Chicago Style Pizza

  3.4 – 45 reviews  • American
Level: Easy
Total: 5 hr
Prep: 20 min
Inactive: 4 hr
Cook: 40 min
Yield: 6 serving

Ingredients

  1. 16 ounces water
  2. 1/8-ounce yeast
  3. 1/2-ounce salt
  4. 2 pounds bread flour
  5. 1/4 cup olive oil
  6. 1/4 cup cornmeal
  7. 2 cups tomato sauce, jar or homemade
  8. 2 cups shredded mozzarella
  9. 1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
  10. 1/2 cup spinach, shredded
  11. 1/2 cup grated Romano
  12. 1/2 cup sliced pepperoni
  13. 1/2 cup grated Parmesan

Instructions

  1. In a mixer combine the water and the yeast and allow the yeast to dissolve. Add the remaining ingredients except for the cornmeal and begin to mix the dough using a dough hook on low speed. Once a ball is formed mix on medium speed for 1 to 2 minutes until the dough becomes elastic and smooth. Remove from the mixer and place in a bowl coated with olive oil. Allow the dough to rest for approximately 4 hours. Once the dough is rested, place on flat surface and dust with some flour.
  2. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. In a deep baking dish or deep dish pizza pan, spread the dough using your fingers at the bottom of the pan and make sure to have enough dough to come up the sides of the pan approximately 1/2-inch high.
  3. Begin by placing a layer of the mozzarella cheese on the bottom of the crust. Add the tomato sauce and all of the toppings. Place in the oven for 30 to 40 minutes until golden and crispy.
  4. Serve pizza straight from the oven to the table.

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size 1 of 6 servings
Calories 969
Total Fat 35 g
Saturated Fat 13 g
Carbohydrates 121 g
Dietary Fiber 5 g
Sugar 4 g
Protein 41 g
Cholesterol 69 mg
Sodium 1289 mg

Reviews

Eric Moore DVM
Toooooo spice DO NOT EAT if you don’t  like spice
Brooke Morse
To Mark Malnati, this is not the recipe from your restaurants! Why did you do this? I have eaten Chicago deep dish in you Lincolnwood restaurant made by the Malnati family, best in the world. Your YouTube stuff very good. This, not so much.
Ashley Obrien
What do you do with the cornmeal?  Snort it?
Dean Gonzalez
There are some problems here. Authentic Chicago deep dish pizza does not have–and never did have–cornmeal in the crust–the golden color comes from food coloring (“egg shade”). No need for butter in the crust. Authentic Chicago deep dish pizza with its biscuit-like texture depends on two factors: Lots of oil (usually corn oil) in the ratio of 3 tablespoons for each cup of all-purpose flour and a short mix/knead time (1 minute mix, 2 minute knead. Make sure to proof the yeast first and let rise for about 4 hours. use good-quality tomatoes (6-in-1 or Pagliacchi, for example) and 3/4 skim and 1/4 whole milk mozzarella (Frigo and Stella are good brands). Do not cook the sauce.
Erin Nelson
I have made Chicago style pizza using pizza recipe books and the cornmeal gets added like the flour. This gives the dough a chewy texture. You use cornmeal when cooking a thin crust to help slide the pizza from the peel into the oven, stone, tiles, etc.
David Rivera
CORNMEAL: Put in the mixture before the flour. Use stone-ground cornmeal NOT yellow or white cornmeal.
DOUGH: Add a little bit of water to the dough if needed to get all of the flour in there. Use onion salt, & add a TSP of garlic powder. Cover with olive oil and plastic wrap & let the dough sit for 2 to 3 days. I know this is probably a shocker, but this is what the Chicago pizza places do. It ferments the dough & adds a strong wonderful flavor to it. Don’t store in the fridge until fermented.
PREP: Put the dough over the side of the pan, cheese slices up the side, then fold over the crust back on it. Coat pan with olive oil, & sprinkle cornmeal, parmesan, & Italian seasoning. Adds flavor & keeps the dough from sliding when spreading it out. Cheese first, then toppings, more cheese, then sauce.
Recipe with conversions:
16 ounces warm water
1 1/4 Teaspoons Active Dry yeast
2 1/2 Teaspoons salt
5-7 cups bread flour
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup Stone-ground cornmeal (NOT yellow)
Stephanie Gardner
Typical inaccurate, non-authentic recipe. Calls for cornmeal, no instruction on what you are to do with it. I know why it’s included, but why post recipes that are not correct? All you get is garbage food.
Diana Lara
“Add the remaining ingredients except for the cornmeal”.. So, we just buy cornmeal and put in cupboard? I didn’t see where it’s used, did I miss that?
Aside from that the pizza was awesome!!
Patrick Mayer
I’m from Chicago and grew up on Lou’s sausage deep dish. I cut the recipe in half and still had enough Extra dough for a focaccia. First I used one cup of unfed sourdough starter to replace equivalent flour, water, and yeast. After the dough had relaxed I turned it out onto board covered with semolina flour and tossed extra on top. I rubbed a 12 inch cast iron skillet with butter and some corn meal. Then I spread the dough out in the skillet extremely thin. I had trouble keeping the dough from slipping back down the sides, so I let it relax rubbed extra butter and cornmeal into the edges and used a fork to flatten it against the sides. Then I topped with fresh and regular mozzarella, a layer of turkey sausage, mushrooms, spinach, peeled tomatoes with garlic and basil, and finally more chopped garlic and grated parmesan. I baked it at 450 for 30 minutesthen turned it down to 400 for another 20 minutes. Let set and then cut into 1/8ths. Good stuff.
Tiffany Thompson
Turned out great. The only thing I will do differently next time is cook my fresh spinach & mushrooms BEFORE putting them on the pizza because as they cooked on the pizza, it created quite a bit of liquid. I had to tilt the pan over the sink when the pizza was done & drain off all the extra juice. Even then, when I sliced it, quite a bit of liquid came out. Other than that, the pizza was great.

 

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