We have homemade pizza night most weeks at our house.
At this point, it’s down to a science. I mix up the dough while Joey sautes some veggies or debones a rotisserie chicken, and then we work together to assemble the pie before popping it in the oven.
It’s a quick, delicious meal, and with plenty of options out there for sauces and toppings, we never get bored with it.
That being said, Joey sent me a video not long ago of another type of pizza he wanted to try. It was from a creator online who often has to cook for a crowd, and since I was just gifted a very large baking pan, it was the perfect time to see if the recipe was as good as it looked.
This comes from Kevin Ashton, who is on Instagram @oldscoolkevmo. I changed his method a little on my version below.
Deep Dish Pizza Bake
Ingredients
- Cooking spray
- 1 48- ounce bag frozen yeast dinner roll dough
- 3-4 tablespoons olive oil
- 1-2 cups pizza sauce we used pesto
- Your favorite pizza toppings precooked
- 32 ounces shredded cheese we used a combo of mozzarella and Mexican blend
Instructions
- Spray a large 12-by-18-by-2-inch pan with cooking spray. Spread the entire package of frozen dough evenly over the bottom and spray them with more cooking spray. Cover the pan with plastic wrap and set it aside for the dough to thaw and rise. This will take about three hours.
- In the meantime, cook any toppings that are raw (ex. hamburger, sausage, etc.) that you’ll want to add to your pizza bake, and set those aside.
- When the dough is about doubled in size, remove the plastic wrap. Drizzle the rolls with olive oil, and then gently squish the dough to flatten it and eliminate seams. Add salt and pepper, to taste, since the bread has not been seasoned at all to this point.
- Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
- Spread the sauce over the top of the dough. (You don’t have to avoid the edges. There is no “crust” with this.)
- Add your toppings and any additional seasonings you like on your pizza, and finish off with a healthy layer of cheese.
- Bake, uncovered, for 30 minutes or until the bread is completely baked and everything is heated through.
- Let the pizza bake rest for five to 10 minutes before slicing and serving.
This was really good. It was also a lot of bread, so if that’s not really your jam, I’d suggest only using half of the dough from the package instead of the whole thing. You can easily adjust all of this for a smaller pan, too, if you don’t want a huge one to eat on for several days. (Or, keep this in your recipe box for when you need to feed a big crowd.)
I can tell you, though, this reheated really well and was very nice for a week where we were meeting ourselves coming and going. Leftovers are a blessing for times like that.
It was kind of a deep dish pizza/casserole hybrid, which I really liked. We packed ours with sauteed onions and peppers, chicken, turkey pepperoni, fresh mushrooms and lots and lots of cheese, along with a pesto base.
I think this recipe will make it into the “pizza night” rotation every so often, although I’ll probably make a smaller version in the future. While I don’t really mind eating the same thing for several meals in a row, it’s better to mix things up. After all, variety is the spice of life.
This piece first appeared in print on June 6, 2024.
Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.
