As I experimented with numerous meal options after going vegan, I stumbled upon this fantastic low-fat comfort food chowder. Suitable as a meal starter or perhaps the main course.
| Prep Time: | 35 mins |
| Cook Time: | 35 mins |
| Additional Time: | 1 hr 20 mins |
| Total Time: | 2 hrs 30 mins |
| Servings: | 10 |
| Yield: | 1 12-inch pizza |
Ingredients
- 1 ⅓ cups warm water
- 2 ¼ teaspoons active dry yeast
- ¼ cup olive oil
- ¼ cup melted butter
- 2 teaspoons white sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoons fine salt
- ½ cup cornmeal
- 3 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons olive oil, or as needed, divided
- 4 cups pizza sauce, or to taste
- 4 ounces sliced provolone cheese
- 8 ounces fresh mozzarella cheese, cubed
- 1 pound spicy Italian sausage, casings removed
- 4 ounces shredded part-skim, low-moisture mozzarella cheese
- 2 ounces Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
Instructions
- Make the dough: Pour water into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Sprinkle in yeast and let dissolve, about 10 minutes. Add olive oil, melted butter, sugar, salt, cornmeal, and most of the flour, in that order. Knead, stopping occasionally to scrape down the sides and adding more flour as needed, until smooth and elastic.
- Transfer dough to a lightly floured work surface. Knead in extra flour if needed. Roll into a ball and transfer to a bowl greased with 1/2 teaspoon olive oil. Cover with a plate and let rise in a warm spot until doubled in volume, 1 to 2 hours.
- While the dough is rising, simmer pizza sauce in a pot over low heat until very thick, 60 to 90 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
- Poke dough to deflate and turn out onto your work surface. Press and stretch out dough into a round shape 3 to 4 inches larger than a 12-inch cast iron skillet. Brush the skillet with 1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil. Place dough into the skillet; stretch and pull to evenly distribute it over the bottom and sides.
- Apply fillings and toppings in order as follows: Lay provolone cheese over the bottom of the crust. Scatter fresh mozzarella over provolone, then add Italian sausage and firm mozzarella. Ladle pizza sauce generously over top. Grate Parmesan cheese over pizza sauce, then fold the crust edges in towards the center to seal in the sides. Drizzle 1 tablespoon olive oil over crust and center of pizza.
- Bake in the center of the preheated oven until crust sounds hollow when tapped and pizza is beautifully browned, about 35 minutes. Let rest for 10 minutes before slicing.
- Instant and rapid-rise yeast both work in this recipe.
- Two ounces of Parmesan cheese is equal to about 1 cup of finely grated Parmesan cheese.
- Feel free to make a double batch of
- for this recipe.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 613 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 53 g |
| Cholesterol | 75 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 3 g |
| Protein | 25 g |
| Saturated Fat | 14 g |
| Sodium | 1487 mg |
| Sugars | 5 g |
| Fat | 32 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
This was less pizza more planet. It tasted amazing and was not something I thought I could produce at home with good results. Fortunately, I got amazing results! I used a smaller skillet so I shouldn’t have used the entire amount of dough and made some breadsticks. I did use Chef John’s pizza sauce which is always a hit. I used fresh ricotta as opposed to the fresh mozzarella which was good. I also added in some mushrooms for some actual vegetables and they went largely unnoticed. The husband decided we now did not need to visit Chicago any longer as we can do better at home. Thanks Chef John!
thank you so much for posting this recipe! some of the best pizza i ever had!!
Best Deep-dish I’ve ever had. I used a 12″ iron skillet and Chef John’s HOW TO MAKE HOMEMADE PIZZA SAUCE. 3 cups sauce was perfect.
The recipe turned out amazing. I used 2 – 9″ springform pans rather than cast iron. It was a huge hit with the family and will definitely be a staple in my house.
