I have made this recipe many, many times and my family loves it. I cook the dough/pizza crust first for about 15 minutes, then add all the toppings. I continue baking for about another 20 or so minutes, until the crust is golden brown and toppings are all melted and bubbly, that the crust comes out better to our liking. It works for us and you then don't have to worry about whether the crust is cooked through in the middle of your pizza. We also make this in a deep dish pizza pan.
One very, very critical item on pizza is letting the mozarella cheese dry out in the fridgeopen to air for 5-6 hours before putting it on. This will give the cheese the "stretch" proprerty you see when pulling a wedge from the pie. "Wet" cheese is a no-no on pizza.
Recipe is perfect 'as is.' No changes. Be sure to drain the tomatoes well or deglop fresh ones if not using canned. The only tips I have are related to baking. 1) Greasing the pan tends to make the dough slip, so I grease and lightly flour the pan; 2) baking the crust for 15 min before placing everything on top was key, as another reviewer mentioned. For my taste, I add a bit of minced fresh garlic and chili pepper flakes. This is the recipe we use all the time, with Quick and Easy Pizza Crust also from this site; I don't use frozen. Tasty!
This is a good recipie, but I do the following...after putting the crust into a CAST IRON SKILLET, I brush the crust with olive oil...then add fresh sliced mozzie cheese and then the ingrdients and finishing it up.....makes it so much better!
I don't really ever leave reviews but this one deserved it! This is my favorite recipe and I make it once a week for my husband and myself. It's even better heated up as a leftover! I doubled the fennel seed and I don't use all the tomatoes. Make very sure you drain the tomatoes well or else your pizza will be a little soggy. Yummy thanks!
I am looking for a good deep dish pizza recipe but was very disappointed with this one. It was bread with pizza toppings covering it. I had difficulty getting the bread to cook completely and found it gummy and unappealing. I can see how it would be a great advantage over dough made from yeast but if you really want great pizza you need to take the time to make your own dough.
I really liked making pizza in a pan and I LOVED the sauce--so good!!!! I used fresh garlic instead of garlic powder and canned mushrooms because that was all I had. Be sure to pre-bake the crust and make sure that it isn't too thick--my crust was so thick that it was still undercooked even though I pre-baked it.
I have made this recipe several times and can not get enough of it. I do not change anything as you should not when trying a recipe. People who alter recipes should just post their own an leave originals alone. This recipe is a definate keeper.
This is a great base recipe that can be easily changed up for whatever ingredients you have on hand! I have made it many times with different fillings and it is wonderful. An example is to use turkey pepperoni instead of sausage..just layer some on the crust. Much more healthy if you are watching calories also have used reduced fat mozzarella. I found 24 oz of diced tomatos is way too much...I halve that and add extra sauted onions bell peppers mushrooms etc.
