Homemade Chicago Style Pizza

Being from Chicago I have eaten my fair share of pizza in my day. When we go back a couple times of year to visit our family there are only two things I care to eat: Chicago Style Pizza from Gino’s East Pizzeria and a Beef sandwich from Portillos.

Chicago Style Pizza is best described as deep-dish pizza. It has a very thick, dense crust made with cornmeal. The topping are opposite of traditional pizza meaning the cheese goes on before the sauce. And there is definitely not a shortage of cheese. In fact, there is practically a brick of cheese on each slice of pizza. Literally it is Heaven on a plate! (or a heart attack on a plate…but who’s thinking about health when they’re indulging in the finest pizza in the land?!?!)

One weekend I had the taste of pizza so I did a quick google search and found a recipe that claimed to be Chicago Style Pizza. Truthfully, I can’t say that it’s exactly the real taste, but none the less, it was really good! So here’s the recipe!

Homemade Chicago Style Pizza - a thigh dense crust made of cornmeal topped with fresh mozzarella cheese and sauce on top!

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Homemade Chicago Style Pizza
Ingredients
  • 2 1/2 cups unbleached flour
  • 1/2 cup fine-ground cornmeal
  • 1 package pizza yeast
  • 3/4t kosher salt
  • 2T canola oil
  • pinch of white sugar
  • 1 cup warm water
Instructions
  1. Add the warm water and pinch of sugar to mixing bowl
  2. Add yeast and let foam for 30 seconds or so
  3. Add remaining ingredients and mix until all combined 3-4 minutes
  4. Lightly flour a surface and knead the dough ball for about two minutes. Don’t over knead
  5. Let rise at room temp for 30 minutes
  6. reheat oven to 400. Warm a liberally buttered 12″ cast-iron pan on the stovetop while you roll out the dough to a 16″ circle about 1/4″ thick. Lightly press the dough into the pan, making sure the edges of the dough are almost flush with the top.
  7. When the dough is in the pan, spread 1lb of mozzarella cheese evenly, and sprinkle with garlic, basil and/or Italian seasoning.
  8. Spoon on sauce
  9. Bake at 400 for 35-40 minutes, until the crust is lightly browned and the cheese is melted thoroughly.

I highly recommend watching this video about Giordano’s Pizza, another classic Chicago pizzeria!

YouTube video

 

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