Deep-Dish Pizza on My Mind
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- Sausage Deep-Dish Pizza Chicago Style
Chicago-style pizza has been on my mind lately and luckily in my mouth too. I had one when I was in Chicago a couple of weeks ago. I love the classic pie with sausage but I lost the vote and we ordered a vegetarian instead. It was a good pie but I was disappointed. I still needed a sausage deep-dish.
San Francisco’s Patxi, Little Star and Zachary’s make deep-dish but they were too far away. North Beach’s Capos will open soon on Vallejo Street with deep-dish on the menu. But I couldn’t wait so I had to make my own.
Deep-dish isn’t that difficult. The dough is very pliant and bakes well in a home oven. It doesn’t need really high oven temperature and takes about a half-hour in the oven to get a golden crust and fully baked interior. It’s worth the wait, trust me.
Sorry about the missing slice in the picture. This was my first deep-dish pizza and we had to see how it turned out. We couldn’t help eating that first piece as soon as the pie was cool enough to cut.
Most eat deep-dish with a knife and fork but I like to pick it up as soon as I can and eat it by hand. The buttery crust is sturdy but tender with a slight crunch from the polenta mixed into the dough. The bottom layer of mozzarella oozes out of each slice. You get those long melted mozzarella strands (telephone lines) with each forkful. The savory fennel sausage mellows in the sweet oregano-infused tomato sauce. Every mouthful is a texture and flavor treat. A slice of deep-dish can fill you up but I’m a pizza pig and can’t stop with just one.
Serve your deep-dish pizza with a simple green salad and you’ve got a meal worthy of “The Windy City.” Substitute your favorite sauteed vegetables, onion, bell pepper and black olive or mushrooms sauteed with fresh oregano maybe. The filling choices are endless.
This 10-inch pan deep-dish serves 4 and the dough recipe is enough for 2 pies. I’m making another one in the morning with the leftover dough for my office-mates. To satisfy everyone’s diet it’s back to a vegetarian pie. I’ll nestle a filling of crimini and porcini mushrooms sauteed in garlic-infused EVOO with fresh oregano between the mozzarella layer on the bottom and the tomato sauce on top. Should be a good breakfast.
Buon appetito!
Chicago Deep-Dish Pizza
Ingredients
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 3 tablespoons polenta (fine corn meal)
- 1 1/2 tablespoons sea salt
- 2 1/2 teaspoons yeast
- 4 tablespoons melted butter
- 7 tablespoons EVOO
- 1 tablespoon saffron oil (or your favorite vegetable oil)
- 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons water
- 28-ounce can Imported San Marzano tomatoes crushed by hand and drained well
- 3 cloves garlic, smashed
- 1 tablespoon oregano
- 1 pound Italian sausage out of the casing
- 8 ounces fresh mozzarella
- 1cup grated parmigiano reggiano
Cooking Directions
- Crust
- Mix the yeast in water a bit over 100 degrees. Set aside.
- Put the flour, polenta, salt in a large bowl and mix the dry ingredients well.
- Pour in the yeast mixture, 3 tablespoons EVOO and the vegetable oil and the melted butter. Mix well with a fork or wooden spoon to form the sticky dough.
- (In a mixer use the dough hook and mix the dry ingredients on low, then add the yeast mixture and the oils, increase the speed to medium and mix until the dough pulls away from the side of the bowl, about 5 minutes.)
- Knead the dough in the bowl or on a flat surface until the dough feels smooth, about 3 minutes.
- Form the dough into a ball and put it back in the mixing bowl that has been well oiled. Roll the dough ball in the oil to prevent a crust from forming. Tightly cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set aside in a warm spot until the dough doubles in volume, about 60 minutes.
- When the dough rises to double in size cut the dough in half. Form each half into a ball. Set one aside in a large plastic bag to use later.
- Put one of the dough balls on a flat surface and with your hands or a rolling pin roll form the dough into an even circle about 13 inches in diameter.
- Put 3 tablespoons of EVOO in a 10-inch baking pan with at least 2-inch sides (I use a spring-form pan} and coat the bottom and sides well with the oil. (Do not be stingy with the oil. It will help fry the crust while baking.)
- Place the dough into the baking pan and push it to cover the bottom of pan and then about 2 inches up the side of the pan.
- Cover the pan tightly with plastic wrap and set aside to let the dough rise again for about 15 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 500 degrees.
- Filling
- Heat a tablespoon of EVOO in a large saute pan.
- When the oil begins to ripple add the sausage and mash with a wooden spoon so that there are no large clumps of sausage.
- Cook just until the pink color is gone.
- Drain the oil and put the sausage in a bowl to cool. Set aside.
- Either wipe out the saute pan or use a pot.
- Add 3 tablespoons of EVOO and the smashed garlic cloves to the pan.
- Cook the garlic in the oil until it just starts to brown and then remove with a slotted spoon and discard the garlic.
- Add the well-drained crushed San Marzano tomatoes and oregano to the hot oil and stir well to mix in the oil well. Simmer over medium-high heat until most of the remaining tomato water evaporates. (You want a really dry, chunky sauce so the deep-dish crust does not get wet while baking.)
- Slice the mozzarella into quarter inch slices.
- Assembling the Pizza
- Uncover the pizza dough.
- Place a single layer of the sliced mozzarella on dough at the bottom of the pan. (Make sure you cover as much of the dough as you can so that the melting cheese helps seal the bottom of the pizza.)
- Add the sausage in an even layer on top of the mozzarella.
- Add the tomato sauce to cover the sausage well, about 2 cups.
- Sprinkle the tomato sauce with EVOO and then top the tomato sauce evenly with the grated parmigiano.
- Baking the Pizza
- Put the pizza on a stone if you have one or on the bottom shelf of the oven and bake for 10 minutes to help crisp the dough. (If you are worried that the filling will leak put the pan on a baking sheet.)
- Lower the temperature to 400 degrees and bake the pizza until the crust is golden brown and the filling is bubbling, about 15-20 minutes more.
- Take the pizza out of the oven and remove it from the pan. Put the pizza on a cooling rack and let it cool for at least 10 minutes.
- When cooled carefully slice the pizza with a serrated knife into 4 pieces (or 6 or 8 if you want smaller portions).