Few things hold a more cherished place in my heart than Chicago Style Deep Dish Pizza. Chewy flavorful crust, slightly sweet sauce, and tons of cheese. What is not to love?! Like all pizza, making this right is like an art form. Chefs spend lifetimes working on their recipes and hold their secrets close. For me, the best Chicago style deep dish pizza can be found at Gino’s East. The crust is crispy on the outside while being chewy on the inside. It is not overly oily, and tastes ever so slightly of corn. The sauce is sweet yet tangy with a little spice for character. Their pie is truly perfection! In making my own recipe, my end goal was something similar to their pie. I have finally reached a recipe that meets my goals after no less than 10 years of trial and error! Let my time spent be your benefit and give this recipe a try.
First up, let’s talk crust.
When making a pie like this, you need something that is not only flavorful, but strong enough to support a large amount of weight without being dense like a rock. This obviously means we are talking something thicker than a NY style slice and it needs a crust edge like a handle to hold the boiling hot pool of cheese. You need some gluten formation but if you knead it too long your crust gets spongy and too bread like. In my opinion, a mix of flours is needed to add additional texture too. For my recipe I decided that a mixture of bread/strong flour and semolina was ideal. In using semolina you change the texture ever so slightly. The end result is chewy and fluffy with the slightest feel of something similar to cornmeal. Speaking of cornmeal, I could be wrong, but I am fairly certain they don’t actually use cornmeal and instead use corn oil!
Alright you have your flours, now what? It is time to build flavor in that dough. You need the right amount and kind of oil and enough salt to enhance the natural flavors of the flour and the fermentation that will take place. For the oil, I choose to use a blend of corn oil and olive oil. I aim for about 17% oil to flour in the recipe, but this is an area that you can play with if you choose to. Now add 5g (1%) kosher or sea salt and 12g (3%) white sugar. Finish it up with 7g (1.75%) yeast.
To mix and knead: Combine bread and semolina flour in a bowl, set aside. Combine warm water, sugar, and yeast in the base of a stand mixer or bowl. Allow to bloom roughly 15 minutes or until lovely and bubbly. Then add oil and salt. Turn your mixer on the lowest setting and add flour while it is mixing. Once everything is incorporated, kick the speed up a little (mid low to mid) and allow to the dough to knead for a minute or two until it comes together in a ball and nothing is stuck to the sides of the bowl. Either in the stand mixer or ideally a plastic bowl/container, lightly oil the dough ball and roll it around to coat, cover with cling wrap and a towel, and let it double in size.
Once doubled, spread the dough in the bottom of the pan. The dough is going to resist you at first, this is fine. Spread it out as much as you can and then again cover with cling wrap and a towel. Place the pizza pan and dough in a refrigerator for up to 24 hours. If you don’t want to let it ferment for 24 hours, let it rest for 20 minutes to relax the gluten and finish spreading the dough out. If you did ferment the dough in a refrigerator, take it out 30 minutes before you want it to go in the oven. After those 30 minutes, re-spread the dough and bring it up the sides of the pan before topping and baking.
Now let’s talk sauce:
For those that have had it, you will remember that a chicago style deep dish pizza’s sauce is a bit chunky. Now we are not talking chunky like pico de gallo but we also don’t want it super smooth. The goal is a crushed tomato consistency. While my recipe will aim for that, if you prefer a smooth sauce you can quite literally just blend this sauce up a bit to work out the chunks of tomato.
From here you can expect your usual culprits. Onion, garlic, oregano, and basil build the base of the flavor. Where we take a step away from a typical pizza sauce is how sweet the sauce on a chicago style deep dish pizza is. While there are different ways to get the added sweetness, I just simply add white sugar. This provides sweetness without heavily altering the flavor profile of the sauce.
To prepare the sauce, simply combine everything in a wide bottomed pan and simmer while stirring frequently for about 15 minutes. You do not want the sauce to thicken so much that it stays where you push it to in the pan, but if it is overly thin you will have a soggy crust. You will have to play with the timing for the result that you want. That’s it! Set aside and move on to assembly and baking!
Build a Masterpiece:
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees fahrenheit!
Once shaped it is time to layer cheese. I am not going to pretend to know if real chicago deep dish places use sliced cheese, but I certainly do. If you are going to use a shredded cheese, be sure to grate your own cheese from a block as pre-shredded cheese has a starch on it that keeps it from clumping together and this will affect how well the cheese melts for your pie. I find that a mix of provolone and whole milk mozzarella makes for a great taste. This is another area you can play around with to get different flavors if you would like. I add around half a pound of sliced provolone first and layer on top of that roughly 1 to 1.5 lb(s) of sliced whole milk mozzarella. Don’t fill the entire pie with cheese (unless you want a cheese pizza) leave space in this case for a layer of sliced pepperonis and then your sauce on top without it spilling over the top of the crust.
