Chicago Deep Dish Pizza
In Wisconsin we can vote early, so yesterday I went to Town Hall and flexed my civic muscle with the scribble of a pencil. It was lots of fun because voting is always fun but the city workers seemed rather perturbed at the steady influx of early voters and I hate to admit it but that made it even more fun. I voted early because I’m not working on election day, instead I’ll spend the day helping to get out the vote for Barack.
Today I happily bring you a favorite of Chicagoans everywhere. I suggest you bake one up for your election night dinner…it is easy, absolutely delicious, and satisfying…that way even if your candidate loses you’ll still find some satisfaction in a good meal. I blogged about this recipe earlier this year when I was guest blogging at Accidental Hedonist and because I’ve improved the recipe and because it is such an easy meal to make I thought I would show it off again. I’ve had authentic Chicago pizza at Pizzeria Uno and Gino’s and I think my pizza has better flavor and texture. I recommend using a instant read thermometer to take a reading on the crust; it should be at 210° and there is more than enough space to jab the probe into the side crust to get a reading…I’ve never been disappointed using this technique.
Chicago style deep-dish pizza
Printer-friendly version
Dough
3/4 cup of water
1/4 cup of olive oil
2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 1/4 teaspoons yeast
1 tablespoon of honey
1/4 cup of cornmeal
1 cup of white whole wheat flour
1 + cups of all-purpose white flour
Toppings and sauce
1/2 pound of bulk Italian sausage
1 28 oz. can of crushed tomatoes
1/2 lb. grated mozzarella
Italian seasoning, minced garlic, salt, pepper
Put the first 7 dough ingredients in a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed for 2 minutes. Reduce the speed and gradually add the 1+ cups of all purpose flour until the dough clears the side of the bowl. Stop the mixer and replace the paddle attachment with a dough hook. Mix with the dough hook for 5 minutes or so, gradually adding flour until the dough comes to a consistency where it barely sticks to your fingers for just a moment and then it releases.
Put the dough in bowl greased with olive oil, cover with plastic wrap and let it rise in the refrigerator overnight, or even for 3 or 4 days (my longer storage method involves a plastic bag rather than a bowl).
Pull the dough from the refrigerator and smoosh it out into a thick round circle. Drape it over a well oiled cast iron skillet and nudge it about until it rests on the bottom and against the sides with no gaps or tightness. The edges will need a trim so roll a rolling pin across the top of the pan to sever the dough exactly at the top. Let it rise while you prepare the sausage, cheese, and sauce. Preheat the oven to 375°.
Shape the Italian sausage into loose, little nuggets about 1″ in diameter, and brown them in a skillet over medium heat. Season the crushed tomatoes with a pinch of Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, and minced garlic.
The first layer of the pizza is the grated mozzarella, followed by the sausage, followed by the sauce. I usually cover the crust with a foil tent to keep it from becoming burnt. Bake in a preheated 375°it for 25-30 minutes or until the side crust reaches a temperature of 210°.
Let it cool a bit, slice into wedges and eat.
comments
20 Responses to “Chicago Deep Dish Pizza”
Leave a Reply
-
Recent comments...
- Przepisy on Hash Brown Potatoes: Ooooo so nice potatoes, i feel hungy right now :) ...
- ............................................................
- trish on We’ll meet again…: Good for you. Anything worth doing should bring ha ...
- ............................................................
- RDG on A love supreme…carnitas: Here in TX they are often made with milk....deeeee ...
- ............................................................
- RDG on Kushari - because carbs are good too: I saw the program with Tony and actually enjoyed i ...
- ............................................................
- cheezmaker on We’ll meet again…: Vanessa- I'm another one who just recently found y ...
-
Thank you for this. 1st time I had deep dish pizza was from Pizza Hut my sophomore year of college. It was great. One of the best things I ever put in my mouth. Then, last season on Top Chef the 1st challenge was to make a signature one. They were given the dough, but I was freaking out for all of those people, because well…idk why, but…well, maybe because I know I can’t make deep dish Chicago-style pizza. But with your recipe scribbled on this here notepad, I can do it. Thanks. ;)
Hi from New York City! Though we have some darn good pizza here, it’s a completely different “animal” than Chicago deep dish (which I miss dearly!). I think I just figure out Sunday night’s menu!
Hooray for early voting. I was phone banking in wisconsin the other day. The whole thing is just very exciting.
As a chicagoan I am spoiled for commercial options for deep dish. Gino’s east is my husband’s favorite (he likes the cornbread crust and unembellished tomato sauce) whereas I tend towards giordanos. Uno might be a first, but not a best :)
I will definitely give this a try!
