Love Pizza? Love Lasagne? This epic Sky High Pizza Pie is a meaty Bolognese layered with lasagne noodles baked in a deep dish pizza crust. It’s the best of both Italian American favourites.
Sky High Pizza Pie
So, it’s 2016 and as I am typing this, I can hear my pizza bubbling away in the oven. It was a bit labour intensive, but we’ll just call The Sky High Pizza Pie a labour of love! It’s more than just a deep dish pizza, it’s a pizza filled with layers of pasta and meat; it’s a lasagne!
How you say…Guanciale?
First things first, let’s work a little on our Italian shall we? There are some pretty intense words I am going to use and you should know how to pronounce them in your head as you are reading. Let’s start with one of the challenge ingredients; Guanciale.
For heaven’s sake, don’t google how to say it because those robot voices just cannot mimic the way a true Italian speaks. Say it now, “Gwan cha lay” If you still aren’t sure, head down to any Italian deli (like the one at Lina’s Italian Market) and they will correct you!
Want to save this recipe?
Enter your email below and get this post sent straight to your inbox. Plus, I’ll send you my weekly newsletter featuring the newest and best Dish ‘n’ the Kitchen recipes every week!
Guanciale is a very fatty piece of Italian cured meat prepared from pork jowl, or cheeks. I honestly had no idea what to do with it, but I had a good chat with Neil McCue, chef/owner of Whitehall Restaurant here in Calgary.
We threw around some ideas and when I mentioned I might just render it and use the fat to cook onions, he suggested I used it in the actual pizza dough instead of olive oil. So I did.
How you say…Bolognese
The next thing I did was make a Bolognese. Say it, “bo-lo-NYeh-say“! Making the Bolognese begins with a Soffritto (sohf/FREET/toh) using three traditional ingredients; onions,carrots, and celery. This trio is diced, then added to the pan and allowed to sweat until they are soft.
Next, I added some brown crimini mushrooms (another challenge ingredient) to the soffritto and allowed it all to cook further.Once, finished, I scraped it all into a bowl and began to brown the Italian Sausage (the third challenge ingredient) by taking the meat mixture out of the sausage casings.
I used a ratio of two spicy Italian Sausages to four regular Italian Sausages. When the sausage was cooked through, I added the veggies/mushrooms, a jar of my homemade passata (tomato purée), and some fresh basil chiffonade (that’s a French word for finely sliced). Then I let it gently simmer for a couple of hours with the lid on.
So, if you are following, I have the Guanciale pizza dough and the Bolognese on the go. Then, I made some fresh pasta. I’ve pretty much used every kitchen appliance by this point; the KitchenAid mixer, the food processor, the pasta roller…
After the pizza dough has doubled in size, I give it a punch down, then line a 9 inch spring form pan with baking paper and grease it with the guanciale fat for good measure. Rolling out the dough was super easy because it was so fluffy.
It went into the pan nicely, then I lined it with foil and blind baked it (using chickpeas) for about 20 minutes at 350 F. I took out the foil and chickpeas and baked it for another ten minutes.
How to Construct a Sky High Pizza Pie
Then it was time for the lasagne construction. Did you notice I didn’t say ‘Lasagna’? That’s because in Italian they say lasagne instead of lasagna. Any how, I built the layers up, with the last layer being entirely of fresh basil topped with pasta, sauce, and finally…cheese!
Concerned that the top would get too browned during the final bake, I covered the top with greased foil, removing it for the last 15 minutes of cooking so the cheese would brown.
Sky High Pizza Pie
If you make this Sky High Pizza Pie recipe, I’d love to hear about it in the comments section or in the ratings. Be sure to follow me on Facebook and Pinterest for my latest recipes. Also, if you do make this recipe please share your photos and tag me on Instagram. I hope you like this recipe!
Sky High Pizza Pie
Love Pizza? Love Lasagne? This epic Sky High Pizza Pie is a meaty Bolognese layered with lasagne noodles baked in a deep dish pizza crust. It's the best of both Italian American favourites.
Ingredients
FOR THE DOUGH
- 3/4 cup warm water
- 1 package active dry yeast (or 2 1/4 tsp. active dry yeast)
- 2 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3 Tablespoons liquid (but not hot) rendered guanciale fat
FOR THE BOLOGNESE
- 1 cup small diced onion
- 1 cup small diced celery
- 1 cup small diced carrot
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- 4 garlic cloves; minced
- 2 spicy Italian sausages taken out of casings
- 4 regular Italian sausages taken out of casings
- 30 brown crimini mushrooms finely chopped in the food processor
- 2 cups passata
- 4 Tablespoons tomato paste
- 1/2 cup fresh basil chiffonade
FOR THE PASTA
- 1 2/3 cups semolina flour
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 egg; slightly beaten
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
TO ASSEMBLE
- 2 cups fresh basil leaves
- 2 cups shredded Caciocavallo (or mozzarella)
- 1 cup finely shredded Grana Padano
- 1/2 cup passata
Instructions
FOR THE DOUGH
- Sprinkle yeast over the surface of the warm water. Let stand for 5 minutes.
