What is a deep dish Chicago style pizza? What makes it distinct from classic Italian pizza? The presentation, the texture, and the taste are different. So, what makes this deep dish pizza stand out from the others? The Chicago style pizza is not your usual thin and flat pie. It is baked in a deep dish with an abundance of toppings and cheese, comes with an extra layer of crust. Since you’re hook to Chicago style deep dish pizza, I’m going to share with you the step-by-step tutorial on how to make Chicago style pizza.
What Is A Chicago Style Pizza?
Allow me to tell you what is Chicago deep-dish pizza first before teaching you how to make Chicago style pizza.
Deep-dish pizza, which should be a thick pizza baked in a pan and filled with cheese, meat and vegetables, and sauce, typically refers to Chicago-style pizza. The crust is normally two to three inches tall and gets a bit fried because of the pan’s oil.
The primary difference between deep-dish pizza and other pizza is that the crust is very deep, making a thick pizza more like a pie. The crust itself is thin to medium, while the whole pizza is dense.
Deep-dish pizza dough comes from wheat flour and occasionally from semolina flour, providing a yellowish look to the crust. There is also corn oil or butter, making it the buttery, biscuit-like flavor.
How to Make a Chicago Style Pizza
Ingredients
For the Dough
- 3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
- 2 1/4 tsp instant rise yeast
- 2 tsp white sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp table salt
- 1 1/4 cups room temp water
- 3 TB melted butter
- 4 TB softened butter
- olive oil
For the Sauce
- 3 TB olive oil
- One small minced onion
- Four minced cloves garlic, minced
- 28oz crushed tomatoes with juices
- 1/2 tsp white sugar
- 2 TB dried basil
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- salt and pepper
Toppings
- 4 cups of freshly shredded mozzarella
- 1lb Italian sausage, browned and crumbled
- 4 TB freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions How to Make a Chicago Style Pizza
For the Dough
- Mix flour, cornmeal, yeast, sugar, and salt until mixed, using a stand mixer and dough handle. Add 3 TB of melted butter and water and mix for 2 minutes, scraping the bowl down as required. Increase the speed to medium and knead for 4-5 minutes until the dough is glossy and smooth. It’s best to separate the pliable dough from the bowl’s edges.
- Coat the olive oil in a wide bowl and put the dough ball in a bowl. To guarantee that all sides of the dough are covered by oil, turn the dough around in the tub. Tightly cover the bowl with aluminum foil and let it grow until doubled in size, around 1 hour, at room temperature.
For the Sauce
- It would help if you sauteed the minced onion and garlic over medium heat using olive oil. Apply the remaining ingredients to the sauce, except for the salt/pepper. Simmer the sauce and simmer until it is reduced to 2 1/2 cups, around 25 minutes—season with salt and pepper.
- Heat the 425 degrees Fahrenheit oven with the rack in the lowest spot. On a wide surface, roll out the dough. Roll into rectangles of 15 to 12 inches. Spread 4 TB of softened butter evenly over the top of the dough, keeping 1/2 along the edges of the border. Roll the dough into some close cylinder at the short end.
- Flatten the cylinder to 18 inches with the side down for a rectangle. Cut the rectangle crosswise in half. Stretch the dough into thirds and press the seams all together in a dough ball, dealing with one half at a time. Return the dough balls to the slippery tub, ensure that the oil is covered on all sides of the dough, and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Enable to rise in refrigerator until doubled, 40-50 min.
- With 2 TB of olive oil each, coat two 9-inch round cake pans. Move one dough ball to a big sheet and roll it into a 1/4 inch disk. Uh, thick. Move to the cake pan and press gently into the pan, working on the sides and corners. Repeat with the other ball of dough.
- Divide the four mozzarella cups in half and spread each pizza dough on top. Pour 1 1/4 cups of tomato sauce per pizza, accompanied by browned sausage. Last, sprinkle each pizza with 2 TB of Parmesan cheese.
- Bake the dough for 25 minutes until the crust is golden brown. Remove and let it sit for 10 minutes before serving.
What Makes the Chicago Style Pizza Unique?
So, what makes the Chicago style pizza unique apart from the taste? Learning how to make Chicago style pizza can be tricky, and you should know the factors that make this deep dish pizza delicious.
The Crust
‘Pizza’ is a common word for a whole pizza, but most pizza types are not defined accurately. Flatbreads with a thin layer of toppings are Italian and New York-style pizzas. But Chicago pizza is cooked close to a pie pan in a round pan, which is the ‘deep dish’ that provides the pizza its other label.
The buttery, rich dough is located at the bottom of the greased pan. They’re supposed to be crispy, flaky, and rich before adding the toppings.
The Assembly
In this order, most types of pizza are assembled: crust, sauce, cheese, toppings.
Baking a Chicago-style pizza is somewhat different. Deep dish pizzas take longer periods in the oven than thin-crust pizzas. It would burn or become rubbery if the delicious mozzarella cheese is on top and exposed to intense heat for the entire baking time. But Chicago style pizza is created in the following order – crust, cheese, toppings, tomato sauce.
The Toppings
Before they crumble or get soggy, thin pizza slices can only accommodate so many toppings. But there is space for a greater amount of toppings in a deep-dish pizza since the crust is thicker. It is also supposed to be eaten instead of with your hands with a knife and fork so that a deep-dish slice can appear stacked high with various delicious ingredients. Here’s how to learn more about pizza recipes.
Conclusion
You don’t need to drive to the Windy City to enjoy a deep dish pizza. It begins with a decent homemade pizza dough, then a rich homemade tomato sauce completes it. A generous amount of shredded cheese complements the process of how to make Chicago style pizza at your home.