the-hungry-tiger: Chicago Deep Dish Pizza

A cross between a pie and a pizza

CuisineAmerican
CategoryMeat
CourseMains

Ingredients

Pizza dough
2 cupswholemeal plain flour
½ cupPolenta
1 tspYeast
1 cupWarm water
2 tspSugar
1 tspSalt
100 gmsButter
Tomato sauce
1 tbspGarlic, minced
1 tspChilli flakes
1 tbspSugar
2x400gmsCanned diced tomatoes
Oil
Fillings
200 gmsSliced mozzarella
200 gmsMushrooms
60 gmsHam, cut into strips
100 gmsJalapenos, pickled sliced
200 gmsBeef sausage
200 gmsCherry tomatoes
60 gmsSalami
50 gmsParmesan flakes

Preparation

Pizza dough

Dissolve sugar in warm water, add yeast and keep aside for 15 minutes
Mix flour, polenta, yeast mixture, salt, most of the butter and knead
Keep in a warm place for 1 hour
Flatten, smear with butter and roll up
Flatten and repeat a few times
Let it rise for 1 hour
Roll into circle and squeeze into oiled 25cms springform pan

Tomato sauce

Heat oil in a pan
Add sliced garlic and fry till soft
Add chilli flakes and stir
Add diced tomatoes and sugar
Simmer till the sauce is thick

Fillings

Place sliced mozzarella inside the pie, leaving no part of the base uncovered
Fry beef sausages and slice into 2 cms pieces
Add mushrooms, ham, sliced beef sausage, pickled jalapenos
Spoon on the tomato sauce and add cherry tomatoes
Put on the salami and sprinkle with parmesan flakes
Place in an oven at 190°C for 35 minutes
Rest for 15 minutes

Chicago deep dish pizza is one of those dishes that I have worshiped from afar without really having tried one. There was a short time when one of the local upmarket pizza chains sold a chicago deep dish. It did not last long but long enough for me to try it once. But these days, there is the internet. I looked far and wide and tasted a thousand web pages till I was ready to try my hand at it. And if I get it wrong, who will know – no one in my house has tried one either.

The Chicago deep dish pizza is different from a normal pizza in many respects. It is more of a pie than a pizza - the crust extends high up on the sides. The crust is more biscuity rather than like bread. The addition of cornmeal gives it a yellow colour. Generous use of butter in the dough as well as on the pan gives it a crisp crust. The ingredients are added upside down - the cheese goes in before the tomato sauce. The tomato sauce goes in almost last as is the uncooked crushed canned tomatoes. I did cook the sauce to thicken it. A sauce that is remotely runny will release more water in the oven and the pizza will fall apart when cut.

Dissolve the sugar in the warm water and add the yeast. In 15 minutes, it should froth up. Mix the dough and knead well.

Give it an hour in a warm damp place and it should rise to twice its size. Punch it down and make layers by repeatedly rolling it, applying butter and rolling it up.

The chicago pizza is traditionally made in cast iron pans but I don’t have one. I used a 25cms springform oven pan. Roll out the dough into a large circle and push into pan. It comes up all the way on the side, about 5 cms.

The cheese goes on the bottom. It is mozzarella and hard to find in sliced form. The cheese is not firm enough to be sliced but my friendly deli sliced it up for me. Cover the base completely so that the rest of the pizza does not make the bottom soggy.

Put on a layer of sliced mushrooms, sliced sausages, ham and pickled jalapenos. Make sure the sausage is cooked first – it won’t cook once inside the pizza.

Add the tomato sauce and the cherry tomatoes. The sauce has been really thickened so that it doesn’t become runny.

Add a layer of salami

Sprinkle top with some cheese – in this case, parmesan. Toss some more jalapenos on top – not in this one but on the one that made it to the main photo.