Now that's a deep dish!

I typically make pizza every Friday night, but just as every routine in our lives… it gets old. I was craving some Geno’s East, but realized that I was 5 hours away! I’ll research how to make Chicago style backwards pizza at home. I had a good idea of how to do it, but didn’t know how much corn meal to put in the crust. This is what I found:

Chicago Style Deep Dish

Deep Dish Dough

• 1 cup warm water
• 1 package yeast
• 2 1/2-3 cups bread flour
• 1/2 cup cornmeal
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tsp salt

Pizza

• 1 deep dish dough
• 1 lb hot Italian sausage (cooked)
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 1/2lb mozzarella cheese slices/ shredded
• Italian Seasoning
• 2-4 cloves garlic
• 1/4 grated Parmesan cheese

Step 1 – the dough Pour the water, yeast and 1/2 cup of the flour into a bowl. Let a sponge form, about 5 minutes. Then add 1 cup flour, 1/2 cup cornmeal, salt and 1/2 cup vegetable oil. Mix by hand or in a stand mixer with the dough hook attachment. Once everything starts to incorporate, slowly add another 1/2 cup of flour. Continue doing this until the dough pulls away from the edge of the bowl and does not absorb any more flour. Then roll it out onto a hard floured surface and knead until smooth. Let it rise until doubled.

Step 2 - the sauce Drain the can of tomatoes. Next place them in a food processor with salt, pepper, the seasoning and the garlic. Pulse the tomatoes to make the sauce.

Step 3 - form the dough Find your 12in spring form pan. It works great, has high edges and the pizza always slides right out. Now that you have the perfect pan, grease it with vegetable oil. Next place the dough in the center of the pan and push down the middle working it toward the edges. Bring it up the sides about 2-3 inches.

Step 4- fill it Start with the cheese so that it doesn’t burn during the long cook time. Next add the pepperoni/ sausage mixture. Now cover the pizza with the sauce. Finally dust the top with the Parmesan cheese.

Step 5 – cook it Place into a preheated 500 degree oven for 10-15 minutes. When the time is up turn it to 400 and bake for another 20-30 minutes. The longer you cook it the better…