I am a fan of pizza pf all types and one type that I really enjoy is Chicago style deep dish pizza. This kind of pizza is more like a pie than a flatbread like regular pizza and I usually make it in a cast iron pan or a spring form pan so it’s around 1.5-2 inches deep! Now that’s a lot of filling!
Before I get to the filling we need to talk about the crust. The crust is a little thinner, a little buttery-er, a little crispier, and sometimes theres two layers. The recipe for the crust is similar to a regular pizza dough with some of the flour replaced with cornmeal and it has layers of butter folded into it which makes it nice a light, thin, crisp and buttery! I mentioned two crusts and that’s because there are two main styles of deep dish pizza, the regular one with one crust on the bottom and the so call ‘stuffed’ one where there is a second layer of crust on top of the meat and cheese but below the sauce and this second crust helps to hold the pie together.
The deep dish pizza may sound a little more intimidating to make than a regular pizza but it’s actually really easy! You roll out the dough, place it in a pie dish, top it with the filling like meat, followed by the cheese, the optional second crust and finally the pizza sauce. Everything is baked in the oven, a little longer than a normal pizza, and you good to dig in to this pizza that eats more like a lasagna!
An traditional deep dish pizza recipe that is better than takeout/delivery!
Deep Dish Pizza
An easy to make authentic Chicago style deep dish pizza with sausage, pepperoni and bacon; stuffed!
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 pound Italian sausage, casings removed
- 8 ounces bacon, cut into 1/3 inch pieces
- 4 ounces pepperoni, sliced thinly
- 1 pound mozzarella, shredded
- 1/4 cup parmigiano reggiano (parmesan cheese), grated
- 4 ounces provolone, deli sliced (optional)
- 1 cup pizza sauce
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, transferring them back to their bowls and letting sit covered, while you make the filling.
- Cook the sausage, breaking it apart with a wooden spoon as it cooks, and set aside.
- Cook the bacon and set it aside.
- Roll the first dough out and place it in a buttered/greased cast iron pan or spring-form pan (10-12 inches in diameter, 2+ inches tall), sprinkle the sausage in, followed by the pepperoni, bacon, mozzarella, parmesan, and spread the provolone slices on top before rolling the second dough out and placing it on top, trimming any excess dough and crimping the top closed.
- Poke a couple of holes in the top crust, spread the pizza sauce over the top and bake in a preheated 425F/220C oven until the crust is golden brown crispy and good, about 20-30 minutes.
For the dough:
For the pizza:
Option: Omit the top crust layer, placing it in the fridge or freezer until you make pizza again.
Option: Sprinkle some parmesan over the top!
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This looks delicious! What approximate diameter of pan should we use?
9-12 inches works great!
Thanks! I had the same question.I see the 1.5 -2″ deep but no mention of the diameter. I assumed just by the recipe it had to be around 10″. I need to try your recipe. We love deep dish. Great photos and presentation.
The pan should be about 10-12 inches in diameter and 2+ inches tall. In the photos I used a 12 inch cast iron pan and a 10 inch springform pan, with the filling in the springform pan being a little taller than in the cast iron pan. (I have updated the recipe to add the pans dimensions.) Enjoy!
Oh Kevin this looks just divine. Your pizza dough recipe is intriguing, I definitely must give this a try!
Lived in Chicago years ago and have searched for a Uno/Due pizza crust for years with no luck. Actually, it has been one of my life’s mission to replicate their crust recipe. This may be it thanks to the wonderful amount of butter. (Can you tell I’m Norwegian?) One question-regular yeast or fast-rising?
Love your website and recipes-thank you.
Regular yeast, enjoy!
This looks really good I’ll try this soon and report back to you.
Will a gluten free flour blend work in the pizza dough? I have celiac and am always so grateful to you when you give a gluten free option… am afraid this just might be one of those recipes where gluten free flour just doesn’t work. thank you for all your efforts and fantastic recipes!
I have not tried using a gluten free flour here. You might want to use a gluten free pizza crust recipe that you like that includes the cornmeal and fold the butter into it as per this recipe for the crust. Enjoy!
From one Kevin to another Kevin…. this looks Great..!!
I made this today for dinner. Every time my husband took a bite, he said, “mmm!” or “oh my gosh this is so good!” He was talking about how good it was the entire time he was eating it.
Great instructions, the dough came out great, and it was only a little bit of a project. I started the dough, went grocery shopping, and I was ready to start making the pizza by the time the groceries were put away. I loved the little bit of cornmeal in the dough.
Just super happy with this recipe, definitely saving it. Good job!
Love your site…clear and direct instructions, easy to follow. Yummy recipes. One request…gifs don’t help much…regular step-by-step photos are most useful accompanying instructions and each can be copied, pasted, and printed for visual instructions (especially for making pizza & dough like this the first time)…
-jph
Many years ago I worked at Pizza Hut. While there they offered a pizza pie type dish that had a top and bottom crust- for PH it was pretty damn good. This recipe reminded me of this so I decided to make it tonight. I was fearful that it wasn’t going to turn out well. My dough didn’t raise very much and I wasn’t for sure if I kneaded it enough, or did I over knead??? I also questioned where to put the skillet, middle rack or lower so the bottom crust would be sure to brown (I chose the lower rack). Long story short- it came out AMAZING!! Way better than Pizza Hut and as good as a pizzeria we frequent in our neighborhood. I kneaded the dough about 5 times and that was perfect. This is a recipe I’ll keep and share with my fellow amateur chef friends.
Can’t see what size pan you are using (the diameter)?
We made your pizza recipe yesterday. It is awesome. I used a # 10 Griswold skillet. The crust is wonderful. We made it like the recipe states adding just a few onions and peppers after the cheese and before crust number two, We added a few green onions on top of the sauce for photogenetic purposes. I give it a 10+ It’s like Giordanos of Chicago 😉