spinach stuffed deep dish

[PizzaFace]

Hi all you crazy pizza people!  I am new to the forum- and today I am going to make the spinach stuffed deep dish.  Recently I watched a special on Food Network where they had the raw spinach and the cheese mixed together and they loaded into the pizza pan without sweating it first.  Has anyone tried it that way?  It would seem that it would get soggy- but that's how they showed it.
This is a great site- I thought I was the only finatic-
silly me.
Thanks, Sue  (PizzaFace)

[Foccaciaman]

If I understand your question correctley you want to know about putting raw spinach as opposed to blanced/cooked spinach in a deep dish pie.

My experience is this I like it both ways and find it almost more easily made when it is raw. I rarley blanch my baby spinach anymore , rather I just put 1 or 2 tblsp of olive oil in a large pan and keep tossing in the spinach to reduce its size .  Then right in the pie from the pan it goes.

When you blanch the spinach you must squeeze it in a towel to get it dry enough to put on a pizza without bringing too much water to the crust. I have done just that and it is a damn mess.
But if you are just using a little spianch and it fits just mix it in raw and let it cook with the rest of the pie, you won't be dissapointed I promise.

[PizzaFace]

Hey- thanks for the info.  I ended up doing the 'wilt and squeeze' route since it was a double crust.  It is a lot more work- I could've used frozen spinach.  The result tasted good but it was the crust that didn't turn out- it was dry and hard.  Either the baking time was too long or maybe this dough needs the help of a Kitchen Aid- which I am going to borrow from a friend.  I have always made dough by hand and haven't had that problem before.  Have you ever used a bread machine to make a pizza dough?

[Foccaciaman]

nope never by bread machine.  

I used to knead all my doughs by hand , just to get the feel of it.
But know I use my KitchenAid mixer for most. It allows me to extend my kneading far beyond what I would normally have tolorence for. I still knead the dough by had for a couple minutes when it comes out of the mixer though, I guess just to get the feel and consistancy of the dough.