Chicago Style Deep Dish Pizza

Pizzas might be the greatest layer in the foundation of the American diet. We celebrate birthdays, plow through late-night meetings and give ourselves a break from cooking by ordering a few pies. People from New York fold greasy slices in half before taking a bite. Ohioans sprinkle the cheese on after the pizza has already baked. But perhaps the most renowned style of pizza comes from the windy city of Chicago, where locals dive into monstrous slices with a fork and knife.

How to Make the Perfect Chicago Style Deep Dish Pizza

If you’re like us, you always want to know the secret behind the food. While we have broken down the idea behind our famous stuffed pies, we decided that wasn’t enough. Just for you, we have Chicago deep dish pizza step-by-step instructions. With our recipe, you’ll finally know how to make Chicago deep dish pizza worthy of the Windy City itself.

This Chicago deep dish pizza recipe makes two beautiful pies stuffed with mouth-watering mozzarella and any of your other favorite toppings. For the best results, be sure to carefully read the entire recipe before starting the cooking process. If you plan to make both pizzas at the same time, you will need 2 deep dish 9-by-2-inch round cake pans or 9-inch springform pans.

Yields: 2 deep dish 9-inch pizzas

Serving size: 1 slice of pizza

Number of servings: 8 per pizza

Calories: 525 calories, depending on additional toppings

Fat content: 34 grams, depending on additional toppings

Prep time: 4 hours, includes rising time

Cook time: 30 minutes

Total time: 4 hours and 30 minutes

• Pizza dough ingredients:

3 1/4 cups of all-purpose flour

1/2 cup of yellow cornmeal

1 1/4 teaspoons of fine sea salt

1 tablespoon of granulated sugar

2 1/4 teaspoons of active dry yeast — the size of a standard packet

1 1/4 cups of warm water

4 tablespoons of unsalted butter, softened to room temperature

4 tablespoons of unsalted butter, melted

About 3 tablespoons of olive oil for coating

• Pizza sauce ingredients:

2 tablespoons of olive oil, divided

1 tablespoon of unsalted butter

1/2 of a red onion, minced

1 teaspoon of salt

1 teaspoon of black pepper

1/2 teaspoon of Italian seasoning mix

1/4 teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes

3 cloves of garlic, minced

One 28-ounce can of unsalted, crushed tomatoes

1 teaspoon of granulated sugar

2 tablespoons of fresh basil, chopped

Toppings:

4 cups of mozzarella cheese, shredded

1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese, grated

Additional toppings, such as pepperoni, crumbled sausage, ham, bacon, mushrooms, green peppers, black olives, artichokes, pineapple, spinach, red onions or whatever else you desire

• Prep the pizza dough:

Combine the flour, cornmeal, sea salt, sugar and active dry yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment. Mix the ingredients together on low. If you don’t have a stand mixer, you can use a hand mixer and a large bowl. You can also mix the ingredients by hand.

Stir in the warm water and melted butter, making sure both have cooled enough that they will not kill the yeast.

Beat the ingredients together on a low speed until the dough becomes soft and supple. The mixture should start to gently pull away from the sides of the bowl and fall off the dough hook after about 5 minutes of mixing.

Remove the dough from the bowl and roll it into a ball.

Place the ball of dough into a lightly greased mixing bowl and rotate the dough until all of its sides are coated in the olive oil.

Tightly cover the bowl with tin foil and allow the dough to rise in a warm environment until it doubles in size — about 1 or 2 hours.

After the dough rises, lightly flour a workspace and set the dough on the counter. Gently punch the dough down to get rid of air bubbles before rolling the dough into a large rectangle.

Spread the softened butter on top of the dough, then roll the dough up lengthwise into a log.

Cut the log of dough in half and form the 2 pieces of dough into balls.

Place the dough back into the large greased bowl, re-cover it with tin foil and let it rise in the refrigerator for about an hour until the dough is puffy.

Make the pizza sauce:

As the dough rises, make the pizza sauce by combining 1 tablespoon of olive oil and the butter in a saucepan over medium heat.

Mix in the minced onion, Italian seasoning, crushed red pepper, salt, and pepper, and cook until the onion softens.

Add the garlic and cook until fragrant.

Pour in the tomatoes and sugar, then bring the sauce to a simmer.

Lower the heat and continue stirring for about half an hour until the sauce has reduced.

Remove from the heat and sprinkle in the fresh basil and remaining olive oil.

Assemble and bake the pizza:

Preheat oven to 475 degrees — the oven needs to be hot to accommodate the pizza’s depth!

Use a solid metal pan, preferably a deep-sided iron skillet, and melt a thin layer of butter in the pan.

Roll the dough to about 1/3-inch thick and large enough in circumference so it can be placed in the pan with about 1/2 inch hanging over the edges. Place the dough in the pan.

Place your protein ingredients in the bottom of the pan. High-fat proteins such as bacon or salami should go on the top. In this instance, add them after step 9.

Top the pan with handfuls of shredded mozzarella cheese. Giordano’s uses 100% Wisconsin mozzarella!

Top with veggies of choice.

The Giordano’s secret: Roll out another round layer of dough large enough in circumference to cover the top of the pan. Lay the dough on top like you are topping a pie. Tear 5 or 6 holes in the dough for ventilation — you must do this step! Crimp the edges of the dough around the edges of the pan to create a seal, just like a pie.

With a knife, trim the edges of the dough at the top of the pan to remove the excess.

Top with a 1/4 inch of your favorite pizza or tomato sauce. Pro tip: make sure the consistency of the sauce is not too thick, or it can burn.

Top with a sprinkle of grated Parmesan cheese.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, until the crust is golden brown or the internal temperature is 180 degrees.

Slice, serve and enjoy!