Chicago Deep Dish PizzaMaking.com

By RoketJSquerl

Ingredients

• For the Sauce:
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh garlic
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
• 2 teaspoons chopped fresh oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1 (28-ounce + 14-ounce) cans plum tomatoes, coarsely crushed
• 2 tablespoon dry red wine
• 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
• Toppings:
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 pound mozzarella/provolone cheese, sliced
• 8 ounces pepperoni, thinly sliced
• 1 pound crumbled (half hot, half sweet) Italian sausage
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan Reggiano

Preparation

Step 1

1. Make the Dough: Use the Chicago Deep Dish Dough 2 for the current best recipe.

2. Using greased spatula, transfer dough to bowl; cover tightly with plastic wrap. Let rise at room temperature until nearly doubled in volume, 45 to 60 minutes. Punch down, then place in the fridge overnight. Next day, remove from fridge 1-2 hrs. prior to baking.

3. Make the Sauce: While the dough is rising, make the tomato sauce. In a medium saucepan, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds. Add the herbs, seeds, salt, and black and red peppers, and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds. Add the tomatoes, wine and sugar, and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until thickened, 20 to 30 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool completely before using. Meanwhile, adjust oven rack to lower position and preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

4. Bake the Pizzas: Coat ONLY THE BOTTOM of a 14-inch deep dish pizza pan with Crisco on a paper towel. Spread out your dough to about 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick, it should be an even layer that comes out to the edge of the pan with just barely enough dough to pinch up a paper thin outer lip with your fingers – about 1 and 1/2 inches high – all around the inside of the outer wall of the pan. If you have so much dough left that you have a thick outer lip of dough, you are using too much dough. If you pressed your dough out correctly, it should look something like the picture above. Don’t worry about getting a perfectly even outer crust. Just make sure it’s super thin, and try to keep the top edge of the dough about a 1/2 inch below the top of the pizza pan so it doesn’t burn.

5. Layer the mozzarella/provolone cheese all over the bottom of the pies. Top with the sausage, and press into a patty. Ladle the sauce evenly over each pizza and top with pepperoni and Parmesan Reggiano.

6. Bake on lower rack until the top is golden and the cheese is bubbly and the crust is golden brown, about 30 minutes. Allow to rest for 5 minutes before removing and cutting.