take it deep.

duders,
it was time.
yeah.
i don't always freak it off with some variant hottness,
but when it's time to rock the party,
i come correct,
and i rock a pizza party.
yeah!
pizza is my favorite food,
pizza is your favorite foo.
pizza is the truth.
so,
i checked my watch, saw that it wasn't there-
and then checked the stove clock,
all to see that early morning inspiration o'clock was where the big and little hands landed.
yup.
what's the trick to deep dish dough?
it's almost cakey, it's definitely buttery, and it's flippin' thick.
i'll admit i looked at a few images of the finished product before i rolled up my sleeves,
and started kneading.
pizza is so expert.
regional variants on the traditional apizza pie i grew up with are also expert,
despite my overall unfamiliarity with any of them pre-veganism.
that's real.
but,
pizza is as pizza does,
and that's what's so F*ing cool about it.
you got a baked bread plate with food on it?
well son, then you've probably got yourself some pizza.
ha!
friends, neighbors, pizzamen,
check me your teleports:

wu-TANG!!!!!
i fired up a pair of very different double-dough deepnesses,
and i'll tell you about 'em both right...
....now.
first up,
that siciliano jauns.

you guys ever had fat new york squares?
no?
that's a problem.
get in your car, or a train, or on a plane, and get on that, immediately.
there's something about those dubba-dough rectangles that screams authenticity.
my homeboy, and widely-regarded pizza enthusiast/scholar, the cucch,
suggested i fire up an old-school deep deep in the original post-neapolitano style.
when a pizzaman talks, kids, i listen,
and i'm glad a word to the wise from the wiser was sufficient,
because that sh!t is what's poppin' in the Folk Life & Liberty test kitchen.
real talk.
when that buttery dough, heavy on the semolina, starts rising along the pressed edges,
and the underchee' (OBviously) and the daiya mozz,
laid in below the crushed tomatoes starts to steam itself silly,
and the sauce up top gets hot, so that the custom cashew creamy
fresh-style mozzerella magic blops on top start to firm up,
and those proprietary pepperoni slices all simultaneously showcase
the smoky paprika and liquid smoke and cayenne notes
that freak it off somethin' proper???
that's the moment when you slap the basil on top, and give it five more minutes.
come on, now-
it's like eating lasagna and garlic bread at the same time.
don't believe me?
that's weird, but check the teleport, and be convinced:

mmmmmmmmmmm.
i doo-doo that classico.
nootch blasting the top helps, too.
here's the thing-
the top chee' is underchee', elevated.
ha.
but really, with the addition of tapioca, and a decent drizzle of soymilk and olive oil,
plus the highest of high speed food processing,
you've got that freshy-fresh ready to go.
-
i couldn't be much happier,
except for when we munched up the other other one.
boom.
check the chi-town windy gusty gutbuster big action teleport:

big ol' burly barbarian food, for worthy warrior poets.
believe it.

a single slice is a solid meal (if you're a semi-solid little baby, i mean)
i used a greased springform pan, for the quick release for a quicker feast.
i did.
and i regret nothing.
that crust is from the future, and as much as it's the same dough,
the circle, with the reverse toppings,
and the extra olive oil took it to eleven in a heartbeat.
what're the details?
sauteed onions, and seitan, and red pepper flakes,
with shredded spinach leaved wilted into the mix,
but, as always, it started with underchee', and a little daiya mozzerella,
and then the big fat topping....um, underings?,
and then a double chee' blend of cheddar and mozzerella,
by which time it was looking pretty heavy.
worryingly overfull?
no way.
too much is the right amount!
that's where the hearty chunky veggie marinara really brought the noise.
thick sauce, thick crust, thick toppings-

everything expert,
everything double,
everything dope-
and my pizza goes deep.
so deep.
so deep, it put our A*s to sleep.
haha.
i ate too much, because that's my thing,
and i enjoyed every bite a little more than a respectable man might.
that's not a problem, though,
because this is MY house,
and i'll eat as much as i want, however and whenever i want.
*
y'want my dough recipe?
three cups of flour, and a teaspoonish of salt, plus a third of a cup of semolina flour,
and a package or a tablespoon of super-fast yeast, plus a teaspoon of sugar,
and two tablespoons of very soft butterishness-
to that, i added a cup+ of warm water with a teaspoon of sugar dissolved in it,
and regular yeast activated in there, as well as a tablespoon of flax seeds,
to really give it a binding boost-
and when i combined them,
i also added four or so tablespoons of cooled melted butter replacement-
once it was all kneaded into a ball by my trusty dough-hook-arm on the stand mixer?
holy sh!t!
it rose hard for as long as it took me to walk crabbtree,
and the i refrigerated it all day, until after work,
when i punched it down, cut it up, stretched it out,
and let it puff up again as it reached room temp before baking.
daaaaaaaaaamn.
the double yeast is key, more for flavor than anything else,
although it does get fluffy like a champion because of the exxxtra-active participation
from those dying digestive enzymes....
ew.
*
anyway,
pizza is the best,
and if you don't like pizza,
i wish for minor misfortunes upon your ever day,
like papercuts, or bee stings, or splinters......
i'm pretty encouraged by this pizza exploration.
two very different pies, two distinct regional favorites,
except,
both reppin' the full-bodied Folk Life here in the woodsly goodness.
i may live hard,
and i may behave poorly,
but damn it all, i sure do eat well.
i'm grateful for my fat belly and my full cupboard,
one gets bigger whenever the other gets smaller-
that's called compensation,
and i think that's kind of cool;
never quiet, never soft.....