Mama Mia Says So - Deep Dish Pizza Pie

New York.  Chicago.  New York.  Chicago.

Mama Mia the choices. 

Deep dish or thin crust?

Mama Mia is shaking her Italian fist at you right now, and saying in her very heavy Italian accent "Listen-a Here.  You get into-a the keetchen, and make-a this for-a  your fam-a-lee"

If you want some crusty, cheesy, hearty pizza, make Mama Mia happy, which in turn will make your family happy. 

Trust Mama, she knows her pizza pie.

1 (1 lb) loaf of frozen bread dough, thawed
1/2 lb Jimmy Dean Regular sausage (half of the roll)
1/2 lb. hamburger
1 (14 ounce) can petite diced tomatoes
1 c. diced mushrooms
1/2 c. diced frozen onions (or fresh)
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
2 c. shredded Mozzarella cheese
1/2 c. shredded Parmesan cheese
Olive Oil

CLICK HERE for PRINTABLE recipe!

Ok, I have to tell you.  I put this recipe off for literally a couple years, all because of the "frozen bread dough" ingredient.

I was afraid.

But Mama Mia says  (in her strong Italian accent again)  "Don't-a be scared"

Frozen bread dough, for those of us that had never really used it before, comes in packs of 3 and 5.  They are cute little one pound bundles, literally of frozen bread dough.

Rhodes bread dough is the most popular and can pretty  much be found in any freezer section in most major grocery stores.

The part that scared me most about this recipe was how to thaw the darn thing.

The back of the bread dough package has 3 methods of thawing; Regular Method, Refrigerator Method, and Speed Method.

Can you guess which method I always use?

You guessed it.  Speed Method.

Now I know this is not normally the type of recipes I like, or type that I post, because this takes a little extra time and effort, but trust Mama. 

This is incredible!

Thawing Bread Dough Procedure for ELECTRIC oven only:

If you have a gas oven, then you will have to use one of the other methods mentioned on back of bread package.

Spray loaf pan with Pam.

Place frozen bread dough in loaf pan and set aside.

Preheat your oven to 200 degrees.

While the oven is heating up to the correct temperature, place 2 quarts of water on the stove to boiling.

Once water has come to a boiling point, pour water into a 9x13 inch pan.

Once oven has reached 200 degrees, turn  oven OFF. Place the 9x13 pan of water on the LOWEST rack in your oven and place the loaf pan with the frozen bread on the middle rack in the oven.

Close oven door and forget about it for about 2 hours.

Package says it could take up to 2 to 4 hours but I've done this so many times and it always takes about 2 hours. 

KEEP oven door closed the whole time.  After about 2 hours, your dough should magically look like this.

Ok, now is the easy part.

Once you notice the bread has risen about 1 inch above your pan, as showed in the picture above, its time to start to fry your half pound of Jimmy Dean and half pound of hamburger with your onions.  Halfway through, add your mushrooms and Oregano.

Once the meat is cooked through, drain.

Take your thawed bread dough out of the oven, as well as the 9 x 13 pan of water.

Turn oven back on, and preheat to 350.

Empty the water from the 9 x 13 pan  and wipe it with a paper towel to get all the moisture out.

Coat the 9x13 pan with Olive Oil.  Be sure to coat up the sides too.

Take your thawed bread dough out of the loaf pan and spread into the 9x13 pan.  Press the dough up the sides.

Spread the hamburger/sausage mixture onto the dough.

Sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese.

Take the can of diced tomatoes and drain well.  Spread the tomatoes over the top of the Parmesan/Meat mixture.

Sprinkle top with Mozzarella.

Bake for 25 to 35 minutes until the cheese is all bubbly and the crust is all.....well you know...crusty.

Oh this crust......

Now go on, get that bread dough a-thawing.

Mama Mia, this is one incredible deep dish pizza.

You know it's gonna be good.  Mama says so.