Chicago Style Pizza Crust Recipes

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.

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.

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.

Steps:

• In large bowl, dissolve yeast in 1/4 cup lukewarm water.
• Add 1/4 cup flour and the sugar, stir together.
• Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for 20 minutes.
• Stir the remaining 1 cup lukewarm water, 3 cups flour, the cornmeal and salt into the yeast mixture.
• Combine the butter and garlic; mix into the dough.
• Turn out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead until soft and elastic, 10-12 minutes.
• Lightly grease a large bowl, add the dough and turn to coat.
• Cover and set in a warm place until the dough is doubled in size, 1 hour.
• Punch dough down, then knead for 2-3 minutes.
• Grease a 9x13-inch baking pan, then press in dough to cover the bottom and 2 inches up the sides; let rise for 20 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 500 degrees.
• Top the pizza dough with your favorite toppings.
• Lower the oven to 450 degrees and bake for 30 minutes.

Steps:

• In a mixer, combine water and yeast, allowing yeast to dissolve. Add the remaining ingredients (except cornmeal) and begin mixing the dough using a dough hook at low speed.
• Once a ball has formed, mix on medium speed for 1 to 2 minutes until dough becomes elastic and smooth.
• Remove from the mixer and place in a bowl coated with olive oil. Allow to rest approximately 4 hours.
• Once rested, divid into two portions, place on a flat surface and dust with flour.
• Preheat oven to 425°F Sprinkle the bottoms of two deep baking dishes or deep dish pizza pans (I use 10 inch springform pans) with cornmeal. Spread the dough, using your fingers, at the bottom of the pan making sure to have enough to come up the sides approximately 1/2 inch high.
• Layer first with mozzarella, then tomato sauce and toppings.
• Bake pizza for 30 to 40 minutes or until crispy and golden.

Steps:

• In a small bowl, combine the milk, water, yeast and sugar. Lightly whisk and let sit until bubbly and the yeast is bloomed, about 5 minutes. Add the oil.
• Mix the all-purpose flour and salt in a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. Set the mixer to medium-low speed and slowly add the yeast mixture until entirely incorporated, scraping down the sides of the bowl to get everything homogenous. Knead on medium low until the dough is glossy and forms a rough ball, about 5 minutes. Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Set it in a warm part of the kitchen until doubled in size, about 2 hours.
• Place a pizza stone on the bottom rack of the oven and preheat to 450 degrees F.
• Split the dough into 2 balls. On a lightly floured surface, roll one of the balls of dough as THIN as possible with a rolling pin. To get an even "trimmed" circle, use a large round lid to trim a rim around the dough. Sprinkle some semolina flour on a pizza peel. Carefully transfer the round of dough to the peel. Dock the crust with a fork or docker, poking holes all over the surface to keep it thin and crispy.
• Working quickly, add half of the pizza sauce almost all of the way to the edge of the crust, leaving about a 1-inch border. For the pepperoni side, place an even layer of pepperoni directly on top of the sauce on half of the pizza. Combine the skim- and whole-milk mozzarella in a large bowl and top the entire pizza with half of the cheese. Top the pepperoni side with some more scattered rounds of pepperoni. For the sausage side, spread half of the giardiniera on top of the cheese, then dollop with hunks of the Italian sausage on top. Transfer to the pizza stone in the oven and bake until golden and bubbly, 12 to 15 minutes. Transfer the pizza to a cutting board with the pizza peel. Make another pizza with the remaining ingredients.
• Let the pizza rest for 4 or 5 minutes, then cut into small squares--never triangles. This is called the party cut. Why? Because no matter what's going on, when you're eating Chicago thin crust, it's always a big ol' party.

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!

Steps:

• Whisk together water, yeast and sugar in a bowl and set aside to proof for 10 minutes.
• In a large bowl sift together flour and salt and sprinkle in thyme. Mix eggs into yeast mixture. Pour liquid into dry ingredients and mix until a soft sticky dough forms.
• remove dough to a lightly floured surface and knead 5 minutes, until dough is no longer sticky.
• Place in a well oiled bowl, turning to coat all sides, cover and allow to rise until doubled in bulk 2 - 3 hours.
• Punch dough down and place into a well oiled 12" pizza pan.
• using your hands, move dough around the bottom of the pan and 2/3 the way up the sides.
• Set aside and let rise 10 minutes.
• Brush crust lightly with olive oil and add toppings.

Steps:

• Add 1/4 cup hot water (110F - 115F) to small bowl. Stir in sugar followed by yeast. Let mixture sit for 10 minutes until foamy.
• Add flour, cornmeal and salt to mixing bowl and stir until dry ingredients are well combined.
• Add oil and yeast mixture to mixing bowl containing dry ingredients and begin kneading with dough hook.
• While kneading, add just enough warm water (80F - 90F) to ensure sure dough sticks together (usually around 1 cup).
• Knead for 10 minutes.
• Cover dough in bowl and let rise for 45 minutes.
• Roll out dough with rolling pin.
• Brush edge of crust with olive oil and salt to taste.
• Top pizza with sauce, ingredients and cheese.
• Bake on pizza stone at 470F for approximately 10 minutes.
• Cool on wire rack for 5 minutes.