Hi there! Welcome to a new month and a new series! Parrish from Life with the Crust Cut Off and I have been doing these monthly series for a while now and we really hope you have been enjoying them! For the month of January we will be bringing you a comforting classic every Tuesday! This first week I’m bringing you the ultimate in comfort food…. PIZZA! With my spin on it, of course!
Homemade Chicago Style Deep Dish Pizza
Oh yea! If you didn’t know, I was born in Chicago and lived in the suburbs until I was 9 years old. I still have family that lives up there so we visit often! We ALWAYS have to stop at our favorite food spots and a huge deep dish pizza is always on our list! This recipe was painstakingly tweaked until it was just right by my Dad! This is definitely the best deep dish pizza outside of Chicago!
Everything from the crust, Italian sausage and sauce is homemade. It is a labor of love for this beauty but believe me it is worth it! Would also be perfect for the Superbowl! Amiright??
Homemade Chicago Style Deep Dish Pizza
Ingredients
- For the Crust:
- 2 packs rapid rise active dry yeast
- 1 pinch sugar
- 1 1/2 Cup warm water about 100 degrees
- 1/3 Cup vegetable oil
- 2 Tbls olive oil
- 1 stick butter melted and cooled
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 Cup corn meal
- 3 3/4 Cup all purpose flour
- For the sauce:
- 1 can 28 oz. peeled plum tomatoes (preferable san marzano)
- 1 can 8 oz. tomato sauce
- 1 Tbls basil dried
- 1 Tbls oregano dried
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 Tbls parmesan cheese
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- salt and pepper to taste
- For the Italian sausage:
- 1 pound ground pork
- 1/2 tsp oregano dried
- 1/2 tsp basil dried
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 Tbls fennel seeds crushed or ground
- 1/4 tsp pepper flakes
- salt and pepper to taste
- Additional Ingredients Needed:
- 4 Tbls olive oil to grease pizza pan and sprinkle on top of the pizza
- 3 packages of sliced mozzarella cheese
- 1/4 Cup parmesan cheese
Instructions
- For the crust:
- A kitchenaid mixture is best to use for the crust. In the bottom of the bowl combine the yeast, oils, sugar, water and melted butter (melt the butter in the microwave and let sit on the counter for about 10 minutes so it is room temperature before adding). Whisk the mixture a couple times and let sit until the yeast starts to foam. About 10 minutes.
- In a separate bowl, mix the flour, corn meal and salt. Add this about a cup at a time into the yeast mixture. Scrap down the sides occasionally until it is all mixed together. I use the hook attachment the whole time, so scrapping is necessary.
- Put the mixer on high speed and let mix for 6 minutes. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the oven with only the light on. This will need to rise one time and will take approximately an hour. You want the dough to rise until it touched the plastic wrap. While the dough is rising you will make the remaining ingredients.
- For the Sauce:
- Take the plum tomatoes and squish them by hand, removing any hard core pieces. Mix with the remaining ingredients and set aside until pizza assembly.
- For the Sausage:
- Mix all ingredients together and set aside until pizza assembly.
- Pizza assembly and cooking:
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Taking a large deep dish pizza pan and coat the bottom and all sides with 2 Tbls of olive oil. Place the dough in the pan and try to work out as many of the bubbles as possible. Carefully stretch the dough and bring it up the sides of the pan as good as you can.
- Layer the mozzarella directly on the dough, going in a circular motion. When you are at the corners try and get the cheese in the corner of the pan with the dough, this will help to ensure the dough goes up the sides of the pan. Layer the sausage on top in dollops. Add about half of the sauce on top and spread evenly. Top off with some parmesan cheese, drizzle of olive oil and more dried oregano.
- Cook for 35-45 minutes. Check it about 25 minutes in and if the dough looks like it is getting dark, place foil over the whole pizza and continue to cook. It is done with the cheese is golden brown and bubbly.
- Take out of the oven and let sit for 10-15 minutes before cutting. Cut and serve.
- If you like more sauce, place the sauce on the stove and let simmer while the pizza is cooking. Serve with extra sauce on top, parmesan cheese and any other goodies you prefer!
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Step by Step Directions
Put the mixer on high speed and let mix for 6 minutes. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the oven with only the light on. This will need to rise one time and will take approximately an hour. You want the dough to rise until it touched the plastic wrap. While the dough is rising you will make the remaining ingredients.
