Deep Dish BBQ Ham and Pineapple Pizza

Makes One 12-inch deep-dish pizza or 14 inch regular crust pizza
Total Time: about 7 hours (6 hour dough rise, 25 to 35 minutes baking)

Deep Dish Crust

1 1/4 cups (10 oz) Water (room temperature- about 70-F to 80-F)
1 teaspoon (0.38 oz) White Granulated Sugar
2 1/4 teaspoons (0.25 oz) Active Dry Yeast (or 1 packet)
3 1/2 cups (18 oz) All-Purpose Flour (don't use bread flour, we want a biscuit like dough)
1/2 cup (3.5 oz) Yellow Cornmeal
1 teaspoon (0.25 oz) Table Salt
1/2 cup (3.5 oz) Cooking Oil ( 7 Tbsp Corn or Canola oil and 1 Tbsp Olive Oil) - Corn oil adds a buttery flavor to the crust

Thin Crust


3/4 cups Water (room temperature- about 70-F to 80-F)
3/4 teaspoon (0.38 oz) White Granulated Sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons (0.25 oz) Active Dry Yeast (or 1 packet)
2 1/2 cups All-Purpose Flour (don't use bread flour, we want a biscuit like dough)
1/3 cup (3.5 oz) Yellow Cornmeal
3/4 teaspoon (0.25 oz) Table Salt
1/3 cup (3.5 oz) Cooking Oil ( 5 Tbsp Corn or Canola oil and 1 Tbsp Olive Oil) - Corn oil adds a buttery flavor to the crust

-Add sugar and yeast to water, stir well. If not using instant yeast, allow the yeast to bloom in water for about 15-minutes.
If using instant yeast, you can use the water mixture right away.
-Stir in flour, cornmeal and salt. Mix well.
-Stir in cooking oils.
-Mix for 1 minute then knead for 3 minutes. You can use a stand mixer or by hand. Add more flour or warm water, a Tablespoon at a time, as needed, to make a workable dough.
-Don't over-knead, we want a biscuit like dough for deep dish pizza.
-Form dough into a ball, place in a large mixing bowl, coat dough lightly with oil, cover bowl and let dough rise in a warm place for 6 hours. This long rise time develops a rich flavor in the dough that comes through in the baked crust. You can use the dough after about 1 hour of rise, but it won't have the deep flavor.
-Punch down dough and allow it to rest 10 to 15 minutes.

BBQ Pizza Sauce:

1 (26 oz) can Hunt's Garlic & Herb Pasta Sauce
1/2 cup Sweet Baby Ray's Barbecue Sauce
1/2 teaspoon Hickory Flavor Liquid Smoke, Wright's or Colgin brand
1/4 teaspoon seasoning salt

Mix ingredients in saucepan. Bring to a simmer and cook uncovered, stirring occasionally,
for 20 minutes until the sauce is thickended.

Toppings:

1 lb Cooked Ham, sliced 1/8 inch thick and cut into 1 inch pieces.
10 oz canned pineapple chunks, drained, cut into 1/4 inch thick pieces
8 oz mozzarella cheese, shredded

Assemble Pizza:

-Roll out or press dough into a 12-inch deep-dish pizza pan. Press dough evenly onto bottom and up inner sides of deep dish pizza pan.
-Spread BBQ pizza sauce evenly across bottom of pizza dough.
-Distribute the sliced cooked ham pieces evenly across the pizza sauce.
-Distribute the drained pineapple chunks evenly across the ham and pizza sauce.
-Sprinkle the shredded mozzarella cheese evenly over the top of the pizza.

Bake:
-Bake the deep-dish pizza in a preheated 425-degrees F oven until the top is melted and gooey and the edge crust is a light golden brown, about 25 to 35 minutes.