Chicago Deep Dish and Superbowl Parties

Ooh La La La its the way we rock when we're doing our thing...
I love Chicago-Style Deep Dish Pizza. Love the thick, buttery crust, melty cheese, Italian Sausage and other toppings of my choice. Yummy.

I like Chicago too. It's like a cleaned up version of New York or the northern version of Houston. If I lived there, I would have Giordano's on the regular. But, I don't. Alas, I have to make my own.

Sunday I'm going to a Superbowl party...here in Baltimore. It's going to be epic! I don't think I wrote a post on this, but after the Ravens won the AFC Championship Game, things were crazy. People in the streets dancing, cars blowing (happily), lights, cameras, Ray Lewis being super over dramatic and all that jazz. I've never been in a NFL winning city and was starry-eyed in amazement. Wow!

This Monday I went to a Superbowl Send-Off for the Ravens and saw that same side of Baltimore. People were excited and happy and...nice. Football did this to folks? So strange!

Anyway, I have to bring a dish for the party. Bringing Chicago-Style Deep dish to a city where that flat NY stuff is so popular. This recipe sounds divine. It's gonna blow their socks off!

Chicago-Style Deep Dish Pizza
Recipe via Brown Eyed Baker

Ingredients:

 For the Dough:
3¼ cups all-purpose flour
½ cup yellow cornmeal
1½ teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons sugar
2¼ teaspoons instant yeast*
1¼ cups water, room temperature
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoon + 4 tablespoons olive oil, divided

For the Sauce:
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
¼ cup grated onion
¼ teaspoon dried oregano
½ teaspoon salt
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes
¼ teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh basil
1 tablespoon olive oil
Freshly ground black pepper

For the Toppings:
1 pound mozzarella cheese, shredded (about 4 cups)
Pepperoni or whatever you prefer, really
Italian Sausage
Black olive
¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS:
1. Make the Dough: Whisk together the flour, cornmeal, salt, sugar, and yeast in a large bowl. Add water and melted butter and mix on low speed, using a dough hook, until fully combined, 1 to 2 minutes, scraping sides and bottom of bowl occasionally. Increase speed to medium and knead until dough is glossy and smooth and pulls away from sides of bowl, 4 to 5 minutes. (You can easily make this by hand, mixing in the water and butter with a spatula and then kneading by hand.)

2. Coat a large bowl with 1 teaspoon olive oil. Using greased spatula, transfer dough to bowl, turning to coat the dough in oil; cover tightly with plastic wrap. Let rise at room temperature until nearly doubled in volume, 45 to 60 minutes.

3. Make the Sauce: While dough rises, heat the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat until melted. Add onion, oregano, and salt; cook, stirring occasionally, until liquid has evaporated and onion is golden brown, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in tomatoes and sugar, increase heat to high, and bring to a simmer. Lower heat to medium-low and simmer until reduced to about 2½ cups, 25 to 30 minutes. Off the heat, stir in the basil and olive oil, then season with salt and pepper.

4. Laminate the Dough: Turn the dough out onto dry work surface and roll into a 15x12-inch rectangle. Using an offset spatula, spread the softened butter over the surface of the dough, leaving a ½-inch border along the edges. Starting at the short end, roll the dough into a tight cylinder. With seam side down, flatten the cylinder into an 18x4-inch rectangle. Cut rectangle in half crosswise. Working with one half, fold into thirds like a business letter; pinch seams together to form ball. Repeat with remaining half. Return balls to oiled bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and let rise in refrigerator until nearly doubled in volume, 40 to 50 minutes. Meanwhile, adjust oven rack to lower position and preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

5. Bake the Pizzas: Coat two 9-inch round springform pans** with 2 tablespoons olive oil each. Transfer 1 dough ball to dry work surface and roll out into a 13-inch circle. Transfer dough to the pan by rolling the dough loosely around a rolling pin and unrolling into pan. Lightly press dough into pan, working into corners and 1 inch up sides. If dough resists stretching, let it relax for 5 minutes before trying again. Repeat with remaining dough ball.

6. For each pizza, sprinkle 2 cups mozzarella evenly over surface of dough. (If you're using any meat or veggie toppings, add them now, on top of the cheese.) Spread 1¼ cups tomato sauce over the cheese (or toppings) and sprinkle 2 tablespoons Parmesan over sauce. Bake until crust is golden brown, 20 to 30 minutes. Remove pizza from oven and let rest 10 minutes before slicing and serving.

I like this recipe because it yielded two pizzas. I used one for a test run :)

* You can use regular dry active yeast, just plan to let the dough rest for an additional 15 minutes or so if you take that route.
**My own little added tip--just drop out the base and you have a perfect pizza, no worries or delicate knife work needed!
***I love having a little cornmeal embedded in the base of my pizza crust, so I dusted the bottom of my pan lightly with it, then pressed the dough down.

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