Spring Deep Dish Pizza
| Prep Time: 80 min | Cook Time: 25 min |
| Servings: 6 | Skill Level: medium |
You can’t have pizza, without sausage and Pearls Specialties Olives with the sauce on top and a thick layer of cheese to keep the crust crisp and crunchy. Pearls Specialties Castelvetrano green olives add a rich buttery lusciousness to the pesto topping.
Recipe and image by Chef Joe Sasto
Ingredients
Pesto
- 1 cup Pearls Specialties Castelvetrano olives, pitted
- ½ cup fresh parsley leaves
- ½ cup fresh basil leaves
- ½ cup fresh arugula leaves
- ¼ cup roasted pistachios
- ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 3 clove garlic,
- 1 teaspoon Aleppo pepper (adjust to taste)
- ½ cup extra virgin olive oil (plus more if needed)
- 1 lemon zest
- Salt & black pepper, to taste
Dough
- 3 ¼ cups (410g) high protein flour
- ½ cup (140ml) warm water
- ½ cup (140ml) cold water
- 1 ¼ teaspoons salt
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 2 ¼ teaspoons (1 packet) instant yeast
- ¼ cup (60ml) olive oil
Toppings
- 1 pack each provolone and mozzarella sliced squares (or whole blocks to grate your own)
- Grated parmesan cheese
- 3 Italian sausages, meat removed from casing and each sausage divided into 4 pieces.
- 1 jar Marinara sauce (or make your own)
Cooking Instructions
Pesto
- Chop all ingredients, grate the lemon to make zest.
- Place into a food processor or blender with the olive oil, salt & black pepper, and pulse until fully blended.
Dough
- Mix the Dough – In a large bowl, combine warm water, sugar, and yeast. Let sit for 5 minutes until foamy. Add cold water, flour. Mix until a shaggy dough forms.
- Knead & Rest – Knead for 10 minutes until smooth. Rest 15 minutes.
- Continuing Mixing – Gradually add olive oil and salt while kneading for another 5 minutes until smooth again.
- First Rise – Transfer to a greased bowl, shape, cover, and refrigerate overnight (or up to 48 hours).
- Rest at room temp while shaping into a greased pan for 2-4 hours until proofed for baking.
Pizza Assembly
- Once dough is proofed bake at 400F for 10 mins.
- Cover semi-cooked base with sliced squares of provolone and mozzarella (or grate your own)
- Sprinkle with grated parmesan cheese.
- Add sausages pieces on top (either in a 3x 4 pattern or scattered over the dough & cheese)
- Add ½ cup Specialties Castelvetrano Olives, scattered on top.
- Bake at 400 for 10-15 mins (depending on size of sausage pieces)
- Spoon pesto and marina sauce on top of pizza diagonally in alternating stripes
- Top with arugula and extra parmesan cheese
