How to Make Authentic Chicago Deep Dish Pizza in Two Hours or Less

NDG

N/A

Photo Egg

Dough is made, sauce is simmering down. Used the link @Carolina Q  posted.

Photo Egg

gmanrva

Yes, I need to try this one of these days.

Photo Egg

Looks fantastic!
 Thanks for following and big thanks to @Carolina Q

Crispy goodness...

Carolina Q

Hope it tasted as good as it looks! What cheese did you use?

Carolina Q

Hey, you have a pic of a slice? Here's mine...

Carolina Q

Photo Egg said:

Crispy goodness...

Snuck it in under the edit wire, eh? Looks almost as good as mine. Ha!

Photo Egg

Carolina Q said:

Hey, you have a pic of a slice? Here's mine...

Got hooked up with some sliced mozzarella from a small local Connection. It was sliced pretty thin. Will use more next time. Will pull little sooner next time as it still cooks for awhile in the thick cast iron pan.

Carolina Q

I use a steel cake pan - doesn't retain heat as well. Or, just take it out of the CI pan.

Anyway, your pie looks awesome!

Photo Egg

Carolina Q said:

I use a steel cake pan - doesn't retain heat as well. Or, just take it out of the CI pan.

Anyway, your pie looks awesome!

Thank you!
I went with the 12” recipe. The larger can of crushed tomatoes was perfect after being reduced. I even laid a couple folded up paper towels on top as it was cooling to pick up extra moisture. I cooked a little over 450 dome. If cooking 12” again I will drop temp a little. More mozzarella cheese inside and less parm on top.
Very happy with first run.

Thanks again!

Sea2Ski

My experience with deep dish pizza is a few Pizza Hut pizzas and once or twice at pizzeria uno.  Typically not a big fan. However, wanting to try something new, I gave this a try yesterday.
This is a winner. 

Made the 14” version and used homemade sausage, roasted garlic and pepperoni. 

I will stop talking. 

I took the basics and made minor modifications.  Used a full lb of mozzarella, but I did not think it was enough, so I used about 1 cup more of shredded low moisture we had in the fridge to thicken up a few thin spots, so next time I will get a 1 1/4 lb block. I roasted a whole bulb of garlic while the egg was coming up to temp and as I was making the dough. Then I used a neapolitan sauce that we like from a can. May not be traditional, but there are no rules with pizza. 

For the lessons learned to make it better next time:
roast a bulb and a half of garlic, cook at 390-400F instead of the 425-430 I went with. It was just a bit too hot for the crust. I will not use the term burnt, but it was a bit overdone. One thing that totally surprised me was how crispy the crust was. No sag at all. Finally, instead of putting the pepperoni on half way through, I will put it on at the beginning. 

With all that being said, if I made another one just like yesterday’s, I would be perfectly happy with it.
Thank you @Carolina Q

Carolina Q

Glad you enjoyed it, my friend. Pretty sure it goes like this... dough, cheese, sausage, other toppings if desired, tomato sauce (and maybe a dusting of parm). And thanks for the roasted garlic reminder. I love the stuff, but never seem to remember it!

Gulfcoastguy

Definitely on my to do list. 

caliking

@Sea2Ski - that looks frikkin' fantastic!! Very nicely done.

Back in the day, before Gino's East in Chicago morphed into the tourist abomination that it has become, they used to have what we called the "unipatty" - Chicago style deep dish, with a single disc of sausage that covered the entire pizza. You wouldn't think it was that different vs. bits of sausage, but somehow it was. 

JohnInCarolina

I lived in Chicago for four years and got into their deep dish pretty seriously.  Man some of the places out there - the pies are very thick.  At some point I just got tired of all of the cheese, and they were always way too much food for even a few of us to finish all at once.  

But yours looks great, @Sea2Ski!  I would absolutely crush that.  

Carolina Q

caliking said:

@Sea2Ski - that looks frikkin' fantastic!! Very nicely done.

Back in the day, before Gino's East in Chicago morphed into the tourist abomination that it has become, they used to have what we called the "unipatty" - Chicago style deep dish, with a single disc of sausage that covered the entire pizza. You wouldn't think it was that different vs. bits of sausage, but somehow it was. 

I thought the "unipatty" was the way it was supposed to be.

caliking

Carolina Q said:

caliking said:

@Sea2Ski - that looks frikkin' fantastic!! Very nicely done.

Back in the day, before Gino's East in Chicago morphed into the tourist abomination that it has become, they used to have what we called the "unipatty" - Chicago style deep dish, with a single disc of sausage that covered the entire pizza. You wouldn't think it was that different vs. bits of sausage, but somehow it was. 

I thought the "unipatty" was the way it was supposed to be.

When we lived in Chicago for several years, many many moons ago, the original Gino’s East was the only place I knew of that did the unipatty. It made for a different bite (in a good way), than deep dish with chunks of sausage. 

Carolina Q

Old thread, worth another look. From the beginning, how to make the dough and more. I just stumbled across a Lou Malnotti post which shows them assembling three different deep dish pies. Thought it might be interesting to some of you deep dish fans. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYKyVXS5DDw

northGAcock

Carolina Q said:

Old thread, worth another look. From the beginning, how to make the dough and more. I just stumbled across a Lou Malnotti post which shows them assembling three different deep dish pies. Thought it might be interesting to some of you deep dish fans. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYKyVXS5DDw

I have made deep dish from your post many times…..once or twice in the oven. While I am a thin crust NY pizza guy myself, this makes an awesome change of pace. I learned a few things here. I might be putting too much sauce on mine….but has not been a disappointment. I use Boar’s  head mozz and pepperoni along with homemade Italian sausage. 

 I appreciate your sharing this. Hope you and family are all safe and well up thar. 

Cheers

Robin

Carolina Q

northGAcock said:

Carolina Q said:

Old thread, worth another look. From the beginning, how to make the dough and more. I just stumbled across a Lou Malnotti post which shows them assembling three different deep dish pies. Thought it might be interesting to some of you deep dish fans. 

I have made deep dish from your post many times…..once or twice in the oven. While I am a thin crust NY pizza guy myself, this makes an awesome change of pace. I learned a few things here. I might be putting too much sauce on mine….but has not been a disappointment. I use Boar’s  head mozz and pepperoni along with homemade Italian sausage. 

 I appreciate your sharing this. Hope you and family are all safe and well up thar. 

Cheers

Robin

@northGAcock, Thanks, Robin. Glad you have enjoyed this method. I was happy to see the assembly sequence. Looks like the tomato "sauce" is just canned whole tomatoes, crushed by hand as applied, no?

Family is safe and sound (and fully vaccinated). Sons are in NYC and okay weatherwise. Still raining here in CT, but not much wind. At least for me and mine, looks like the forecast, here anyway, was overblown.

I hope you and yours are doing well in these challenging times.

Canugghead

Bump in memory of OP @Carolina Q