If you like more sauce, place the sauce on the stove and let simmer while the pizza is cooking. Serve with extra sauce on top, parmesan cheese and any other goodies you prefer!
Pshew, that’s a lot of work, ingredients and directions! But, I assure you it IS worth it and super YUM!
I hope you enjoyed this post and recipe! If you get the courage to try this out please let me know how you enjoy it!
Remember to see Parrish’s recipe for this week by clicking on the image below!
Check out our last month’s series, all about COOKIES!
Peppermint Bark Cookies | Milky Way Stuffed Cookie Cups
Muddy Buddy Cookies | Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bon Bons
Chocolate Chip Meringues | Red Velvet Sandwich Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting
Double Peanut Butter Cookies | Triple Chocolate Blondies
Peanut Butter Cheesecake Brownie Bites | Chocolate Pecan Toffee Bars
Looking for even more yummy inspiration? Make sure to follow my food board on Pinterest!
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I participate in these linky parties, DIYHSHP and Orj Junkie.
Comments & Reviews
Dennise says
I too hail from Chicago and we have been spending lots of “dough” (sorry!) to have a certain Chicago Pizza delivered frozen to us down in deep South Texas home of really bad pizza! Great Mexican food tho! I now will try my had at making this recipe and I thank you from the bottom of my old heart that still pines for the Windy City and all its great food!
Allison @ Dream a Little Bigger says
Oh, goodness. That pizza looks so amazing! Thanks for linking up at Link It or Lump It this week!
Chandra@The Plaid and Paisley Kitchen says
I didn’t think that I could love you anymore than I already do, then I saw this!!! I am from Chicago too! Arlington Heights to be exact. Am I correct in thinking that Lou Malnati’s was the inspiration for this pizza? You are being featured this week at Show Me Your Plaid Monday’s!
Dana DeVolk says
YAY! We are from St. Charles/Carol Stream suburbs but also lived in the Elm Wood Park area when I was really little. My personal favorite is the original Uno’s or Gino’s East. Lou Malnati’s is amazing too but not what I grew up with! Thanks so much for the feature, I hope you try out this recipe for a little taste of home! *hugs!*
anon says
Your recipe is not correct . In authentic Chicago deep dish pizza there is no cornmeal–this is a myth promulgated years ago on the Internet by an entirely wrong recipe. The buttery flavor of Chicago deep dish comes from the use of corn oil, not butter (although some pizzerias grease their pans with butter). Your recipe doesn’t have nearly enough oil–you need 3 Tablespoons for every cup of flour. Mix for 1 minutes, then knead for 2 at the most–the whole point is to make a biscuit-like dough (as little gluten formation as possible)–so you will need to pre-proof the yeast in warm water (I recommend regular yeast and let the dough rise for as much as 8 hours to develop flavor). If you knead for 5 minutes, your result will be closer to bread than to authentic Chicago deep dish. For the sauce, use a high-quality brand of ground or crushed tomatoes (6-in-1, Pagliacci, etc.) and DO NOT COOK. Use a half-and-half mix of part-skim and whole milk mozzarella (again, a quality brand, like Stella or Frigo).
Dana DeVolk says
Thank you but this is just the way I make it, I will keep your tips in mind for my next batch!
Rasha says
What the size of the deep dish?
Christina says
Made this last night. I pre-cooked the sausage and used shredded cheese and my own sauce and that part was fine. I do not have a deep dish pizza pan, though. I used a couple of 9 inch round cake pans. There was too much crust. Could have gotten another pan out of it probably. Having said that I would make this again. I just need to get myself a deep dish pizza pan first.
Judijo says
I have made this wonderful recipe at least a dozen times. Although it is a bit of a fight between thick or thin crust (he is thick, I am thin), when thick wins, this recipe is my go-to. If the “mood” is sausage, I use this as written. If I decide that I am not in a sausage mood, I will drain the tomatoes EVER SO SLIGHTLY, then add my raw veggie ingredients and it will be DIVINE! Thanks for putting this recipe “on paper” for us!
Dana DeVolk says
Thanks so much for this comment! It has really made my day. I’m glad it has come out so good for you each time!!
Claire says
What size pizza pan did you use? I made this recipe in my 12” cast iron skillet and I had a lot of excess dough. It was REALLY yummy though. I’d like to make it again with a better pan. 🙂
Doug Jenkins says
Made this for a large group and it was a crowd-pleaser. Everything worked great, thank you!