Author Topic: My Chicago style pizza (Read 5318 times)

Chicago Rules!!! · « **on:** October 19, 2005, 04:38:23 PM »

Hello im new here. Im from vancouver, bc and i absolutly love chicago. I recently just came back from a trip in chi town and i loved it. I was staying with a very close friend who lives there and she took me to this restaurant " Cucina Biagio " in Harwood Heights, IL and they had some pretty good chicago style pizza there. So when i got back i wanted to make my own version of that pizza and i think mine came out pretty good.

I will put my recipe up later. This pizza is a spinach and mushroom pizza.

chiguy · « **Reply #1 on:** October 19, 2005, 06:10:14 PM »

Hi, I love Chicago
I am glad you enjoyed your trip. I have a couple of questions.The first is what is the name of the restuarant where you tried the Deep dish?? I also would like to know how you did such a great job on this pizza the first try?? Surely you must have had some practice?? Nice job, i hope you will share the recipe with us.

Thanks, Chiguy

Chicago Rules!!! · « **Reply #2 on:** October 19, 2005, 06:49:07 PM »

Ok so i talked to my friend and she told me that the restaurant is called Cucina Biagio and its in Harwood Heights. So heres the recipe for my 9 inch Chicago Deep Dish Pizza.

Dough Recipe:

3 cups - Bread Flour
1/2 cup - Cornmeal
1 cup - Luke warm water
1 packet of Instant Dry yeast
1/3 cup - Extra virgin olive oil
2/3 teaspoon kosher salt

Mix water, yeast and olive oil together until yeast is fully dissolved. Now add the flour and cornmeal to the liquid and mix for 10 minutes( i mixed and kneaded by hand until i form a smooth ball). After you finish that place the ball in a large bowl and cover and let rise until the ball doubles in size.

The Filling:

1 small frozen package of chopped spinach( cooked and drained of all excess water )season with whatever you like.
1/2 cup sauteed mushrooms
2 cloves of garlic - minced
2 cups of shredded mozzarella chesse

mix all ingredients in a bowl and set aside.

The Sauce:

5 peeled canned tomatoes( roughly crushed - to get out excess water )
2 teaspoons dry or fresh basil
2 teaspoons oregano
2 cloves of garlic
3 tablespoons of tomato paste
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt

pulse in a food processor, if you do not have one just use a blender.

I geuss that's basically it. I used a 9 inch cast iron skillet to bake my pizza at 500F for 15 minutes and then another 20 - 25 minutes at 400F. Take out of oven and let sit for a few minutes beofre serving.

I would love to see others attempt my recipe and post pictures of there creations

Nathan

P.S. This dough recipe will make enough for like a 12" or 15" pizza, if not more.

cdodson · « **Reply #3 on:** October 20, 2005, 09:56:30 AM »

Congrats Nathan! That's a great looking pizza! I echo chiguy's sentiment by wondering how on earth you managed to have created such a great crust on your first venture. I now have 20 something deep dishes under my belt within the last couple of months and still haven't managed to make it look like yours, which to me strongly resembles Giordanos crust. However I must say that buzz's crust recipe delivers a first-rate taste. While I enjoy experimenting I hesitate to tamper with what many of my guests have raved over.

Welcome to the site and thank you for sharing your recipe.

buzz · « **Reply #4 on:** October 20, 2005, 10:25:40 AM »

I Love Chicago--

Try this and see how you like it!

Use AP instead of bread flour, get rid of the cornmeal, up your oil to about .50 cups (use canola oil or extra light olive oil), up your salt to at least a tsp, and add about a tsp of sugar.

Then mix the ingredients briefly (just until they come together--about 30 seconds), and knead by hand for no more than 2 minutes.

Bake on 450.

Chicago Rules!!! · « **Reply #5 on:** October 20, 2005, 11:05:18 AM »

Quote from: buzz on October 20, 2005, 10:25:40 AM

I Love Chicago--

Try this and see how you like it!

Use AP instead of bread flour, get rid of the cornmeal, up your oil to about .50 cups (use canola oil or extra light olive oil), up your salt to at least a tsp, and add about a tsp of sugar.

Then mix the ingredients briefly (just until they come together--about 30 seconds), and knead by hand for no more than 2 minutes.

Bake on 450.

