Chicago Deep Dish Pizza Recipe

Chicago Deep Dish Pizzas are really quite easy to make at home. You can make one for dinner tonight or make a few for your next party. Our Chicago Deep Dish Pizza Recipe tastes just like the real thing you get in Chicago at Pizzeria Uno, Lou Malnati's and Giordano's.

Chicago Deep Dish Pizza Recipe

The Chicago-style 'deep-dish' pizza was invented at Pizzeria Uno, in Chicago, in 1943, reportedly by Uno's founder Ike Sewell, a former University of Texas football star.

However, a 1956 article from the Chicago Daily News asserts that Uno's original pizza chef Rudy Malnati developed the recipe.

Either way, Chicago-Style Deep Dish Pizza is now served in dozens of pizzarias in the Chicago area, including:

• Pizzeria Uno
• Buona Beef
• Aurelio's Pizza
• Rosati's
• Lou Malnati's
• Nancy's Pizza
• Giordano's
• Gino's East
• Edwardo's Natural Pizza

And now, your home. :)

Chicago-Style Deep Dish Pizza

Ingredients

For the Dough

• 1 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons (8 1/8 oz.) all-purpose Flour
• 1/4 cup (1 3/8 oz.) Yellow Cornmeal
• 3/4 teaspoons Salt
• 1 teaspoon Sugar
• 1 1/8 teaspoon Instant Yeast
• 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons (5 oz.) Water, at room temperature
• 1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted Butter, melted
• 1 teaspoon Olive Oil
• 2 tablespoons unsalted Butter, softened

For the Sauce

• 1 tablespoon unsalted Butter
• 2 tablespoons grated Onion
• Pinch of dried Oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon Salt
• 1 clove Garlic, minced or pressed
• 1 (14.5 oz) can crushed Tomatoes
• Pinch of sugar
• 2 tablespoon fresh Basil Leaves, coarsely chopped
• 1 1/2 teaspoon Extra-Virgin Olive Oil
• Ground Black Pepper

For Assembling and Topping

• 2 tablespoons Olive Oil
• 8 oz. Mozzarella, shredded (about 2 cups)
• 1/4 oz. Parmesan Cheese, grated (about 2 tablespoons)

Directions

1. To make the dough, combine the flour, cornmeal, salt, sugar and yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook on low speed.  Mix until blended, about 1 minute.  Add the water and melted butter and continue mixing on low speed until fully incorporated, 1-2 minutes, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl occasionally.  Increase the speed to medium-low and knead until the dough is glossy and smooth, and pulls away from the sides of the bowl, 4-5 minutes.
2. Using your hands, coat a medium bowl with 1 teaspoon of the olive oil.  Transfer the dough to the bowl, turning once to coat with oil.  Cover tightly with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature until nearly doubled, about 45-60 minutes.
3. While the dough is rising, prepare the sauce.  Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat.  Add the onion, oregano, and salt.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until the liquid has evaporated and the onion is golden brown, about 5 minutes.  Add the garlic and cook just until fragrant, about 30 seconds.  Stir in the tomatoes and sugar and increase the heat to medium-high.  Bring the mixture to a simmer, then lower the heat to medium-low and continue to simmer until reduced to about 1¼ cups, about 25 minutes.  Off the heat, stir in the basil and oil.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.
4. To laminate the dough, turn the dough out onto a dry work surface and roll into a 8- by 6-inch rectangle.  Using an offset spatula, spread the softened butter over the surface of the dough, leaving a ½-inch border around the edges.  Starting at the short end, roll the dough into a tight cylinder.  With the seam side down, flatten the cylinder into a 9- by 2 inch rectangle.  Fold into thirds like a business letter, pinch the seams to form a ball, and return to the oiled bowl.  Cover tightly with plastic wrap and let rise in the refrigerator until nearly doubled in size, 40-50 minutes.
5. Preheat the oven to 425° F.  To assemble, coat a 9-inch round cake pan with 2 tablespoons of olive oil.  Transfer the dough ball to a dry work surface and roll out into a 13-inch disk about ¼-inch thick.  Transfer the dough to the pan.  Lightly press the dough into the pan, working into the corners and 1 inch up the sides.  If the dough resists stretching, let rest 5 minutes before trying again.
6. Sprinkle the shredded mozzarella over the surface of the dough.  Spread the tomato sauce over the cheese and top with Parmesan.  Bake until the crust is golden brown, 20-30 minutes.  Remove from the oven and let rest 10 minutes before slicing and serving.

Yield: 1 9-inch deep-dish pizza

Source: adapted from Cook’s Illustrated, January-February 2010

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Photo of Deep Dish Pizza is by William Jones - http://www.thefoodspot.com/ and is used by permission under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) License.

Recipe adapted from Cook’s Illustrated, January-February 2010

Portions of the information about Chicago Deep Dish Pizza come from Wikipedia and is used by permission. The work is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.