The Mother of All Deep Dish Pizzas

 Simple ingredients; complex instructions.
Common food; uncommon taste.
In my nearly 58 years of pizza snarfing, I do believe I have, just today, consumed the best pizza ever.  Big ol' claim and I can substantiate this broad statement with a qualified taste test of the most delicious kind.

 No simple pie, this.
The recipe, snatched from my favorite food program, Country Cooks on PBS, is pretty incredible and a bit Type A.  Hubby loved the detail.  I tolerated it, trusting good old Christopher Kimball, host of CC, to not fail me.  I have tried several American Test Kitchen recipes and was very impressed with the quality, so, I pursued

 on with all the details, just to be able to reap the harvest of superior pizza..

 Cook's Country usually comes on around 1:00am for us, about the time Hubby gets home from work.  The other night, I was nearly asleep when I heard them announce the program center piece- Chicago Style Deep Dish Pizza.  In my sleepy haze and with my eyes closed, I listened as Christopher and his side kick describe just why this pie was superior than most.  Before long, I was propped up with my salivary glands wide awake.  By the time they were taste testing it, I wanted to run downstairs and begin my pie.

 I waited till today and I must say, that the hype was purely true.
The best crust, the mellowest taste ever.  Melt in your mouth wonderful.  Hubby was silent in his admiration.  Youngest Son, Pizza Cult member, agreed with the most amiable groans as the mozzarella melted in his mouth.

 The secret to this wonder crust is 'laminating' the dough.  I know.  I had no idea what they were talking about.  And I wondered how you could roll dough 'dry'- without any additional flour.  This step is usually what makes pizza dough tough.  Who knew?

 Once the dough has risen, it is rolled out, spread with butter (!) then rolled up jelly roll fashion, then split in half.  Each half is folded in thirds then seamed and placed into a squarish ball.  Then into the fridge so the butter can get cold before the last roll out.  See?  Told you it got a bit tedious.  But in a fun kind of way.

 Two cups of mozzarella.  NO meat.  NO vegetables. (The cook was adamant about this.  Said veggies belong in a salad; not in her pizza)  Yes Ma'am.  The sauce that you make while the first dough rise is absolutely perfect.  Clean taste.  Perfect accent to the dough.  Fresh Parmesan topping and in the oven it goes.

 For a l-o-n-g twenty minutes........

 But oh soooooooo worth it.......

 One piece was all that was needed for this 1200 calorie gal.  And that was all I needed.  A salad topped off the amazingness as I slowly ate bite after luscious bite....

If the complexity of the recipe scares you off, consider hosting a pizza party where every one can pitch in.  All gatherings will have at least one type A in attendance, and he/she can keep you on task.


Make sure you copy this recipe http://www.americastestkitchen.com/recipes/detail.php?docid=21349&extcode=M**ASCA00. 
Make sure you try at least one superlative Chicago Style Deep Dish pizza in your lifetime.


Just don't take mine.......


Buon appetito!!