I’m home for a quick respite before my grueling Food and Wine weekend of volunteering, but now I can’t wait to get there so I can snack because this post has made me seriously freakin’ hungry. For some perverse reason I want to vote on election day this time around. I always go very early and don’t find lines. I’m signed up to help Barack from 12-4 that day tho’.
B makes his own Italian sausage and we have a nice bagful in the freezer, so after voting and volunteering, I’m gonna stuff myself with this pizza! Thanks for a great recipe Vanessa!
looks great!
did you/are you going to the Food and Wine show? we went tonight, one of our friends competed in the dueling chefs!
Vanessa- great post and perfect for a chilly weekend…….Erin’s spot on with Giordano’s. My sister lives in Chi town and when we go down to visit we call her when we pass the Lake Forest Oaisis- then she calls Girodano’s and orders up the stuffed spinach pizza’s- by the time we get to her house they show up a few minutes later!
Once she bought me a little cookbook called Chicago Deep Dish pizza- lots of photo’s and recipes from the various famous places. Well loved and well dog eared!
cheezmaker
Mad Lisa, hope I see you at F&W, I’m judging the 3:00 dueling chefs competition.
Erin and Cheezmaker, I’ve never tried Giordano’s but I will next time were in town. Thanks for the tip.
Raven, Dave and I’ll be at F&W today…I’m judging the 3:00 heat of the DC. Maybe we’ll see you there!
That looks exactly like true Chicago pizza! I’ll have to show this to my husband, since he’s the pizza maker at our house. We might just have to try this.
I voted today! It was nice to get it done early, and I feel like I’ve done my part to (hopefully) get this country back on the right track. Have fun with the election day volunteering!!!
Awesome recipe… I’m from Chicago and I’m ashamed to admit that I have never even tried making Chicago-style pizza.
I have never had deep dish pizza but I’m lovin the look of it!
I’ve never had Chicago deep-dish style pizza before but it’s definitely on my radar now. Looks absolutely delish!
What size skillet do you use?
Gosh Ryan, I don’t know for sure and honestly I’m too lazy to hunt down the ruler and measure it…I’m guessing it’s 9″ and that’s based on my first guess was 10″ and then I looked at the Lodge products on Amazon and they don’t have a 10″ but they do have a 9″.
Cool blog.
I was in Chicago on business in 1999 when I happened upon a pizza joint near what was then (new) Comiskey Park. I had the best deep-dish pizza I’d ever had in that restaurant, and I immediately became a fan of deep-dish pies (which I’d never been up until then.) I went back to the South Side in 2005 and couldn’t find the place. What a disappointment.
I just cross-posted your deep-dish pizza recipe. I hope you don’t mind. I’ll be happy to remove my post, or make it a 10-12 line reference with a “read the rest here” link, if you object.
Django, no problemo about the cross post…all I ever ask for is my credit and a link which you so kindly gave along with the endearing adjective of “young”. Thanks for the linky love.
We made your recipe for lunch today and it tasted awesome, but the crust didn’t rise at all. I made the dough yesterday afternoon and it was in the fridge for almost 24 hours. It didn’t rise at all in the fridge. Then I put it in the cast iron pan while I prepared all the toppings and it barely rose at all. What’s the trick to getting it to rise? Do you let it rise before putting it in the fridge?
Also, I had trouble finding grated mozzarella. I ended up with shredded. I figured that one of the Italian delis in town would have some, but struck out at Gino’s on Verona Rd. I wasn’t able to make it down to Fraboni’s…
Thanks! Great recipe!
Hi Jen, I’ve noticed that the dough only rises in the refrigerator if it’s in there for at least 3 days. I made this week’s dough on Thursday and baked on Friday. My trick is to load the dough into the pan and then place it in a really warm spot to rise for 30 - 45 minutes while the oven preheats. If I had the time I would load the pan around 4 pm and bake at 6 pm. Even then it won’t be a fluffy, light crust…it’s more like a brick. As for the mozzarella…I buy it by the brick at Woodman’s and grate it with a box grater or cuisnart.
Might I suggest adding a touch of cornmeal to the dough, and instead of using honey, try a tablespoon or two of dry malted barley extract, easily available at any homebrewing store. It is by far my favorite addition to pizza crust flavor.
Even though I respectfully disagree with your politics, I am going to try this recipe. We love deep dish pizza for a change, and love Giordanos (will be traveling to Chicago, from Cleveland, next weekend, in fact, and that’s where we will be Saturday night). I have enjoyed your recipes in the past.
Chicago deep dish is gross and heavy. Use a piece to layer some bricks together on your next constrction job, but do not ingest it.