Tessa’s Recipe Rundown
Taste: The crust is buttery, the cheese is fresh yet slightly salty, the sausage is a little spicy and rich, and the tomatoes are acidic yet savory thanks to the dried herbs and garlic. Texture: Oh so thick and full of incredible cheesy, meaty, juicy texture but the crust is where it’s at with its thick, buttery, and soft yet crunchy bite. Ease: Definitely not harder than any other pizza. In fact, I think this dough is even easier to work with! I’ve included step-by-step photos below so you can see exactly what happens and that it’s nothing to be intimidated by! Appearance: I used two 9-inch cake pans and my crust ended up being pretty fat on the sides so this looked more like a pan pizza but it was still certainly deep. Pros: Chicago style pizza at home! Also, if you don’t have a 14-inch deep dish pizza pan you can use two 9-inch cake pans. Cons: Heavy and rich, definitely for special occasions. Would I make this again? Yes! There are so many variations to this as well.This post may contain affiliate links. Read our disclosure policy.
Get that thick, slightly crisp, and buttery Chicago restaurant-style deep dish pizza at home with this recipe!
For those of you who didn’t know, during the past 4+ years of blogging I’ve almost always gone to school full-time and worked a part-time retail job. I recently finished school, earning both my Bachelor’s degree and my separate culinary degree, but was still working that part-time retail job. Lately I’ve been focusing my energies on blogging and creating other opportunities related to blogging, such as writing for other publications, working with brands, and creating YouTube videos. It’s been A LOT of fun and when I work on these things it doesn’t feel like work at all (except when it’s time to do the dishes). My blog has been continuing to grow, especially now that I’ve been treating it more like a business.
All my hard work is starting to pay off and I’ve been able to cut back my hours significantly at my part-time job. So much so that I’ll only be working one day a week in order to dedicate the rest of the time to Handle the Heat and other fun things! I’m giving myself somewhat of a test period to see if I can do the blog and self-employed entrepreneurial thing and actually make a living from it. So far it’s been going surprisingly well, which I could not be more excited about. It’s such a privilege to wake up and love what I do. I have always had an entrepreneurial spirit and never really envisioned working for anyone but myself so I feel like I am doing the right thing right now. Cross your fingers for me that I can continue to grow and make this work!!
I thought I’d share this exciting little update about my life but if you just came here for the deep dish pizza, here it is! It’s perfectly thick, rich, cheesy, meaty, and wonderful. Plus, it’s actually easier than you might think. You can really have restaurant style Chicago pizza at home!
Combine all the crust ingredients in an electric mixer fitted with the dough hook. Knead on medium-low speed until the dough is smooth and soft. You can also knead by hand or with a bread machine.
Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover, and let rise until very puffy, about 1 hour.
Once the dough is risen, use your hands to stretch it out into a large circle slightly bigger than a 14-inch deep dish pizza pan. You can also stretch it out into two circles slightly bigger than two 9-inch cake pans.
Lay the dough in the pan and stretch it out towards the edges until it starts springing back. Cover and let rest for 15 minutes before continuing to stretch until it comes up the side of the pan(s).
Par bake the crust in a 425°F oven for 10 minutes or until it’s set and barely beginning to brown.
Layer the slices of mozzarella over the crust.
Top with the sausage and tomato mixture.
Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.
Bake for about 25 minutes, less time for the smaller cake pans, or until the filling is bubbly and the topping is golden brown. Remove from oven and use a giant spatula to remove the pizza from the pan and onto a cooling rack. Let cool for about 15 minutes before serving.
Products used in this post:
Deep Dish Pizza
Ingredients
Crust:
- 4 cups (17 ounces) all-purpose flour
- 3 tablespoons yellow cornmeal
- 1 3/4 teaspoons salt
- 2 3/4 teaspoons (1 package) instant yeast
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 4 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons lukewarm water
Filling:
- 3/4 pound mozzarella cheese, sliced
- 1 pound Italian sweet or hot sausage
- 1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons dried Italian herbs
- 1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- For the crust:
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the dough hook, combine all the crust ingredients. Knead on medium-low speed until the dough becomes smooth and soft, about 7 minutes. The dough can also be kneaded by hand or with a bread machine.
- Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover, and let rise until very puffy, about 1 hour.
- While the dough is rising, grease one large 14-inch deep dish pizza pan or two 9-inch cake pans with non-stick vegetable oil spray, then pour in 3 to 4 tablespoons olive oil, tilting it to cover the bottom of the pan, and partway up the sides.
- Once the dough is risen, use your hands to stretch it out into a circle that is slightly larger than the pizza pan or two circles slightly larger than the cake pans. Lay the dough in the pan(s), and stretch it towards the edges until it starts to shrink back. Cover, and let it rest for 15 minutes. Preheat the oven to 425°F while the dough rests.
- Continue stretching the dough until it covers the bottom of the pan, then gently push it up the sides of the pan. Let the crust rest for an additional 10 to 15 minutes. Bake the crust for 10 minutes, until it’s set and barely beginning to brown.
- For the filling:
- Meanwhile, drain the tomatoes thoroughly. In a medium bowl combine the tomatoes, garlic, sugar, and Italian herbs. Cover the bottom of the crust with the sliced mozzarella. Add the sausage then the tomato mixture. Sprinkle with the grated Parmesan.
- Bake the pizza for about 20 to 25 minutes, or until the filling is bubbly and the topping is golden brown. Remove it from the oven, and use a large spatula to carefully lift it out of the pan onto a rack. Allow the pizza to cool for about 10 to 15 minutes before cutting and serving.
I am curious about the sausage in this recipe. Must one brown it before applying to the pizza or is the raw sausage crumbled over the pizza?
I have been searching since my youth (that was a loooooooooooong time ago) for the key to the tender sausage used by our local pizza house. My sausage, no matter how good of a quality it is) is never tender-tasty like theirs.
SO, what is the story on the sausage, please?
Your recipe is not correct. In authentic Chicago deep dish pizza there is no cornmeal–this is a myth promulgated years ago on the Internet by an entirely wrong recipe. The buttery flavor of Chicago deep dish comes from the use of corn oil, not butter (although some pizzerias grease their pans with butter). Your recipe doesn’t have nearly enough oil–you need 3 Tablespoons for every cup of flour. Mix for 1 minutes, then knead for 2 at the most–the whole point is to make a biscuit-like dough (as little gluten formation as possible)–so you will need to pre-proof the yeast in warm water (I recommend regular yeast and let the dough rise for as much as 8 hours to develop flavor). If you knead for 5 minutes, your result will be closer to bread than to authentic Chicago deep dish. For the sauce, use a high-quality brand of ground or crushed tomatoes (6-in-1, Pagliacci, etc.) and DO NOT COOK. Use a half-and-half mix of part-skim and whole milk mozzarella (again, a quality brand, like Stella or Frigo).