Homemade Chicago Style Deep Dish Pizza



Here's how to make a deep-dish pizza in Chicago. Complete with a butter crust, a slightly sweet tomato sauce, and a thick layer of cheese.

Warning: This post contains about 1,000,000 step-by-step images and plenty of small explanations to go along with it. You may want to have some coffee.

I recently looked at my website stats and came to the discovery that Chicago is my most popular city in the US. I have more readers from Chicago than anywhere else in this country. This is insanely cool because I love Chicago. As a simple tribute to my #1 city, I finish off one successful year with a Chicago-inspired recipe.

* ingredients :

+To prepare the dough:
° 3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
° 1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
° 2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast (quick-rising)
° 2 teaspoons white sugar
° 1 1/2 teaspoon table salt
° 1 1/4 cup room temperature water
° 3 TB melted butter
° 4 TB soft butter
° olive oil
+Sauce:
° 3 TB olive oil
° 1 small onion chopped
° 4 cloves garlic, minced
° 1 can (28 oz) mashed tomatoes with juice
° 1/2 teaspoon white sugar
° 2 TB dried basil
° 1 teaspoon dried thyme
° Salt and pepper to taste
+covers:
° 1 pound (4 cups) freshly shredded mozzarella cheese
° 1 pound Italian sausage, roasted and crumbled
° 4 TB fresh grated Parmesan cheese

* Directions :

To prepare the dough:
Using a hand mixer and dough hook, mix flour, cornmeal, yeast, sugar, and salt over low heat until smooth.Add water and 3 tablespoons of ghee and stir for 2 minutes. Clean the bowl as needed.Increase the speed to medium and knead until the dough is shiny and smooth, 45 minutes.The spring dough should peel off the sides of the bowl.
Covering large bowl with olive oil also placing dough ball in  bowl.Turn over the batter in the bowl, making sure that all sides of the batter are coated with oil. Covering bowl tiightly with plastic wrapp also let it rise at room temperature to double in size, about 1 hour.Sauce:  Saute chopped onion and garlic in 3 TB olive oil over medium heat until soft.Add the remaining sauce ingredients except salt/pepper.Boil the sauce and cook to 2 1/2 cups, about 25-30 minutes.Season with salt and pepper and set aside.Preheat  oven t425 degres F , with the rack in the lowest position.Spreaad dough on a large place . Rolling to  15 * 12 inch rectangle. Spread 4 tbsp of softened butter evenly over the surface of the dough, leaving 1/2 along the edges. On the short end, roll the dough into a tight cylinder (see photo).
With seam side down, flatten the cylinder into an 18" x 4" rectangle. Cutting rectangle in semi crosswise.Cut the dough in half, then pinch the seams together to form a dough ball. Return the dough balls to an oiled bowl, making sure all sides of the dough are protected with oil, and covering them tightly with plastic wrap.Rest in the refrigerator until the volume doubles, 40-50 minutes.Place two 9-inch round pans with 2 TB of olive oil in each pan. Transfering one dough ball to large surface also roll it to a disk, 1/4 inch thiick. Transfer the mixture to a cake pan and press it gently into the pan, leaving it in the corners and top.Repeaat with other dough ball. (If dough resists stretching, leave covered for 5 minutes and try again.)  Divide 4 cups of mozzarella cheese in half and sprinkle on each pizza crust.Then add the brown sausage (plus all other ingredients).Then add 1-1 / 4 cups of tomato sauce to each pizza.Finally, sprinkle 2 TB Parmesan cheese on each pizza.Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown. Remove it and leave it for 10 minutes. before submitting.

Enjoy !