me sound old, but whatever.) But we never know what time time we'll be done with work, so we end up missing reservations. So, for me, making a reservation, wearing heels, putting on big earrings -- that's all Saturday night stuff.

I'm posting this on a Friday because We, The Pizza is everything I like in a Friday restaurant -- it's casual and good. No reservations or fancy heels required. The food is greasy and indulgent, which is how we should all end the work week, right?

Here's the pizza with peppers and mozzarella that Tony ordered when we ate We, the Pizza a few weeks ago. 

Is it the best pizza I've had in D.C.? No. But it's tasty, above-average pizza, served in a cool and casual atmosphere, and it's convenient for folks who live or work on the Hill.

We, the Pizza is on Pennsylvania Avenue at Third Street, Southeast.

<3

From the archives:

dining out: bacio pizzeria

dining out: district of pi

dining out: bacio pizzeria

Tony and I picked up some calzones from Bacio Pizzeria in Bloomingdale on Friday after work, then headed home for a night in, just the two of us. Good food. A couple episodes of Treme on DVD. Jamming to the iPod. Catching up on some reading. A nice night.  

Bacio is a cute, carry out pizza joint, and it remains one of my favorite pizza places in D.C. Mostly because of the cornmeal crust. I was in an adventurous mood Friday, so we ordered calzones instead of pizzas. 

It wasn't a perfect restaurant experience. Bacio messed up the order a bit, including putting olives in my calzone. I hate olives. Luckily, they were whole olives, not chopped up, so they were easy to pluck out. 

But it's hard to stay mad at Bacio for long. The good food makes up it. 

Bacio is a nice addition to the neighborhood for folks who live in Bloomingdale, Eckington or Shaw. It's out of the way for the rest of us, but I say it's worth the trek if you're in the mood for new, good D.C. pizza. 

<3

From the archives: 

dining out: district of pi

dining out: district of pi

When the St. Louis pizza operation Pi opened its first shop in D.C. last year, my St. Louis friend Jennifer said I must try it. So when Tony and I sat down with Mike and Jen for my birthday dinner Saturday, I told everyone I was ready to be impressed and for this to become my new favorite pizza place in D.C. It didn't quite go as well as I'd hoped, although the food itself was good.

My biggest complaint is that it was uncomfortably warm in the front room, where we were seated. It was downright unpleasant. And I don't generally mind noisy restaurants, but this place was SO LOUD that we could hardly hear the waitress. Also, when the waitress went to box up the leftovers, she apparently had to throw two pieces away because she dropped them on the floor, and of course accidents happen, but then she gave us the check and charged us for the pizza she dropped. So ... it was kind of awkward, exasperated by the aforementioned sound issues ... but she ended up bringing a new check and only charging us for half of that pizza.

The food itself was quite tasty, though. I worked at a pizza place in high school, and we served deep dish pizzas with the sauce on top. Since then, I've been a big fan of sauce-on-top pizzas, but you hardly ever see that on menus, so I was happy that's how District of Pi serves its deep dish pies.

Pi also serves more traditional, thin-crust pizzas. I didn't have any, but Tony gave it an 8.5 out of 10.

So, we had good food -- but a less-than-good restaurant experience. Maybe I'll give District of Pi another shot someday, after enough time has passed and I've forgotten how unpleasant it is to eat hot pizza in an 84-degree restaurant.