Last summer the Everyman and I fell madly in love with Pizzeria Uno’s Chicago deep dish. It’s a near perfect melding of flavors, textures and layers that is utterly obscene in it’s decadence.
While the crusty pie is not without it’s faults, in the intervening months since our visit, I’ve been working hard to improve this classic to suit our palates. At dinner earlier this week I think I finally found our little slice of heaven.
Firstly, one must start with a careful, homemade pizza dough. The key characteristic we observed at Uno’s was a buttery taste and a cornmeal component. The recipe listed below should give you a decent baseline to work from. Both the Everyman and I agreed that there was a bit too much dough in Chicago deep dish pizza, thus the recipe has been scaled back slightly to make enough dough for a thick crust version only (or a really small deep dish).
Foodie’s Chicago-Style Pizza Dough
1 c. warm water
2.25 tsp yeast
0.25 c. vegetable oil
0.25 c. olive oil
0.25 c. medium grind cornmeal
2.75 c. flour
In the bowl of a stand mixer, bloom the yeast in the warm water for several minutes. Add the oils, cornmeal and half the flour then turn the mixer to medium low and allow to mix for 10 minutes. Add the remaining flour and machine knead for several minutes more. Place dough in a clean, covered bowl and allow to rise until doubled in volume (30-45 minutes). Punch down the dough and allow to rise for an additional 10-15 minutes. Punch down once more, then shape into desired crust form.
Makes enough for one 11×17 thick crust pizza.
Next, the pizza requires a sauce component. Though I’m not a great proponent of tomato sauce on mass market pizza (usually because it’s incredibly bland) in this case I make an exception and use the best tomato sauce money can’t buy; my homemade canned Italian red sauce preserves. With oven-scorched romas and an 8 hour cooked-in taste, it’s a far cry from that weak Hunts sauce that comes in a can. Spoon a sparing amount onto your crust and you’ll be well on your way to good eats.
Homestyle Red Sauce
1 bushel roma tomatoes, stems removed
5-6 large sweet onions, chopped
4-5 heads garlic
1-2 bunches fresh basil
0.5 bunches of thyme
0.5 c. olive oil, plus more for drizzling
0.5 c. balsamic vinegar, plus more for drizzling
Preheat the oven to 400*. Take half the bushel of tomatoes and slice in half; pack skin side down into a roasting pan and sprinkle with balsamic, salt and pepper. Cut tops off heads of garlic, drizzle with olive oil and wrap tightly in aluminum foil. Roast the tomatoes and garlic in the oven for half an hour until slightly blistered and sunken. In the meantime, heat a two-count of olive oil in a large (read: vat) pot and lightly saute the chopped onions. Slice and core the remaining unroasted half bushel of tomatoes and run through a food mill directly into the pot, or if you prefer a more rustic sauce, throw the halves into the pot and lightly squish with an old fashioned potato masher. Once the roasted tomatoes and garlic are ready, process through a food mill into the pot as well. Add the balsamic vinegar and olive oil and reduce the heat to the lowest possible setting. Allow to simmer, uncovered and stirring occasionally until the sauce has reduced by one third to one half, which can take anywhere from 8 to 12 hours. Once the mixture has thickened to near the desired consistency, add your herbs, salt, pepper and any additional balsamic or olive oil to taste. Simmer for 10-15 more minutes, then ladle into jars and preserve.
Makes 13-18 quarts, depending on desired consistency. Now pat yourself on the back, you honorary Italian!
Once you have a killer sauce, the natural progression is toppings. Not one to mess with the classics, a diced bell pepper and some red onion, pepperoni, and two browned and sliced links of Foodie’s Spicy Chorizo are more than sufficient. Top with shreds of caciocavallo cheese (or any decent mozzarella) and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, preferably on a Silpat so that you can remove your pizza from the baking sheet easily. Slice, serve and enjoy the rave reviews.
Until next time…
Tags: Baking, bell peppers, caciocavallo, Chicago, chorizo, Cooking, deep dish, dough, pepperoni, pizza, Pizzeria Uno, Preservation, Recipes, red onion, tomato sauce