- Mix 2 cups flour, sugar, and salt in a mixer bowl. Add fat and yeast water, then mix well. Knead dough until it becomes smooth, using some extra flour if needed.
- Lightly grease a metal bowl and place dough inside, turning it to coat with grease. Cover with a cloth and let rise for an hour in a warm spot until it doubles in size.
- Punch it down, roll it out and arrange in spring form pan. Grease a sheet of aluminum foil and press lightly over the dough so that the dough remains on the sides of the pan. Fill with beans, etc. to weigh the dough down.
- Bake in a 350 F oven for 20 minutes; remove beans and foil, then bake for another 15 minutes.
FOR THE BOLOGNESE
- Add olive oil, onion, celery, and carrot to a large pan. Sweat until they become slightly soft and translucent.
- Add garlic, then mushrooms and sweat further until there is no longer any water coming out of the mushrooms. Transfer to a bowl.
- Add Italian sausage meat to the pan and break up the large chunks using a spoon until they are quite small.
- When the meat has cooked through, add the vegetables/mushrooms back in, followed by the passata, tomato paste, and basil. Cover and gently simmer for 2-3 hours.
FOR THE PASTA
- On a clean counter, mix semolina flour with salt.
- Mix water, egg, and oil together in a cup.
- Make a well in the centre of the flour and pour the wet ingredients in.
- Mix with hands until the dough comes together and becomes elastic. Cover and let rest on counter for ten minutes before rolling out.
TO ASSEMBLE THE PIE AND BAKE
- Spread a third of the Bolognese along the base of the pizza crust.
- Cover with pasta sheets cut to fit the round pan.
- Add another Bolognese layer, then pasta. One more Bolognese, then arrange 2 cups fresh basil leaves on the surface, cover with another layer of pasta.
- Spread the 1/2 cup passata over top, then top with cheese.
- Grease a sheet of Aluminum foil then place it loosely over top of the cheese.
- Bake at 350 F for 40 minutes, then carefully remove the foil and bake for another 15 minutes. Let rest slightly so it slices nicely.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
10Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 475Total Fat: 18gSaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 13gCholesterol: 46mgSodium: 694mgCarbohydrates: 59gFiber: 5gSugar: 8gProtein: 23g
Nutritional calculation was provided by Nutritionix and is an estimation only. For special diets or medical issues please use your preferred calculator.
Holy Batman Bernice!! That looks fantastic , you will do very well this year : )
Thank you so much! I hope so, fingers crossed!
I didn’t even know about this and I have lived here for years (too consumed with childcare, I guess). Anyway, looks great and good luck! Maybe I’ll join in the competition next years 🙂
Yes! Please do…it’s a lot of fun to get creative. In the meantime, check out their website (vote!) and try some of the specially created restaurant pizzas. There are some amazing pies out there!
Yes, I did! Looks like fun. I don’t like voting contests as a rule, but will do them for charity the odd time 🙂
yeah, it’s basically whomever does the most social media…not really a reflection of the best actual pizza since no one gets to taste them.One of these years we’ll have a blogger party where we all bring our pizzas!
Blogger party sounds good!
I will give some of those pizzas a try – my kids will be happy to oblige! Plus, I am always on the hunt for a great pizza (esp hard to find in NW Calgary – any suggestions??)
the yycpizzaweek.com area map is pretty good.
Just looked…the Mother of Dragons seems quite popular and it’s up in the NW.
Thank you – I will check it out !
also…thanks for visiting. I followed you too!
Great looking pizza! You’ve got my vote …fingers crossed 🙂
Thank you Maria! 2x
That’s awesome Bernice! I’m sure you’ll get some attention. Best of luck.
The feedback has been pretty great…fingers crossed it translates to votes 🙂 Thank you Kim!
Good luck, Bernice!
Thank you Teresa…you know, it was a lot of work to make it but also so much fun. I love a good challenge. Now if I could get my CTBF posts going again…
The great thing about CTBF is that it’s a participate when you can group – so, no pressure! 🙂
This looks seriously delicious, Bernice! I have voted, and hope you win. Good luck!
Thank you…and thank you for your vote! Fingers crossed 🙂
This looks so fun to make, the children are really going to love this. One to be made soon. Thank you, love the ideas on your page. APFK xx
I hope you have a lot of kids…this pizza is HUGE and quite filling. lol. Thanks for stopping by!
I look after 3 boys and they can eat loads haha thank you x
Pizza pie sounds so good! !
Thank you! I’m pretty excited to compete again this year!