My husband was missing home, and in particular what he called “greek pizza” from Pizza Papalis. Downtown Detroit’s Greektown is the home of the original Pizza Papalis, so I think that is why he remembers this pizza as greek, because this is as deep-dish Chicago style as you can get! Whatever name you give it, this pie is all deliciousness, and you can fill it with whatever sounds good to you or whatever you have on hand, it is very versatile.
For those unfamiliar with deep dish pizza, the crust is more like a crispy biscuit, and the sauce is on the outside of the crust! Anything closely resembling anything pizza-like is a winner in our house. This pie takes a little bit of work as the crust and sauce are made from scratch, but the end result is worth it.
Stuffed Pizza – inspired by Pizza Papalis in Detroit’s Greektown
Remember that Russ and I are all about enjoying robustly while also removing chemicals and toxins from our bodies and our world, so please choose organic wherever possible. We were able to make this recipe completely with organic ingredients. For us, this positively feeds our mind and attitude in addition to our stomachs, which in turn increases the yum factor ten-fold!
Ingredients
Deep Dish Style Pizza Dough (recipe follows)
Deep Dish Style Pizza Sauce (recipe follows)
Shredded mozzarella cheese, 3 cups
Shredded asiago cheese, 1 cup
Shredded parmesan cheese, ½ cup
Plus other ingredients that call to you (see suggestions later in recipe)
Dough
1 packet organic active yeast (1/4 oz or 2 ¼ tsps)
1 ¼ cups warm (not hot) water
2 tsp organic raw sugar (coconut sugar, or any type)
2 tbsp melted organic pasture raised butter
3 – 3 ½ cups organic flour
½ cup organic ground yellow cornmeal
1 ½ tsps. Pink Himalayan sea salt
½ cup organic extra virgin olive oil
4 tbsp softened organic pasture raised butter
Directions
In a large bowl, or in the bowl of a stand mixer, dissolve the yeast in 1/4 cup of the warm water.
Add the sugar, 2 tbsp melted butter and 1/4 cup of the flour and stir with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula, or mix with the paddle attachment, to combine.
Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for 20 minutes.
Add the remaining 1 cup warm water and 3 cups flour, the cornmeal, salt, and 1/4 cup olive oil.
Using a wooden spoon, or the dough hook attachment, mix the dough, incorporating as much of the flour as possible. If doing by hand, turn the dough out on a lightly floured work surface and knead until soft and elastic, 10 to 12 minutes. Add only enough flour while you are needing to keep the dough from sticking. It will be a little sticky, but shouldn't stick to your hands. If using a stand mixer, knead with the dough hook, scraping down the sides as needed to incorporate all of the flour, until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the sides of the bowl, approximately four minutes.
Lightly oil a large clean bowl (preferably glass.) Add the dough and turn to coat on all sides. Tightly cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set it in a warm spot and let rise until doubled in volume, approximately two hours.
When the dough has doubled in volume, punch it down and roll it out into a rectangle about 12x15.
Spread the 4 TB of melted butter across the dough, leaving a 1 inch border. Roll the dough into a cylinder, and fold it into thirds. Hand knead the dough for 3-4 minutes to incorporate the butter and create a ball. Place the dough ball back into the original oiled bowl, place in a warm place an allow to rise for 20 to 30 minutes. While your dough is rising, create your sauce.
Sauce
2 tbsp organic extra virgin olive oil
Organic garlic minced, to taste (we use 2 tbsp)
2 – 14.5 oz cans organic diced tomatoes (undrained)
1 tsp pink himalayan salt
1 tsp organic raw sugar
Black pepper to taste (we LOVE black pepper, we use 1 ½ tsp)
Optional, oregano to taste (we love oregano for its antibacterial, detox and energy boosting capabilities, we use 2 tsp)
Over medium heat, saute the garlic in olive oil until fragrant, then stir in all of the remaining ingredients and simmer on medium low, stirring frequently (every 10 mins or so). Sauce will thicken and juices will evaporate, when it does, it’s done! (30-45 mins, up to 1 hour).
Makes about 3 cups of sauce, this is a little more than you will need for 1 pizza, but you can use the leftovers in another dish of some kind.
After Your Dough Has Risen
Divide dough; 2/3 for the base of your pie, and 1/3 for the top. Eyeballing is totally fine!
Grease a 9 inch springform pan with coconut oil, and press the 2/3 portion of your dough until it is even on the bottom and comes 2 inches up the sides.
Now you are ready for your filling layers!
Filling
We use a myriad of combinations in this pie. Our base recipe, listed in layer order (lowest layer first), is below:
Spread roasted garlic on bottom of crust
Saute ½ diced organic onion with 16 oz sliced organic mushrooms, 5 minutes, move to bowl and cool slightly, then combine with shredded mozzarella, asiago and parmesan cheeses, spread over crust
Saute 2 bags organic spinach (use same pan as mushrooms) until wilted. Cool slightly, and using paper towel or a kitchen towel, squeeze out excess liquid Spread spinach over the mushroom cheese layer
If you are a meat eater, add the browned meat of your choice as the layer right after the roasted garlic. Not a fan of roasted garlic? Leave it out! Mix and match to your heart’s desire. You cannot mess up the filling. Just make sure any veg choices are as free of excess liquid as possible so you do not get a soggy result and stay within the layer order within reason (meat on bottom, veggie/cheese layer, then veggie only layer) to ensure a hearty filling that holds up to this big pie.
Rollout the remaining 1/3 of your dough into a 9-inch circle and place over your fillings. Marry the dough on the sides of the pan with the top just as you would do with a fruit pie, make sure they are pinched together and that your border is pronounced enough to hold in the chunky tomato sauce you made to top it all off.
Enjoy!
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