Pizza is a great food to celebrate

I have loved pizza since I can remember.  When I was a kid, pizza was not the cheap commodity it is today, or at least as it was in 2019.  It wasn’t cheap, it was served in dine-in restaurants, and we often didn’t get to eat it.

I can only remember eating pizza out two times in my childhood.  It wasn’t until my later teen and early adult years that I would enjoy pizza more often.  This started with a job at Domino’s Pizza when I was in my late teens as a delivery driver.  Yes, delivering to neighborhoods was fun using paper maps until you knew the streets.  But unfortunately, we didn’t have the conveniences of GPS or Google Maps.  

Despite those days providing some problematic but valuable experiences, I have fond memories of the smell of the pizzas that came out of the oven.  To this day, the aroma of certain pizzas brings back memories from my teen years.

When I got a little older, I discovered a place called The Upper Crust.  It was a stuffed pizza restaurant.  I WAS HOOKED once I had my first bite of their stuffed pizza.  I became a regular.

It wasn’t until years later that I would enjoy a deep-dish pizza when a Chicago-style pizza joint opened up near me.  I loved it too.  At this point, I had my eyes and nose open for any pizza opportunities that came on the scene.  Finally, a new Detroit-style pizzeria opened up, and I was able to try Detroit-style Deep Dish there.

Though they were all delicious, I was still in love with the stuffed pie.  But despite that bias, I’m always happy to enjoy delicious deep-dish pizza.

Building your pizza

While it may be challenging to replicate your favorite deep-dish pizza at home, you might come close or create something better.  If nothing else, it might just be the most fun you have making dinner with your family or friends.  The kids love making their pizzas and then sharing them so they can try everyone else’s.  It is a lot of fun to put them together and then enjoy them when they come out.

While the pizzas are cooking, it’s a perfect time to teach the kids or your friends about cleaning up.

Deep Dish vs. Stuffed Pizza 

The main difference is that while they are both made in a deep dish, the stuffed pizza has a layer of pizza dough on top of the toppings, and the deep dish does not.  This creates the stuffed pie.  Also, the pizza sauce is on top of the pizza dough top in the stuffed pizza, so the sauce is not mixed in the toppings of the stuffed pizza.

Try My Favorite Stuffed Pizza

Try the recipe below and have some fun this weekend enjoying a deep dish or stuffed pizza.  

Recipe Info Stuffed Pizza

If you love deep-dish pizza, you will love stuffed pizza. It comes out like a calzone in a pizza shape since the sauce is on top of the pie instead of on the bottom. You will be able to feed plenty, and the best part is that the leftovers are fantastic too. I love reheating a piece the next day and tasting that delicious flavor. The easiest way to prepare this is to purchase premade pizza dough at your grocery store and fill it with your favorite toppings. You will need a 10-12″ cast iron skillet, springform cake pan, or an oven-proof deep dish pan. I make mine in a 12″ cast iron pan.