This Chicago style deep dish pizza has the authentic flavour you’re looking for. Unlike any other pizza, this one is baked in a deep pan and the filling really fills the rich, buttery and slightly crunchy crust. Loaded with gooey cheese, sausage, pepperoni, capsicum (bell pepper) and a gorgeous pizza sauce, this pizza is a slice of heaven.

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A slice of pizza pie on a plate.

For whatever, non-important, foodie crazed reason I was craving Deep Dish Pizza. I mean, how good does it look? There seems to be this long standing battle between New York Pizza and Chicago Pizza. New York pizza is that massive slice of pizza, all floppy at one end, using a standard thickness base with homemade Italian tomato sauce, pepperoni & cheese – what a classic.

Chicagoans do things differently. Enter the deep dish pizza. This isn’t just the thick crust from Dominos. No, No. Chicago deep dish pizza is a laminated dough (I’ll explain this one soon) and it’s pressed into a pie dish with at least 2 inch high sides. There’s a thick layer of mozzarella, some pepperoni, sausage and capsicum (even some mushrooms if you like – I like 🙂 ). Then you top the whole lot off with a thick layer of homemade tomato sauce and a sprinkling of parmesan.

A whole Chicago deep dish pizza on a wooden board.

Personally, I don’t understand the battle. They are two completely different styles of pizza and both amazing in their own right. Just depends if you’re after a pizza or a pizza pie 🙂

So, I do my research. Like with all the classic recipes I do, I tend to research as much as possible, finding the most authentic sounding recipes I can, then I merge them all, using my favourite parts of each recipe to come up with my own but still keeping it as genuine as I can. This recipe was easy. Everywhere I looked the recipe hardly varied. Laminated dough, mozzarella, sausage, capsicum, tomato sauce. It makes it very easy to reproduce a classic dish when everyone sticks to the classic recipe.

This deep dish pizza is based mostly on this one from Carnal Dish with very few minor (deep dish pizza acceptable) changes.

The dough takes time but is well worth it. The tomato sauce takes time but is well worth it. If you can handle that, you’ll be rewarded with this baby 🙂

A fork taking a piece of deep dish pizza.

For such simple ingredients, the flavour packs a punch. It’s warming and perfect winter comfort food. Also good Friday night food (as long as you plan ahead). You can make the dough and the tomato sauce ahead of time, making the cooking simple.

This recipe makes enough for two 9 inch pizzas. The dough can be frozen after the laminating step which means you can freeze one half for next time. Just remember, the whole recipe, including the sauce, is meant for two pizzas.

Laminating, you ask? So much simpler than it sounds. After the dough proves once, you roll it out, slather it with butter, then roll it up into a log. This gives you layers. When you bake the dough, the butter will help those layers to expand and become flaky and buttery and lovely.

A slice of Chicago deep dish pizza on a plate.

Look at all the gooey cheese – yum! Anyway, if you give this a go, you will be rewarded with the most delicious un-pizzalike pizza ever.

Now, please go forth and bake yourself a Chicago style Deep Dish Pizza. Pretty please 🙂

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Deep Dish Pizza by Sugar Salt Magic - Chicago style Pizza Pie. A thick layer of mozzarella, pepperoni and sausage all topped off with a homemade pizza sauce
5 from 3 ratings
Who wants some pizza pie? Oh Yeah! Delicious Deep Dish Pizza just like they do in Chicago, baby 

Ingredients

For the dough:

  • 415 g plain flour (all purpose flour) (3 ¼ cups / 14.6oz)
  • ½ cup polenta (cornmeal)
  • 1 ½ teaspoons salt
  • 2 teaspoons sugar
  • 2 ¼ teaspoons instant yeast (7g or 1 sachet)
  • 1 ¼ cups warm (not hot) water
  • 2 ½ tablespoons butter , melted (notes 1)
  • Oil for greasing
  • 3 tablespoons butter, at room temperature (notes 1)

Toppings:

  • 1 batch homemade pasta sauce
  • 3 cups cups grated mozzarella
  • 2 beef sausages, raw, casing removed (or you can use mild Italian sausage)
  • ½ large capsicum (bell pepper), sliced
  • 3 mushrooms, , sliced (optional)
  • 10- 12 slices pepperoni, (optional)
  • Parmesan to top

For best results, always weigh ingredients where a weight is provided

Instructions
 

  • Place the flour, polenta, salt, sugar and yeast into the bowl of a stand mixer and mix together thoroughly. Add the water and butter then, using a dough hook, turn the mixer on medium to knead to dough for around 5 minutes. It should become mostly smooth (except for the polenta) and elastic.
  • Rub a bowl with some oil. Place the dough in the oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and place somewhere warm to rise for 1 ½ to 2 hours or until doubled in size.
  • Make the pizza sauce, if you haven't already (It can be made ahead 2-3 days).
  • Once the dough has risen, place it on a lightly floured surface. Roll it out to a large 30 x 40 cm rectangle (12×15 inches). Using an offset spatula, spread the room temperature butter evenly over the sheet of dough. Now, starting from one of the short sides, roll the dough up into a log. Roll it very gently to flatten it out a little. This will turn the log shape into a long 10cm wide flat piece of dough. Cut it in half to make 2 shorter lengths (you should now be able to see the layers where you have cut it). Fold each half into thirds (like folding a letter – fold one side in, then the other side over the top). Seal the open ends by pressing them with your fingers. Place both rolls into a greased bowl and place in the fridge to rise for an hour or overnight if you wish. This is also the point that you can freeze one piece of the dough if you want to save it for next time.
  • Preheat the oven to 210C (425F).
  • Take the dough out of the fridge and allow it to relax for 5-10 minutes.
  • Roll out the pieces of dough each to about a 33cm (13 inch) disk. Lay them into your tins (I use 22cm / 9 inch springform pans). Gently press the dough into the bottom of the pan and allow it to come about 4cm (1 ½ inches) up the side of the tin.
  • Spread the mozzarella into the bases. Top with chunks of sausage meat, pepperoni, capsicum and mushrooms if using. Top each pizza with half of the tomato sauce. Sprinkle lightly with parmesan to taste.
  • Bake for 30-35 minutes, until the dough crust is golden and crispy.
  • Remove it from the oven and allow it to sit for 10 minutes before serving. The mozzarella is like molten lava straight from the oven so this will give it time to cool a little and make it easier to slice.
  • Please take a moment to leave a comment & rating. It's appreciated and so helpful.

Notes

  1. I use an Australian standard 20ml tablespoon
Have you tried this recipe?Don’t forget to leave a rating and comment below and let me know how it was! I love hearing from you. Nutrition information is approximate and derived from an online calculator. The brands you use may cause variations.