Chicago-Style Deep Dish Pizza

Last summer, we took a road trip to Chicago. We love that city and had an amazing time. Mine and my husband’s first trip together was to Chicago, so it was nice to go back with the kids. My best friend, who lives in New York City, also met us there so it made the trip even more special!

The first time we went to Chicago, we tried the pizza and we enjoyed it but didn’t really care to eat it over and over again. This time, we tried Lou Malnati’s pizza…. my husband was obsessed and we ended up eating 3 pizzas from there during our short stay. Needless to say, this time, we fell in love with Chicago-style pizza.

But if I’m being honest, I don’t really discriminate against any type of pizza. I LOVE pizza and could probably eat it every single day.

This recipe is a copycat version that I found online. I took a few shortcuts to make it a lot more simple. The dough came together really easily and rolled out perfectly.

If you haven’t tried Chicago-style pizza or you want to make a simple version at home, this recipe is worth gossiping about!

Chicago-Style Deep Dish Pizza

Yield: 4 servings

INGREDIENTS:
For the Crust:
1 1/4 tsp instant dry yeast
1 tsp sugar
1/2 cup lukewarm water
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tbsp yellow corn meal
3/4 tsp salt
2 Tablespoons butter, melted and slightly cold
1-2 Tablespoon canola oil
Toppings:
8-10 slices of mozzarella cheese
Vegetables of choice (mushrooms, peppers, onions- sliced)
1 jar of your favourite marinara sauce
1/4 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS:
1. For the crust: in a small bowl, combine the active dry yeast, sugar, and lukewarm water together and let sit for one minute. In a large mixer with paddle attachment, combine the flour, cornmeal, and salt. Add the yeast mixture, melted butter and 1 tbsp of canola oil into the dry ingredients and mix on low until dough forms. If you notice the dough is too dry, you can add in second tbsp of oil and little bits of water at a time until dough forms into a ball but is not too sticky.
2. Bring the dough to a floured surface and knead until it forms a smooth ball.
3. Move the dough to large bowl drizzled with olive oil. Coat the dough in oil and cover and let rest for 1 hour.
4. To assemble the pizza, punch down the dough and then roll out into a large circle that will cover the bottom and up the sides of your baking pan/cast iron pan.
5. Place the sliced mozarella in a generous layer along the bottom of the dough.
6. Add in all your toppings.
7. Spoon over the marinara sauce until your toppings are just covered. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese.
8. Bake in a 425 degree oven for 20-30 minutes until crust is flaky and golden and cheese is melted. Enjoy!

** Recipe for crust taken from www.delscookingtwist.com

Not the best shot, as my son was upset, but we didn’t have too many good family ones…hehe!