Chicago-style Deep Dish Pizza
It came to me in a dream but then it turned out to already be a thing. Here's my very simple, very doable take on Chicago-style cast-iron deep dish pizza
Equipment
- Cast iron pan (12-inch)
Ingredients
Dough
- 1½ cup water
- 2 tsp dry active yeast
- 4 cups all purpose flour
- 3 tsp salt
- 2 tsp sugar
- 1 tbsp olive oil optional
Sauce - https://www.homecookedfeast.com/simple-pizza-marinara/
- ½ can stewed or diced tomatoes finely diced/mashed (or 5 medium tomatoes equivalent, stewed)
- ¼ small onion finely chopped
- ½ jalapeno optional
- 2 clove garlic finely diced
- 1 tsp oregano
- 1 tsp basil
- 1 tsp thyme
- 1 tsp tarragon optional
- salt and pepper to taste
- 4 slices bacon optional, cooked or uncooked
- 1 tbsp butter olive oil for vegan
Cheese
- 1 cup mozzarella or provolone shredded or thick sliced - more if you want, to skimp
Meat and toppings
- Mushrooms
- Green Pepper
- Jalapeno
- Whatever meat you can imagine...!
Instructions
- In a bowl or saucepan, mix water, yeast and sugar and let sit until it becomes foamy, approx 5 minutes.
- In a large mixing bowl, add flour, salt (and oil) and mix until and mix with water/yeast mixture. If using a kitchen mixer, use dough hook and run until dough becomes fully mixed and smooth. If by hand, mix with spoon/spatula until becomes rough, cohesive unit and then move to cutting board or countertop and kneed by hand until smooth, not tacky. Add extra flour or water as required.
- Dust with flour, set aside for 1-2 hours (until doubled in size).
Sauce
- In the meantime, prepare marinara sauce.
- Melt butter in saucepan on medium-low heat. Toss in onion and pepper and stir until lightly browned/translucent
- Add tomato, garlic and spices.
- Simmer until reduced to a nice thick, but spreadable sauce, approx 15-20 minutes. The goal is to have a nice cohesive, but liquid sauce. Imagine the consistency of bolognese/meat sauce.
Shred Cheese.
Prepare any meat you would like to use.
Assemble pizza
- Preheat oven to 425°F/220°C
- Cut dough ball in half, roll or stretch flat with hands until about 1cm/½ inch thick.
- Dust cast iron pan with flour, lightly drizzle with olive oil or butter. Line entire cast iron pan (and up the sides) with pizza dough, poke with a fork if any bubbles arise.
- Take grated cheese and line the entire bottom of the pizza (that's what makes it Chicago style!). Feel free to save some cheese for the top too (I like that).
- Next, add, in order, marinara. On top of this and/or mixed in, add any vegetables and/or meat that you can dream. My favorites are ground beef, uncooked bacon, Italian sausage, etc. but you can literally use anything you can imagine.
- You're good to go! Bake pizza for 25-30 min (depending on thickness) until crust becomes nicely golden brown.
- Let rest 3-5 minutes prior to cutting. Consider eating with a knife and fork. Enjoy!
Notes
This is a double-batch recipe.