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    Home / Main Courses / Pizza
    5 from 1 review

    Sourdough Deep Dish Pizza

    By Alanna Taylor-Tobin on Nov 23, 2009 (updated Jan 20, 2020) / 2 Comments Jump to Recipe

    overhead shot of sourdough deep dish pizza

    If you think the food world is free from the chains of fashion, you probably live under a rock. Take chocolate. Having been the only thing available in this country for so many years, overly sweetened milk chocolate fell out of fashion when folks realized the wonders of bittersweet. Ever darker chocolates began appearing, and anyone who was anyone spoke authoritatively on the matter of darker equalling better. But milk chocolate (and even white chocolate) has been making a steady comeback with chocolatiers such as Charles, Valrhona, Recchiuti and Scharffenberger marketing dark, fruity bars with over 40% cocoa solids. Now when someone tells me disdainfully, 'I don't like milk chocolate; too sweet,' I just shake my head mournfully at their naivete.
    top down shot of deep dish pizza
    The same goes for pizza. Since cheap, American chains have marketed bready pies for so many years, the conoscenti began spurning them for Italian-style, wafer-thin crusts. Chic restaurants flaunting ever thinner dough have popped up everywhere, from Flour + Water in the city to Pizzaiolo in the East Bay. On my walk home from work down Valencia Street, I am fortunate (or unfortunate, depending) to pass by two stellar pizzerias that taunt me daily with wafts of wood fired bread and tomato sauce drifting into my tired and hungry nostrils. The first, Pauline's, makes the skinny kind (bonus points for using local, seasonal ingredients!) The second, Little Star, which from the outside looks like a dingy dive bar, makes the deep dish variety.
    slice of pizza
    Eating Little Star pizza was a revelation, much like my first nibble of Scharffenberger's milk chocolate several years ago, in which I realized that thick crusts can be not only good, but ecstatic.
    If you have yet to experience the virtues of deep dish pizza and are skeptical, consider these startling facts. Deep dish pizza is:
    -tender
    -soft
    -crispy on the outside
    -chewy on the inside
    -moist with sauce and melty cheese
    -rich and flavorful with olive oil
    -really friggin' good

    Inspired by Little Star's wheaty masterpieces (and a jar of tomato sauce left over from last week's eggplant parmesean), I tried my hand at sourdough deep dish pizza. I used Cook's recipe as a starting point, tweaking the ingredients as necessary. The resulting pizza surpassed my expectations with its flavorful, springy dough crisped in a generous amount of olive oil, accented by gooey, saucy cheese and bites of bitter olives, tangy chevre and fresh basil.

    Once you taste it, you will no longer associate this caliber deep dish pizza with the cheap stuff you begged your parents to buy you (with pineapple and olives on top - yes, I was a weird one) when you were a kid. Promise. If you still turn your nose up at thick crust pizzas, you have my deepest sympathy.

    For more pizza recipes:

    • Padrón Pepper Margherita Pizza {gluten-free}
    • Asparagus Pesto Pizza
    • Sourdough Pizza with Chanterelles, Shallots and Chevre
    • Smoky Brussels Sprout Pizza with Lemon + Chile {Gluten-Free}

    *Bojon appétit! For more Bojon Gourmet in your life, follow along on Instagram,  Facebook, or Pinterest, purchase my gluten-free cookbook Alternative Baker, or subscribe to receive new posts via email. And if you make this sourdough deep dish pizza recipe, I’d love to know. Leave a comment and rating below, and tag your Instagram snaps @The_Bojon_Gourmet  and  #bojongourmet.*

    5 from 1 review

    Sourdough Deep Dish Pizza

    Print Recipe Pin Recipe
    This deep dish pizza is the thing of dreams!
    Alanna Taylor-Tobin
    Total: 2 hours hours 30 minutes minutes
    Servings: 6 servings (two 10" pies)

    Ingredients

    The dough:

    • 1 medium russet potato (about 9 oz.)
    • 8 oz. liquid sourdough starter (about 1 cup)
    • 2 3/4 cups all purpose flour, plus more as needed (some or all of this can be whole wheat)
    • 2/3 cup lukewarm water
    • 1 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast (or 2 teaspoons active dry, or 1 tablespoon fresh)
    • 1 3/4 teaspoon salt
    • 2 tablespoons olive oil