Jon from Tampa,FL Excellent recipe. I moved to Florida from Chicago. Now I don’t have to miss the pizza anymore. I substituted sliced meatballs for the sausage and added zucchini. Delicious. I proofed the yeast by adding the sugar to the water and the yeast. It rose great. The pizza was AWESOME!!! Thanks Chef John.
I used rapid rise yeast which made my crust puffier than expected. So I pinched off part of the main dough and created a second layer in the pizza. Loaded this up with spicy Italian sausage, pepperoni, mushrooms, olives, red and yellow peppers, and all of the cheeses. For my first time making this I’m super excited to have a new kind of pizza to make to break away from standard pizza. I’ll be sure to load up more sauce next time too. This wasn’t difficult like I’d built up in my head. Love this! Thanks Chef John!
I made this pizza for a party. EVERYONE raved about it and asked for the recipe. But I didn’t give. LOL!!! I made it again and used 1/2 diced tomatoes and 1/2 Oliverio’s peppers (which I pulsed in the processor). Try it, you’ll like it!
I followed the recipe but used a little less hard mozzarella. The crust was delightful…tasted great. Unfortunately…the middle never got firm enough to slice. Stayed jiggly. I loved the crust so much,..wondering what else it could be used for !
I’ve made this several times and it’s fantastic. I would recommend for anyone who enjoys good food. It’s not a temperamental recipe so if other varieties of pizza are intimidating for you, try starting with this one.
Excellent!! Possibly my new favorite pizza pie.
Good dough, the next 2 times I made it, I halved the cornmeal, the sauce is great, added another anchovy, garlic powder, onion powder, basil… and the sauce became mine. You were correct about the tomatoes. They really do make it better.
Delicious pizza, I made my own pizza sauce.
This recipe was delicious! The only tip I would give is to just be careful with the dough as it is being kneaded in you stand mixer. Ours climbed up the bread arm and got a bit of oil on it from the machine so we had to discard a portion of it. Thank you Chef John for this delicious pizza!
love it!!!!!
I came across the video on YouTube by accident,. Having seen a couple Chef John videos before, I watched and was intrigued. Being a Brooklyn boy who only knew NYC foldable and Sicilian, similar to Detroit style, Being retired withcovid-19 in the air, I gave it a try. Butter in dough was certainly different and tasty too.. Used saute mushrooms and spinach, homemade sauce but a 10 inch cast iron, came out a bit better than expected. 15 minutes+ is better wait time than 10. Used the extra dough to make bread knots. Well worth trying for the experienced or nubie cook.
In general, five stars. But even among Chicago style pizzas (which I’ve eaten too many of), I have preferences. And next time I’m reducing the cornmeal a bit, doing all of the flour (I abstained a little per the recipe) and substituting all butter for the olive oil and butter fat content. I think that will bring it closer to what I want. Otherwise, this is incredible! The sauce is the sauce I’ve been trying to recreate for years. The house smelled like Chicago all day…in the best way. Chef John is my breakfast buddy on YouTube in this stay-at-home time and of all the recipes I’ve tried in the last few weeks, this is the finest. But there are so many I haven’t made yet! Such fun! – Thanks, Chef John.
Tried it and loved it! We’ll certainly make this recipe again and again.
Very easy to make. I browned the sausage before cooking as other commenters have mentioned, and it turned out great!
It’s is yummy! We cut the amount of the red pepper flakes in half and added more salt. So far so good. It’s still simmering but tastey!
Since the recipe did not call for pre-cooking the sausage, I baked the pizza for 40 minutes and left it rest for 15 after it came out. Sausage was done, but I can see where pre-cooking and draining off excess grease would be a plus to the final product. I also used a canned pizza sauce which, although thick, could have benefited from a spoonful or two of tomato paste for consistency. Very good flavor.
Amazing! I added more corn meal and did not have the same cast iron skillet, so I used two smaller pans – one cast iron, one metal. Both turned out great and so flavorful! Definitely cook the sausage before!