Top the sauce with freshly grated romano and a bit of italian oregano for some flair and you are ready to bake! Drizzle a little oil around the top edge of the crust and place the pie in your preheated oven for 25-35 minutes depending on your oven. Once your crust is golden brown you should be good to go! Pull it out of the oven and let rest for at least 10 minutes before you slice and serve.
There you have it, a chicago style deep dish recipe that I have poured my soul into and can finally say is where I want it to be. There are many ways that you can modify this recipe or the technique I used. Below you will find some different suggestions for ways to shake up the recipe and have more fun.
Suggestions:
- A great option to develop even more flavor is to incorporate a sourdough starter in place of a portion of the flour, water, and yeast. I aim for 20-30% of the weight of total flour for the amount of 100% levain that I use. So in this case 90-136 grams of levain and decrease the flour 45-68 grams (85% bread flour and 15% semolina) and the water by 45-68 grams. Then spike the dough with about a gram of fresh cake yeast or active dry yeast.
- Add a layer of italian sausage. While you might think I am crazy, use raw sausage and put a thin layer like a large round sausage patty between the bottom crust and the first layer of cheese. After 25-35 minutes the sausage will cook through!
- Swap out the romano cheese for pecorino romano for a punch of pungent and sharp flavor.
Equipment
- 12" Cast Iron Skillet or Tinned Steel Baking Dish
- Wide bottom pan or pot
Ingredients
Crust
- 386 grams Bread/Strong Flour
- 68 grams Semolina
- 72 grams Corn oil
- 4 grams Olive Oil
- 12 grams White Sugar
- 7 grams Active dry yeast
- 1.5 tsp Salt Kosher or Sea
- 1/8 tsp Cream of tartar
- 236 grams Water warm
Sauce
- 28 ounces Crushed san marzano tomatoes
- 1/2 White onion finely diced
- 4 cloves Garlic crushed
- 1 tsp Italian Oregano dried
- 1 tsp Basil dried
- 1/2 tsp Crushed red pepper dried
- 1/2 tbsp White sugar
- 3 tbsp Tomato Paste
- 2 tbsp Olive Oil
Assembly
- .5 lb Provolone cheese sliced
- 1.5 lbs Low moisture whole milk mozzarella sliced
- Sliced Pepperoni
- Romano fresh grated
Instructions
Preparing the Crust
- Combine bread flour, semolina flour, salt, and cream of tartar in a bowl and set aside.
- In a the bowl of your mixer or a mixing bowl, combine water, yeast and sugar. Allow to rest and bloom.
- Once the yeast is lovely and bubbly, add oil and mix to combine. Slowly add flour combination until well combined.
- Increase the speed of the mixer and knead for a minute or two until the sides of the mixing bowl are clean.
- Place the dough ball in a greased bowl, covering with cling wrap and a towel. Allow the dough to rise until doubled. Spread it in your baking vessel and either ferment it in the refrigerator for 24 hours or move on to assembly.
Preparing the Sauce
- While your dough is rising, preheat olive oil in a wide bottom pan before adding finely diced onion. Cook 2-3 minutes until soft and then add crushed garlic. Stir continuously while cooking for 1 minute.
- Add basil, oregano, crushed red pepper, and tomato paste stirring continuously while cooking for another minute.
- Add crushed tomatoes and sugar stirring to combine. Reduce heat to a strong simmer and allow to cook 15 minutes stirring regularly. Set aside and begin to assemble your pizza.
Assembly
- Once the crust loosely shaped, allow it to rest 20-30 minutes until the dough relaxes and you are able to finish shaping it. (If you refermented the dough, let it rest at room temperature for 30 minutes). Push the dough into the edges and press it up the sides of the pan.
- Begin with a layer of sliced provolone cheese (roughly .5-1 lb). Now add 2-3 layers of sliced whole milk mozzarella (roughly 1-1.5 lbs).
- Top the cheese with sliced pepperoni. Spoon your prepared sauce over the top spreading evenly and ensuring that it does not go over the top of the crust.
- Sprinkle freshly grated romano and a little oregano over the top. Lightly drizzle with oil, and drizzle oil over the crust.
Baking
- Place your pizza directly in a preheated oven at 425 degrees fahrenheit (ideally on a preheated stone or baking steel) and cook for 25-35 minutes.
- Once the crust is golden brown, remove from the oven and allow to rest at least 10 minutes before cutting and serving.