    The pizzas:

    • 4 tablespoons olive oil
    • 1 1/2 cups or so tomato sauce (bought, or homemade)
    • 8 - 12 oz. mozzarella, sliced
    • 2 - 4 oz. goat cheese
    • 1/3 cup oil cured olives, pitted and halved
    • a few basil leaves, sliced
    Prevent your screen from going dark

    Instructions

    The dough:

    • Peel and quarter the taters, put in a pot and cover with water. Boil until tender but not falling apart, 10 minutes or so. Drain and let cool until they are handleable, then put through a ricer if you are cool enough to have one (I'm not) or grate on the large holes of a box grater.Combine all the ingredients together in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook (or in a big bowl with a wooden spoon, you stud!) Mix on low until combined, then increase the speed to medium-low and knead for 5 minutes or so until smooth and elastic, adding more flour as necessary until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl, and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
    • Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead by hand for a minute or two to adjust the consistency. The dough should be soft and moist, but not overly sticky. Place in a lightly oiled bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap (or slide into a clean trash bag.) Let rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.

    The pizzas:

    • Position an oven rack in the lowest and highest positions. Place a baking stone or (heavy baking sheet) on the bottom rack. Preheat the oven to 500º.Coat the bottoms of two 10" cake or pie pans with 2 tablespoons olive oil each. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and divide in half. Pat each into 9" rounds. Cover with plastic and let rest 10 minutes, then place in the pans and press them up the sides to make a 1" lip. (Mine wouldn't stay up the sides, but still turned out fine.) Cover with plastic and let rise until doubled, about 1/2 hour.
    • Remove the plastic and prick the crusts all over with a fork. Place in the oven on the stone and reduce the oven temperature to 425º. Bake 5 - 10 minutes, until lightly golden. Remove the pans and divide the toppings between the pies: sauce, mozzarella, then olives and goat cheese. Return to the stone and bake for 10 minutes more to melt the cheese. Put the pans on the upper rack and bake about 5 more minutes, til the cheese is brown and bubbly.
    • Remove the pans, sprinkle with the basil, and let cool a few minutes, then use a wide metal spatula to slip them onto a board. Cut into slices.

    Notes

    Since this dough contains yeast, your starter doesn't need to be perfectly lively. You can use starter that hasn't been fed in a while, or starter that you're just beginning to build up. Just make sure it smells and tastes pleasant.
    You can bake two 10" pies, or one 14 incher if you have a 14" pan (who has that?) I used a 10" ceramic tart pan, but a pie or cake pan would work, too. The dough keeps well in the fridge for up to a week, or in the freezer for a month or two, if you want to make your pizzas in increments.
    Total cooking time: 2 1/2 hours
    Timeline:
    cook the tater and make the dough: 30 minutes.
    first rise: 1 hour.
    second rise: 30 minutes.
    baking: 30 minutes.
    Nutritional values are based on one of six servings.

