Yay to Chicago-style pizza, my friends! Everybody has an opinion how the perfect pizza is supposed to taste like. There are huge fights about the pizza dough, the thickness, the crust, the amount of cheese, the toppings. I know. I am not getting into that. I am simply going to introduce you to a pizza which is more like a pie. And since I like pie, I was excited to try this one. Deep-dish pizza is another term for this pizza. Because you need a springform. You will put so much cheese and tomato sauce onto it that the regular circle simply doesn’t cut it. Chicago-style pizza is my new favorite. It starts with a very buttery dough, which is then sprinkled with mozzarella cheese (yes, the cheese goes on the bottom), then comes some chorizo (if you like it to be non-vegetarian) and then lots and lots of tomato sauce. Let’s have a closer look at each layer:
The dough: Yes, this is a yeast dough, but it really doesn’t take that much time to prepare. Don’t be scared of yeast. As long as you make sure that yeast stays warm and there is no breeze or cold wind, it will be happy. The dough contains corn flour and makes it extra soft and tasty. But the real kicker is the butter you spread on the rolled out dough before you let it rise in the fridge again. Makes the dough super puffy and delicious.
Lot’s and lot’s of mozzarella cheese: Do I need to say more? A heaping 200 grams of it per pizza. If you are as excited about cheese as me. Check if you can find grated mozzarella. Most of the grocery stores have it. I found mine in Sky and I’ve spotted it also in Rewe. And yes, you do put the cheese at the bottom. Because, let’s face it, of course there is going to be another layer of cheese on the top!
Chorizo slices: Gives this pizza some spice. Obviously feel free to either omit this layer if you are vegetarian or replace it with bacon, salami or anything else you like on your pizza. Maybe mushrooms are another option.
Homemade tomato sauce: Surprisingly easy to prepare and so much worth it. Now, if you are anything like me, you like a lot of tomato sauce. I mean a lot. This pizza is a pie with tomato filling! This is why Chicago style pizza is so much better than regular pizza because you can go crazy with the sauce. My recipe below will create a really thick layer of tomato sauce. If you are going to make a pizza like pie, you need to make it worth your while. At least that’s my opinion.
Parmesan: Yes, this one has two types of cheese. Because there can never be too much cheese. Never! You actually add it much later to the pizza so it doesn’t get burned. So good!
And now let’s get our teeth into this deliciousness!
This Chicago-style deep dish pizza consists of a soft dough, lots of grated mozzarella and a tomatoe sauce. The dough can be made the day before. How I make the pizza can be seen in the video. For the dough melt 60 grams of butter either on the stove or in the microwave, then add the water to cool off. You want to have lukewarm water, so the yeast is not destroyed, you should be able to stick your finger in it. Put flours, salt, sugar and yeast into a large bowl and mix a little. Add the water and butter mix. First mix with a wooden spoon or your hands and then knead for a few minutes. I like to do this inside the bowl. The dough should feel soft, but not stick to your fingers. If it is too soft, add some more flour. If it feels hard and unelastic, add more water and knead a little more. In total you should knead with your hands for at least five minutes. Divide dough into two equal parts and form into balls. Place the two balls back into the bowl and cover bowl with a kitchen towel. Keep in a warm place and let rise for an hour or when double in size. (Resting time 1 hour). Meanwhile take out the other 60 grams of butter to come to room temperature. Take dough out again and roll each ball into a rectangle on a lightly floured surface with a rolling pin. Spread the other 60 grams of soft butter on both rectangles. Roll up the rectangles lengthwise. Form these long rolls into balls again and put back in the bowl, cover with the towl and put in the fridge for another hour. (Resting time 1 hour). While the dough is in the fridge, start with the tomato sauce. First melt the butter in a large frying pan. Cut onion in very small pieces or grind it, crush the garlic and put both into the melted butter. Once onions and garlic is browned, add the salt and spices and let fry for another minute. Add the tomato sauce and sugar and let thicken on medium heat. This takes between 15-30 minutes, depending on the size of your frying pan. The consistency should be that of a rather thick sauce you typically put on pizza. Let cool off. Now prepare for assembling the pizza by preheating oven to 220 degrees Celsius. Take out the dough, knead again for 30 seconds and then roll into large circles (see visual). Make each circle much bigger than your springform since you want the dough to also cover the sides of your springform. Coat each springform with some olive oil and then place the rolled-out dough into each. Trim it so that it covers the bottom and sides fully (see visual). First sprinkle the mozzarella on the bottom, 200 grams per springform. Then place the chorizo on top. The tomato sauce comes last. I usually push down the rim of the dough as the dough tends to shrink. You can also see me making the pizza in this video . Bake for about 18 minutes, reduce heat to 180 degrees. Take out pizzas, sprinkle with parmesan to your liking and bake between 5-10 more minutes until dough is golden, parmesan nicely melted and tomato sauce looks perfect. Let sit for a few minutes and take out springform before serving. The dough can easily be made a day or two in advance. Keep it in the fridge in plastic wrap and simply continue with step 1 of assembling and baking the pizza once you are ready.
One springform serves about 3 people. So the recipe is for about 6 people, depending on how hungry they are.
I don't recommend to freeze after baking. You may want to freeze after assembling the pizza, but I haven't tried that. If you do so, let me know how it turns out.Chicago-style Deep Dish Pizza
Ingredients
Instructions
Notes
P.S.: No idea what else to do with the corn flour? How about Colombian corn flatbread with cheese filling?
Colombian corn flatbread with cheese filling
Uruguayan cookies with corn flour, dulce de leche, and chocolate
4 Comments
Jasmin
Saturday July 1st, 2017 at 08:15 PMOMG! Solch eine Pizza steht auch noch auf meiner To Do Liste – die sieht ja übelst gut aus. Direkt ein Stückchen hierher bitte!
Gib mir Pizza und cih bin ganz deins haha!
Jenny
Saturday July 1st, 2017 at 08:21 PMDie ist auch dazu gemacht, dass man gar nicht über Kalorien nachdenkt, die ist wirklich super lecker!
Nelly
Monday September 11th, 2017 at 09:21 PMIch liebe Tomatensoße!!!! Und Käse!!! Und diese Pizza! Und vor allem deinen Schreibstil liebe Jenny! Wir haben sie jetzt schon 2 mal gemacht und sind begeistert von ihr. Jetzt wandert dein Rezept erstmal in den Süden Deutschlands in ein Hochzeits Rezeptebuch 😉 Lieben Dank für diese Köstlichkeit und deine so erfrischend geschriebenen Rezepte, die Lust auf`s ausprobieren machen 🙂
Jenny
Monday September 11th, 2017 at 09:39 PMSehr, sehr gerne!