Chicago-Style Deep Dish Pizza

My son went on a band trip to Chicago, and they had some really great pizza at Gino's. I then had a pizza discussion with my office-mate, who is from Chicago, and she explained that while Gino's is really good, and is made with cornmeal in the crust, she prefers Giordanos, which by the way can be mail-ordered. Obviously my husband immediately mail-order stuffed pizzas from Giordanos; for research, you understand.

We all really enjoyed the pizza, which is clearly an entirely different thing from our usual pizzas. My son, however, still preferred his memories of Gino's. Next step: find a recipe for pizza like Gino's!

After researching on pizzamaking.com, I ordered a giant can of ESCALON 6 in 1 All Purpose Ground Tomatoes, and waffled between a couple of recipes. In the end, I abandon both of those recipes in favor of one offered by, of all people, a New Yorker! "Chef John" on Food Wishes made a beautiful pie with cornbread in the crust.

However, we didn't use John's sauce recipe, but instead made up a sauce using the 6 in 1 tomatoes and following some general tips from pizzamaking.com. Food Wishes didn't have any written instructions, beyond an ingredient list, so I wrote it up. It came out great! We all liked it better than the pizzas ordered from Giordanos, and my son would need to have another from Gino's before he could decide. If I find myself in Chicago one day, though, I want to try them both!

Ingredients:

Dough Ingredients:

• 57 g (0.25 cup) butter
• 56 g (0.25 cup) olive oil, plus more for the pan
• 316 g (1 1/3 cup) warm water
• 1 ½ tsp salt
• 469 g (3.75 cup) all-purpose flour
• 82 g (1/2 cup) cornmeal
• 2 tsp white sugar
• 2 1/4 tsp instant or rapid-rise yeast

Pizza sauce ingredients (about 3 cups)

• 745 g 6 in 1 Escalon ground tomatoes in extra heavy puree
• 1 tsp garlic squeeze
• 1.5 tsp olive oil
• 1.5 tsp oregano
• ¼ c fresh basil leaves
• ¼ tsp salt to taste

Filling/topping Ingredients (in order of application):

• 4 ounces sliced provolone
• 8 ounces fresh mozzarella
• 1 pound spicy Italian sausage, raw, removed from casing
• 4 ounces firm, low-moisture mozzarella
• 3 to 4 cups very thick pizza sauce, above.
• 2 ounces (about 1 cup very finely grated) Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
• 1 tablespoon olive oil for the top
• more cheese and herbs to garnish

Instructions (check out the Food Wishes video):

Dough: 

1. Melt butter in a beaker. Measure oil into butter, then pour into mixing bowl. Measure water in beaker, warm in microwave, and add to oil. Add salt.
2. Combine flour and cornmeal. Add about half to the oil and water, and begin mixing on low. Mix sugar and yeast into the remaining dry flour mix, and add to the bowl.
3. Mix until ingredients come together, then increase to medium and knead for 5 min. Lightly coat the dough in olive oil, and proof for 1.5 hrs or so until doubled.
4. Generously butter a 12” cast iron skillet.
5. Preheat oven to 425°F “bake” (not convection), with a pizza stone on the middle rack.

Sauce:

1. Put tomatoes in a frying pan over medium high heat. Squirt garlic in a well in the middle of the tomatoes, pour the oil on top, then swirl around. 
2. Add oregano and basil. Salt to taste. Bring to a simmer.

Fillings:

1. Shred the low-moisture mozzarella, and finely shred Parmesan.
2. Prep additional ingredients if using, eg saute onions and mushrooms, chop pepperoni.

 

Pie Assembly:

1. Spread dough on a lightly floured surface into a round an inch or so larger than the pan, but careful not to be too large.
2. Lay dough into the pan with a half-inch or so draped over the rim. Smooth dough evenly in the pan.
3. Layer the sliced Provolone over the bottom, then the fresh mozzarella torn into chunks.
4. Layer meats, including uncooked Italian sausage chunks, on top of the cheeses. Place additional ingredients here, as desired.
6. Cover with shredded mozzarella.
7. Increase heat on the tomato sauce until steamy and bubbly. Pour on top of the shredded cheese.
8. Cover generously with finely shredded parmesan. Curl the crust down around the rim of the pizza, like a pie! Drizzle dough edges and top of pizza with olive oil.

 

Bake Pie

17. Place on the hot pizza stone and bake at 425 F. for about 35 minutes. Crust should be deep golden brown, and sound hollow when tapped with a fork.
18. Place pan and all on a cooling rack, sprinkle with remaining parmesan and herb garnish, and let cool for 10 min.
19. Teleport pizza out of the pan and onto a plate. If only. Have one person hold the skillet, and heft it just enough to get the pizza to jump up a little. Now knowing how heavy it is, toss a bit again, and have a second person try slipping a spatula partially under the pizza. Tilt, toss, and coax with a spatula until it is out, then jiggle the fillings all back into place.
20. Cut into six slices. Use a serrated knife to carefully saw through the crust edges, then use a pizza cutter to slice all the way across.