    Nutrition

    Calories: 568kcalCarbohydrates: 63gProtein: 19gFat: 26gSaturated Fat: 8gCholesterol: 34mgSodium: 1394mgPotassium: 469mgFiber: 4gSugar: 3gVitamin A: 665IUVitamin C: 6.3mgCalcium: 229mgIron: 4.1mg
    Making this? I'd love to see!Tag your snaps @The_Bojon_Gourmet and #bojongourmet!
    Sourdough Deep Dish Pizza
    Makes two 10" pies; about 6 servings
    Since this dough contains yeast, your starter doesn't need to be perfectly lively. You can use starter that hasn't been fed in a while, or starter that you're just beginning to build up. Just make sure it smells and tastes pleasant.
    You can bake two 10" pies, or one 14 incher if you have a 14" pan (who has that?) I used a 10" ceramic tart pan, but a pie or cake pan would work, too. The dough keeps well in the fridge for up to a week, or in the freezer for a month or two, if you want to make your pizzas in increments.
    Total cooking time: 2 1/2 hours
    Timeline:
    cook the tater and make the dough: 30 minutes
    first rise: 1 hour
    second rise: 30 minutes
    baking: 30 minutes
    The dough:
    1 medium russet potato (about 9 oz.)
    8 oz. (about 1 cup) liquid sourdough starter
    2 3/4 cups all purpose flour, plus more as needed (some or all of this can be whole wheat)
    2/3 cup lukewarm water
    1 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast (or 2 teaspoons active dry, or 1 tablespoon fresh)
    1 3/4 teaspoon salt
    2 tablespoons olive oil
    Peel and quarter the taters, put in a pot and cover with water. Boil until tender but not falling apart, 10 minutes or so. Drain and let cool until they are handleable, then put through a ricer if you are cool enough to have one (I'm not) or grate on the large holes of a box grater.
    Combine all the ingredients together in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook (or in a big bowl with a wooden spoon, you stud!) Mix on low until combined, then increase the speed to medium-low and knead for 5 minutes or so until smooth and elastic, adding more flour as necessary until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl, and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
    Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead by hand for a minute or two to adjust the consistency. The dough should be soft and moist, but not overly sticky. Place in a lightly oiled bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap (or slide into a clean trash bag.) Let rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.
    The pizzas:
     
    4 tablespoons olive oil
    1 1/2 cups or so tomato sauce (bought, or homemade)
    8 - 12 oz. mozzarella, sliced
    2 - 4 oz. goat cheese
    1/3 cup oil cured olives, pitted and halved
    a few basil leaves, sliced
    Position an oven rack in the lowest and highest positions. Place a baking stone or (heavy baking sheet) on the bottom rack. Preheat the oven to 500º.
    Coat the bottoms of two 10" cake or pie pans with 2 tablespoons olive oil each. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and divide in half. Pat each into 9" rounds. Cover with plastic and let rest 10 minutes, then place in the pans and press them up the sides to make a 1" lip. (Mine wouldn't stay up the sides, but still turned out fine.) Cover with plastic and let rise until doubled, about 1/2 hour.
    Remove the plastic and prick the crusts all over with a fork. Place in the oven on the stone and reduce the oven temperature to 425º. Bake 5 - 10 minutes, until lightly golden. Remove the pans and divide the toppings between the pies: sauce, mozzarella, then olives and goat cheese. Return to the stone and bake for 10 minutes more to melt the cheese. Put the pans on the upper rack and bake about 5 more minutes, til the cheese is brown and bubbly. Remove the pans, sprinkle with the basil, and let cool a few minutes, then use a wide metal spatula to slip them onto a board. Cut into slices.

     

    shot of sourdough pizza

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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

      5 from 1 vote

      Leave a Comment & Rate this Recipe Cancel reply

      I love reading your comments, reviews, and questions! If you enjoyed this recipe, please consider giving it a star rating when you post a comment. These help people discover my recipes online. Thank you for your support and for being part of The Bojon Gourmet community!

      xo, Alanna

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      Rate this recipe after you've made it:




    1. Neira says

      April 18, 2019 at 5:45 pm

      Although we would normally do a thinner crust, I was in the mood for some deep dish today (and I was also looking to discard some sourdough somehow) so this recipe seemed to be what I needed and my family loved it! OMG crispy on the outside, nice and airy on the inside. Very tasty! I was more than happy.
      I did end up using more flour that what the recipe calls for which led me to make two13x9 pans. I also mixed some bread flour with the all purpose flour but it came out perfectly!
      Instead of tomato sauce I used fresh crushed tomatoes. My toppings were: olives, onions, peppers, mushrooms, bacon, pepperoni and ham. Yum!

      Reply
      • Alanna says

        April 19, 2019 at 11:29 am

        That sounds delicious! So glad you liked the recipe. Thanks a bunch for the comment!

        Reply

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    I'm Alanna, a recovering pastry chef and award-winning cookbook author. I love sharing well-tested, from-scratch recipes for your favorite desserts and sweet treats made (undetectably) gluten-free with alternative flours. Because everyone deserves to eat good food. Bojon appétit! About →

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