Homemade Chicago Style Pizza
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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!
- 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
- Add the warm water and pinch of sugar to mixing bowl
- Add yeast and let foam for 30 seconds or so
- Add remaining ingredients and mix until all combined 3-4 minutes
- Lightly flour a surface and knead the dough ball for about two minutes. Don’t over knead
- Let rise at room temp for 30 minutes
- 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.
- When the dough is in the pan, spread 1lb of mozzarella cheese evenly, and sprinkle with garlic, basil and/or Italian seasoning.
- Spoon on sauce
- 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!
