Best The Real Chicago Deep Dish Pizza Dough Recipes

THE REAL CHICAGO DEEP DISH PIZZA DOUGH

Steps:

• Dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water in a bowl. Let stand for 5 to 10 minutes until the yeast softens and begins to form a creamy foam.
• Combine yeast mixture, flour, corn oil, and kosher salt in a large stand mixer with a hook attachment; knead until dough holds together but is still slightly sticky, about 2 minutes.
• Form dough into a ball and transfer to a buttered bowl, turning to coat. Cover bowl with a towel and allow dough to rise at room temperature until double in size, 6 hours.
• Punch down dough and let rest for 10 to 15 minutes. Press dough into a 10-inch deep dish pizza pan.

CHICAGO DEEP-DISH PIZZA

Steps:

• Pour water into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Sprinkle in yeast and let dissolve, about 10 minutes. Add olive oil, melted butter, sugar, salt, cornmeal, and most of the flour. Knead, stopping to scrape down the sides occasionally and adding more flour as needed, until smooth and elastic.
• Transfer dough to a lightly floured work surface. Knead in extra flour if needed. Roll into a ball and place in a bowl greased with 1/2 teaspoon olive oil. Cover with a plate and let rise in a warm spot until doubled in volume, 1 to 2 hours.
• Meanwhile, let pizza sauce simmer in a pot over low heat until very thick, 60 to 90 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
• Poke dough to deflate and turn out onto your work surface. Press and stretch out dough into a round shape 3 to 4 inches larger than a 12-inch cast iron skillet. Brush skillet with 1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil. Place dough in the skillet; stretch and pull to evenly distribute it over the bottom and sides.
• Lay provolone cheese over the bottom of the crust. Scatter fresh mozzarella on top. Add Italian sausage and firm mozzarella. Ladle pizza sauce generously on top. Grate Parmesan cheese on top. Fold the edges of the crust in towards the center to seal in the sides. Drizzle crust and center with 1 tablespoon olive oil.
• Bake in the center of the preheated oven until crust sounds hollow and pizza is beautifully browned, about 35 minutes. Let rest for 10 minutes before slicing.

THE REAL CHICAGO DEEP DISH PIZZA DOUGH

Steps:

• Add yeast to a mixture of water and sugar and let stand until foamy, about 5-10 minutes.
• Add the rest of the ingredients and mix in stand mixer with paddle attachment for one minute, then knead with hook attachment for no more than two minutes. Dough will be a little sticky. If too sticky to handle, add a little more flour. If too dry, add a little water. Dough should be a little tacky but able to shape into a ball.
• Put dough in a buttered bowl, turn dough buttered side up, cover with plastic wrap or a clean towel and let rise at room temperature for 6 hours.
• Punch down, then cover and let gluten relax for 10-15 minutes.
• Either roll out or press into and up sides of deep dish pizza pan or even a cast iron skillet. If you are making a 10-inch pizza, fit the dough into the pan at the thickness you like and trim off any excess.
• Add cheese, toppings, and tomatoes (that you've flavored with garlic, basil, oregano, etc.).
• Bake at 450 degrees for 30 minutes, depending on your oven.
• You may want to prebake the crust, if you wish, for about 5-10 minutes.

CHICAGO STYLE DEEP-DISH PIZZA DOUGH

Steps:

• In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast in1/4 cup of the warm water. Add the sugar and 1/4 cup of the flour and stir with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula to combine.
• Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for 20 minutes.
• Add the remaining 1 cup warm water and 3 cups flour, the cornmeal, salt, and 1/2 cup olive oil.
• Using a wooden spoon, mix the dough, incorporating as much of the flour as possible.
• Turn the dough out on a lightly floured work surface and knead until soft and elastic, 10 to 12 minutes. It will be a little sticky, but shouldn't stick to your hands.
• Add only a minimum amount of flour to the work surface to keep the dough from sticking.
• Lightly oil a large bowl. Add the dough and turn to coat on all sides.
• Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place a clean, damp, kitchen towel over the top.
• Set the bowl in a warm spot and let rise until doubled in volume, 1 1/2 to 2 hours. (For a slow rise, place the covered bowl in the refrigerator and let rise for 10 to 12 hours, returning dough to room temperature before using).
• When the dough has doubled in volume, punch it down and knead it for 2 to 3 minutes. Press the dough evenly into the bottom of an oiled 14-inch round deep-dish pizza pan.
• Let the dough rise in the pan for 15 to 20 minutes.
• Press the dough until it comes 2 inches up the sides and is even on the bottom and at the corners of the pan.
• Proceed with any deep-dish pizza recipe.