Thanks buzz for your suggestion, i will for sure try that out tomorrow when i make dinner.

thanks
nathan

Chicago Rules!!! · « **Reply #6 on:** October 20, 2005, 12:26:35 PM »

Quote from: cdodson on October 20, 2005, 09:56:30 AM

Congrats Nathan! That's a great looking pizza! I echo chiguy's sentiment by wondering how on earth you managed to have created such a great crust on your first venture. I now have 20 something deep dishes under my belt within the last couple of months and still haven't managed to make it look like yours, which to me strongly resembles Giordanos crust. However I must say that buzz's crust recipe delivers a first-rate taste. While I enjoy experimenting I hesitate to tamper with what many of my guests have raved over.

Welcome to the site and thank you for sharing your recipe.

Well what i did to get my crust to look that way is i baked it in a cast iron skillet that I pre greased with some olive oil that I wiped on with a napkin. Thats my geuss to how got it to look that way.

Chicago Rules!!! · « **Reply #7 on:** October 21, 2005, 09:21:13 PM »

So here are the two pizza's i did tonight. I took buzz's suggestion and used his dough recipe, and i'll tell ya its awesome. The two 12 inch pizza's i made which are shown below in the pictures are -

The First three are the Spinach/Mushroom pictures, and then the last two are the Beef/Sausge pictures.

Chicago Rules!!! · « **Reply #8 on:** October 21, 2005, 09:24:27 PM »

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Chicago Rules!!! · « **Reply #9 on:** October 21, 2005, 09:24:55 PM »

chiguy · « **Reply #10 on:** October 21, 2005, 10:16:30 PM »

Hi, I Love Chicago
I must say another great job, i bet you were a little skeptical about Buzz's suggestion of eliminating the Corn meal, but it worked out just fine i see. There are alot of recipes with the added corn meal floating around but as you can tell it's not necessary in achieving a great Chicago Deep Dish. I especially liked the pic in Reply#9 with the steam rising from the slice of sausage. It looks like a professional shot. I just had one more question. Who is eating all this pizza?? Chiguy

Chicago Rules!!! · « **Reply #11 on:** October 21, 2005, 10:43:26 PM »

Thanks, um well lets see my dad, brother, mom and myself. So it will be gone by sunday. lol

Nathan

buzz · « **Reply #12 on:** October 22, 2005, 08:43:44 AM »

Those are good lookers--glad you liked the recipe! It's so much fun experimenting with homemade pizza!

Now try the same dough and roll it out as a thin crust!

ralph · « **Reply #13 on:** November 17, 2005, 06:02:37 PM »

Hello all, New to the site and could use some help. We are fortunate enough to have a wood fired pizza oven. I'd love to be able to cook a chicago style in this oven but I scared because of the very high heat (800 degrees plus). Any ideas??

I'm an EIU grad in Tulsa. Go panthers...

chiguy · « **Reply #14 on:** November 17, 2005, 06:30:51 PM »

Hi, Ralph
I dont believe a thick panned dough like a deep dish can cook throughly at 800f Degrees without overbrowning the crust.If you're curious you should experiment, but i have never heard of baking a deep dish at 800f. I would give it a shot but make sure you have a backup pizza in case your Deepdish is totally charred. goodluck, Chiguy

ralph · « **Reply #15 on:** November 17, 2005, 06:40:13 PM »

My thoughts too. Maybe i could make a really delicious hockey puck. Thanks ralph

Pete-zza · « **Reply #16 on:** November 17, 2005, 08:25:34 PM »

Ralph,

If I were to try it, I would assemble the deep-dish and put it into the refrigerator for several hours, or even in the freezer for a while, to lower the temperature of the dish considerably before you bake it. Hopefully, the lower temperature will allow you to bake the pie without burning it. And I would put a sheet of aluminum foil over the top of the dish if the crust starts to brown too quickly. I don't know if these changes will work but, as chiguy says, it doesn't hurt to give it a shot.

Peter

Chicago Rules!!! · « **Reply #17 on:** November 18, 2005, 11:28:51 AM »

Hey everybody, im back with a new picture of a pizza i made the other day. I went out and bought my self a spring formed cake pan and this helped out alot. Let me know what you think of this one:

chiguy · « **Reply #18 on:** November 18, 2005, 11:51:53 AM »

HI, Ilovechicago
I can tell you are pleased with you're results. It is a definite improvement from the first pic you posted which i thought looked good. I noticed you cut the crust thickness back a bit. I think this was a good idea. The color also look's alot different. Did you change anything in the recipe or was the cake pan the difference??How long was the bake time/temp??
Chiguy

Chicago Rules!!! · « **Reply #19 on:** November 19, 2005, 06:40:02 PM »

Well this time i went back to adding some corn meal into the dough, which i think adds something great. The cake pan i believe really helped with this pizza. And the cook time was about 40mins at 450 for about 15mins then down to 375 for the remaining 25mins.

Thanks