Chicago Style Thin Crust Pizza Recipes

CHICAGO STYLE THIN CRUST PIZZA

Steps:

• Mix the sugar into the water followed by the yeast and let it sit for 10 minutes, or until the yeast starts to foam/bubble.
• Mix in the butter followed by the mixture of the flour, cornmeal, and salt, until it forms a dough.
• Knead the dough on a floured surface until it is soft and elastic (a finger pressed into it will leave an indent that will bounce back out a little) before dividing in two and transferring to two greased bowls, covering it and letting it sit at a little higher higher than room temperature until it rises to double in size, about 2 hours.
• One at a time, knock the dough down, roll it out into a large disc, spread half the butter over half of the dough and fold the other half over onto the buttered half before folding in half again and again and again, before forming into balls and rolling them back out into thin discs and placing them onto large baking dishes.
• Spread the pizza sauce out over one of the crusts, sprinkle on the cheese and topping and bake in a preheated 500F/260C oven until the cheese has melted and the crust is crispy and golden brown, about 10 minutes.

TRUE CHICAGO-STYLE DEEP-DISH PIZZA

Steps:

• Mix sugar, yeast and 11 ounces room temperature water (about 80 degrees) in a bowl and let bloom for 15 minutes. Combine flour, salt and cream of tartar in the bowl of a stand mixer. Once yeast has bloomed, add to dry ingredients along with corn oil. Gently combine with a rubber spatula until a rough ball is formed.
• Knead on low speed with the dough hook for 90 seconds. Transfer to a lightly oiled bowl and proof until doubled in size, about 6 hours. Punch down and let dough settle for 15 more minutes.
• Position an oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 450 degrees F.
• Coat bottom and sides of a 12-inch cake pan or traditional Chicago style pizza pan with melted butter. Using your hands, spread out about three-quarters of the dough across the bottom and up the sides of the pan (save the remainder for another use). Cover entire bottom in mozzarella, all the way up to the edge. Cover half with a thin, even layer of raw sausage. Cover the other half with the pepperoni. Top with a couple handfuls of crushed tomatoes. Spread out with hands to the edge. Sprinkle top evenly with grated Parm.
• Bake, rotating halfway through, until golden around the edge, about 25 minutes. Let rest for about 5 minutes, then either gently lift pizza out of pan or just cut your slice out of the pan like a pie!

HOMEMADE CHICAGO THIN CRUST PIZZA DOUGH

Steps:

• Mix yeast with warm water and salt and stir.
• Combine wet ingredients (water with yeast, oil, beer/water) with garlic or basil and Parmesan cheese if using.
• Add flour 1/2 cup at a time, stirring well until dough pulls together.
• Knead until dough is silky smooth, adding flour until it does not stick to your hands. You want the dough to be moist and pliable but not too sticky.
• Let dough rise until nearly doubled in size and punch down. Ideally do this several times to increase the pliability of the dough and flavor of the crust.
• When you are ready to make pizzas, preheat the oven to 500 (550 ideally if possible) with baking stone on bottom rack (any floor tile will do well).
• Punch down the dough and pull off a piece of dough about the size of your fist. Sprinkle the area you will roll out the dough with cornmeal and a small amount of flour and roll out the dough until it is about 1/8 inch thick. If you have the skills for it--toss the dough in the air.
• Prick holes in the pizza with a fork all over.
• Add toppings and slide into oven, making sure pizza peel (back of a cookie sheet will work) is very well covered in cornmeal so the pizza will easily slide off onto the baking stone.
• Bake for 5-7 minutes until cheese is bubbling and edges are crispy.

CHICAGO DEEP-DISH PIZZA

Steps:

• 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. Knead, stopping to scrape down the sides occasionally 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 place in 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.
• Meanwhile, let pizza sauce simmer 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 skillet with 1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil. Place dough in the skillet; stretch and pull to evenly distribute it over the bottom and sides.
• Lay provolone cheese over the bottom of the crust. Scatter fresh mozzarella on top. Add Italian sausage and firm mozzarella. Ladle pizza sauce generously on top. Grate Parmesan cheese on top. Fold the edges of the crust in towards the center to seal in the sides. Drizzle crust and center with 1 tablespoon olive oil.
• Bake in the center of the preheated oven until crust sounds hollow and pizza is beautifully browned, about 35 minutes. Let rest for 10 minutes before slicing.

COPYCAT HOME RUN INN CHICAGO PIZZA

Steps:

• Dissolve 1 teaspoon salt in warm water. Add yeast and stir. Let bloom for 5 minutes.
• Add 1/2 cup flour and mix well.
• Add 3/4 flour and corn oil. Mix, combine well.
• Add remaining 3/4 cup flour and knead 5 minutes.
• Place in bowl, cover with moist towel to prevent dough from drying out, and let rise in warm oven for 2 hours.
• Punch down, replace moist towel, and let rise for another 2 hours. Remove from oven.
• Place dough on pizza stone or sheet and roll out thinly to approximately 14-15 inches across. Pinch up sides to make crust.
• Puree tomatoes in blender. Spread desired amount of sauce over dough then sprinkle with salt, pepper, and oregano. Add any pizza toppings of your choice.
• Top with mozzarella cheese.
• Bake in 475 degree oven for 10-12 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes before slicing.

THE REAL CHICAGO DEEP DISH PIZZA DOUGH

Steps:

• Dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water in a bowl. Let stand for 5 to 10 minutes until the yeast softens and begins to form a creamy foam.
• Combine yeast mixture, flour, corn oil, and kosher salt in a large stand mixer with a hook attachment; knead until dough holds together but is still slightly sticky, about 2 minutes.
• Form dough into a ball and transfer to a buttered bowl, turning to coat. Cover bowl with a towel and allow dough to rise at room temperature until double in size, 6 hours.
• Punch down dough and let rest for 10 to 15 minutes. Press dough into a 10-inch deep dish pizza pan.