Little Caesar’s Bacon Wrapped Gluten Free Deep Dish Copycat

Little Caesar’s Bacon Wrapped Deep Dish
Gluten Free Copycat

When I saw the advertisement for Little Caesar’s deep dish, bacon wrapped pizza my initial reaction was … DAMN YOU GLUTEN.  Do I have to miss out on everything that’s new and exciting in the world of fast food?

But after my initial frustration wore off, I thought, I can tackle this.  What other option did I have?  If I was ever going to sink my teeth into a big fluffy slice of pizza with all that bacony goodness, I’d have to climb that mountain myself.  And so I did.

May I present to you my Little Caesar’s bacon wrapped deep dish gluten free copycat. 

And yes. It is that good folks.

Little Caesar’s Bacon Wrapped Gluten Free Deep Dish Copycat

Prep time: 2 hours (including a 90 minute rise time)

Cook time: 30-35 min

Servings: 8 large slices

Ingredients

• 1 Bobs’s Red Mill gluten free pizza crust mix
• 8 slices bacon, raw
• 4 slices of bacon, cooked and crumbled
• 16 oz shredded mozzarella
• 24-26 slices of pepperoni
• 1 ½ cups pizza sauce

Video Tutorial: 

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 425°F (or 218 °C) and line two 6x10 inch pans with parchment overhanging the 2 long sides of the pan and clipped in place with stationary clips then sprayed heavily with nonstick spray.
2. Lay 4 slices of bacon around the edges of each pan.  Each slice should have the leaner side facing up and the side with more fat should be overlapping the bottom by ½ inch then refrigerate the pans while you make the crust.
3. Prepare the dough according to the package instructions then instead of letting the dough rise in the bowl like their instructions state, immediately divide the dough in half and press into the pans using plastic wrap to press it into place without having to add any water to your hands or the dough.   Make sure that you work the dough to the edges so that it is on top of the bacon on all the edges. (see video tutorial) 
4. When both pans are done, to help level out the dough even more, for each pan of dough (covered in plastic) use the other pan to press down firmly to get it pretty level.  (see video tutorial)
5. Let the dough rise at room temperature covered with plastic wrap for 1 ½ hours to get as much volume as possible with the crust.
6. Remove the plastic wrap and cover each pizza with ¾ cup of pizza sauce being very careful not to deflate the crust as you apply the sauce then bake for 10 minutes without the other toppings. 
7. Remove from the oven, top with a little more sauce if the top looks too dry then add about 8 oz of mozzarella to each pizza and divide the crumbled cooked bacon between the pans.  
8. Bake for an additional 15 minutes before adding the pepperoni.
9. Add the pepperoni and bake another 5 to 10 minutes depending on how dark you want it. 
10. Let the pizzas rest in the pan for 5 minutes then lift the pizzas out of the pans using the parchment as handles.  Let them cool for an additional 5 minutes then you can slide the pizza off the parchment onto a baking rack to keep the crust from getting soggy.  Slice and serve.