Chicago Style Deep Dish Pizza in a Cast Iron Skillet

You can prepare the pizza sauce ahead and refrigerate it for up to 24 hours. You can also cook the sausage and refrigerate it for up to 24 hours. It makes for fewer steps when it comes to dinner time!

For the deep dish pizza dough:

• Stir together the 1 Tablespoon instant or active dry yeast and 3/4 cup lukewarm water (about 95F) in a small bowl. Let stand for 5 minutes.
I have a large bowl stand mixer that struggles to mix this small amount of dough. In this case, using the paddle attachment is a better option.
• In a large bowl with a wooden spoon or the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with a kneading hook, add 1 cup of the flour and the 1/4 cup cornmeal (*see Note 1 below). Add the yeast mixture, 2 Tablespoons olive oil and 1 Tablespoon honey (or white sugar). Stir the mixture until moistened. Begin adding the remaining 1 cup of flour in small increments until you achieve a soft dough that comes together in a ball that is neither too sticky nor too stiff. You may not need to use all of the last cup of flour if your dough reaches this point before all the flour is added. (If you've added all the flour and the dough is still sticky, remove to a floured work surface and proceed as detailed in the next step).
• Remove the dough to a floured work surface and knead briefly, adding a bit more flour only if the dough is sticking to your hands or the work surface. Form the dough into a ball and place it into a large, well-oiled bowl. Cover it with plastic wrap, and let it rise at room temperature for 1 hour.
• While the dough is rising, cook your sausage and make the pizza sauce.
• If your sausage is in links in casing, cut a slit down the casing and remove the sausage from the casing. Discard casing. Cook sausage in a skillet, breaking up into small pieces with a spoon, until cooked and browned. Turn off the heat under the skillet and set aside until needed. (You can cook the sausage ahead and refrigerate.)

For the pizza sauce: (or substitute 2 cups store-bought pizza sauce)

• Drain the 28 oz canned whole tomatoes, reserving just the whole tomatoes (or you can just fish the whole tomatoes out of the can and into a bowl). Hand-crush the whole tomatoes and set aside.
• Heat the 2 teaspoons olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the 1/4 cup onion (finely diced) and Pinch red pepper flakes (optional), if using. Cook, stirring, until the onions are softened, about 2-3 minutes. Add the 1-2 cloves garlic (minced) and cook another 30-45 seconds. Add the hand-crushed tomatoes, 1 teaspoon dried oregano leaves, 1/2 teaspoon dried basil leaves (or 3-4 fresh basil leaves), 1/4 teaspoon fine salt ,and pinch freshly ground black pepper.
• Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat under the saucepan to low and allow the mixture to simmer to thicken and reduce for about 15 minutes. Let stand at room temperature to use right away, or make ahead and cover and refrigerate for up to 24 hours.
If your pizza sauce seems a touch watery even after simmering, you can pour it into a fine-mesh sieve to drain off some of the excess liquid.

To assemble and bake the deep dish pizza:

• Preheat oven to 425° F (non-convection/not fan-assisted). Brush the bottom and sides of a 10-inch top-diameter cast-iron frying pan with olive oil and lightly dust with additional cornmeal.
• When pizza dough has risen for 1 hour, scrape the dough onto a well-floured surface (dough will seem sticky at this point, but will be fine with the additional flour on the counter. With a rolling pin, roll dough into a circle a little bigger than the bottom diameter of your skillet. If it's sticky, dust with more flour as needed.
This recipe fits perfectly in a 10-inch top-diameter round cast-iron skillet or pan. If your cast-iron pan is larger (12-inch top diameter), you may need to increase the filling ingredients by 1/2 again to fill the pan. You can roll the dough into a larger circle to fit, though it will produce a thinner crust. If you don't have a cast-iron pan, a 9-inch springform pan, deep-dish pie plate, or tall-sided cake pan should work. Be sure to place it on top of a baking sheet to bake, to catch any leaks or bubbleovers.
• Transfer the rolled dough round to the prepared cast-iron pan and press the dough into the bottom and up the sides about 2/3 of the way up. Cover the bottom of the pizza completely with a generous layer of sliced mozzarella cheese. Top with the cooked sausage crumbles. Top with all of the pizza sauce, spreading it to cover the sausage evenly. Sprinkle the top generously with freshly grated Parmesan cheese. You don't want your crust to extend too much higher than your filling, or the exposed part at the top will overcook. If it extends too high once your filling is in, push or crimp it down to closer to the level of your filling.
• Bake the deep dish pizza in the preheated 425° F. oven for about 20 minutes. At 20 minutes, check the pizza, and if the crust is dark enough (it usually is at this point), cover loosely with a sheet of tin foil and cook for 15 minutes more (35 minutes total) to be sure the crust is cooked. Remove the pizza from the oven and allow it to cool in the pan for 5-7 minutes. You can slice and serve the pizza from the pan or remove it from the pan to a cutting board by sliding a spatula down the side between the pizza and the pan and then under the pizza to carefully remove/slide the pizza to the cutting board. Allow to stand a couple more minutes before cutting into slices with a sharp knife.