When I first made a Chicago style deep dish pizza I could not help but think that the light, flaky and buttery crust would make for a great thin crust pizza and I just had to try it! The pizza dough for the deep dish pizza is a little different than regular pizza dough in that some of the flour is replaced with cornmeal, it uses butter instead of oil and the dough is rolled out, more butter is spread on before folding it several times only to roll it out again. This layers the butter in the final crust making it thin, flaky, crispy and full of butter flavour! Yum! Once you have the crust made and rolled out, all that’s left is to top it with pizza sauce, cheese and your choice of toppings before baking it to perfection! This thin crust is an excellent way to enjoy your next pizza dinner!
Chicago Style Thin Crust Pizza
A pizza with a thin, light, flaky and buttery crust that is so easy to make!
ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups luke-warm water
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 2 1/4 teaspoons yeast (1 packet)
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- 3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup butter, room temperature
- 1/2 cup pizza sauce
- 4 ounces pepperoni, sliced thinly
- 2 cups mozzarella (and/or provolone), shredded
- 1 pinch oregano
- 1 pinch red pepper flakes (optional)
For the dough:
For the pizza:
directions
- Mix the sugar into the water followed by the yeast and let it sit for 10 minutes, or until the yeast starts to foam/bubble.
- Mix in the butter followed by the mixture of the flour, cornmeal, and salt, until it forms a dough.
- Knead the dough on a floured surface until it is soft and elastic (a finger pressed into it will leave an indent that will bounce back out a little) before dividing in two and transferring to two greased bowls, covering it and letting it sit at a little higher higher than room temperature until it rises to double in size, about 2 hours.
- One at a time, knock the dough down, roll it out into a large disc, spread half the butter over half of the dough and fold the other half over onto the buttered half before folding in half again and again and again, before forming into balls and rolling them back out into thin discs and placing them onto large baking dishes.
- Spread the pizza sauce out over one of the crusts, sprinkle on the cheese and topping and bake in a preheated 500F/260C oven until the cheese has melted and the crust is crispy and golden brown, about 10 minutes.
For the dough:
For the pizza:
Note: the dough recipe makes enough for two pizzas and the toppings are enough for one pizza so you can either double the toppings or save the second dough for later, storing it in the fridge or freezer.
This looks so Delish! I want to try this technique for a flaky pizza crust. I bet it tastes wonderful.
I wish you would include more procedural photos in your recipe blog – not just the end product. Your photos are so good and the end product looks fabulous but it would be great to have photos of how you do the recipe….as a guide….
Sour dough is the secret for the crust.
Kevin I will definitely be trying this pizza crust. Sounds divine!
What size pizza pan?
Am I missing something. I don’t see a way to Pin this recipe. It looks fabulous!!!
There is a problem with the plugin that adds that functionality. Hopefully it will be fixed soon!
The butter is added to the dough and also spread on after you roll it. Is this an error
There is melted butter that is mixed into the dough and then butter is spread on top the dough and folded into it.
What size pies do you roll these out to?
Roll the dough out to 12-14 inched diameter. Enjoy!
I’ve made this crust twice now, and my husband absolutely loves it. It’s become my new go-to for pizza. The technique reminds me a bit of making homemade croissants, and the finished product is crunchy, buttery, and delicious.
What size should the dough be rolled out to?
Each of the pizza doughs should be rolled out to somewhere between 12-14 inches. Enjoy!
Just made a Hawaiin and a good pizza ( pepperoni, mushroom, black olive & hot pepper). BIG hit !!! The buttery thin crust was perfect.
This is definitely a go to recipe. !!!!
Thank you.
Hi. Are these measurements by weight or by packed cup? Thanks! I tried it by weight, but it was too watery, so went back and added more flour. It tasted delicious, but wanted to make sure I can replicate. Thanks!
The flour measurements are in cups of sifted flour rather than packed flour.
After rolling out the dough, put cornmeal on a pizza peel then add the toppings. slide it onto a hot pizza stone in the oven. Figure it out !
Looks good, but you missed the critical pizza cutting technique that all Chicago thin crust pizzas have. Pizza that is not “party cut” or cut into squares is not a Chicago style pizza.