TRUE CHICAGO-STYLE DEEP-DISH PIZZA

Steps:

• Mix sugar, yeast and 11 ounces room temperature water (about 80 degrees) in a bowl and let bloom for 15 minutes. Combine flour, salt and cream of tartar in the bowl of a stand mixer. Once yeast has bloomed, add to dry ingredients along with corn oil. Gently combine with a rubber spatula until a rough ball is formed.
• Knead on low speed with the dough hook for 90 seconds. Transfer to a lightly oiled bowl and proof until doubled in size, about 6 hours. Punch down and let dough settle for 15 more minutes.
• Position an oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 450 degrees F.
• Coat bottom and sides of a 12-inch cake pan or traditional Chicago style pizza pan with melted butter. Using your hands, spread out about three-quarters of the dough across the bottom and up the sides of the pan (save the remainder for another use). Cover entire bottom in mozzarella, all the way up to the edge. Cover half with a thin, even layer of raw sausage. Cover the other half with the pepperoni. Top with a couple handfuls of crushed tomatoes. Spread out with hands to the edge. Sprinkle top evenly with grated Parm.
• Bake, rotating halfway through, until golden around the edge, about 25 minutes. Let rest for about 5 minutes, then either gently lift pizza out of pan or just cut your slice out of the pan like a pie!

GINO'S EAST CHICAGO DEEP DISH PIZZA

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 475.* This recipe mkes enough dough for a 12" round deep dish pizza, preferably cooked in a seasoned cast iron skiilet.
• One secret to making Gino's East pizza is getting the cornmeal ground up fine enough so that you don't have a grainy texture to the crust. To do this, take 3/4 cup corn meal and grind it up in a coffee grinder. You have to grind it as fine as is possible. Then take the ground corn meal and sift it into your mixer bowl.
• Another secret to Gino's East pizza is to get the cornmeal dissolved as well as possible (again, to prevent the grainy crust.) To do this, put the warm water in the mixing bowl with the corn meal, and add the yeast, salt, sugar, olive oil, and melted butter. Using the whisk attachment (if you have a KitchenAid mixer), stir the mixture for 10 minutes.
• Add one cup of flour to the mixer and use the dough hook to mix it up well. Add the remaining flour 1/4 cup at a time until you can handle and kneed the dough without it sticking to your hands. You may not need the whole 2 1/2 cups of flour, or you may need a little more. You will have to use your judgment. Just remember not to let the dough get too hard, or to have it too soft (will stick you your fingers).
• Take the dough out of the KitchenAid mixer and kneed it by hand on a countertop. If you have made the dough right you will not have to put any flour down, or you will only need a minimal amount. Kneed the dough for 3 to 5 minutes.
• Oil the inside of your mixer bowl. Place the dough ball in the bowl and cover the bowl with a sheet of plastic wrap or a warm damp towel. Let the dough rise until doubled in size. This might take anywhere from 1/2 to 1 1/2 hours.
• After the dough has risen, punch down the dough into a ball. Place the ball of dough on the counter and flatten it with your hand. Then use a rolling pin to roll the dough into a uniform circle 1/4 inch thick.
• Oil the bottom of the skillet, with CANOLA oil and not olive oil, and then take your dough and carefully place it into the skillet. Form the crust by stretching the dough about 1-1/2 to 2 inches up the side of the pan. Cover the pan with plastic wrap and let the dough rise again until your oven is preheated to 475ºF.
• Melt 2T of butter and use a basting brush to coat the crust surface with melted butter. The first thing you will put into the pan will be the cheese. Place an even layer of cheese 1/2 to 3/4 inches deep in the pan. The next thing you will put into the pan will be the meat. Layer the meat spaced evenly over the top of the cheese. Next spread a layer of tomato sauce or crushed tomates on top of the meat. Don't put too much sauce on or you will end up with a soggy pizza. The last thing is to sprinkle parmesan cheese over the top of the sauce.
• Bake the pizza at 475 for 15 minutes. Lower the temperature to 400ºF and bake the pizza an additional 10 to 25 minutes until the crust is golden brown, and areas of browned cheese start to poke up through the sauce. Let the pizza cool 5 minutes and then serve.

DEEP DISH PIZZA DOUGH

Steps:

• Combine water, yeast and sugar.
• Stir to mix and let stand until the mixture is frothy.
• Add half the flour and all of the oil and salt to the yeast mixture.
• Mix with hand until all flour is incorporated.
• Continue adding the rest of the flour until dough is still slightly sticky.
• Place dough on a a floured surface and knead until smooth but still tacky.
• Oil a large mixing bowl with the remaining two tsp oil.
• Place the dough in the bowl and turn to oil all sides.
• Cover with platic wrap and set in a warm, draft-free place until nearly doubled in size, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
• Divide into 2 equal portions.
• Enjoy!