Carol asked for a Chicago-style deep dish pizza, and I made one based on The Pizza Bible by Tony Gemignani. It turned out well, but I would do things a bit differently the next time. The pan I used was a 13-inch paella pan, and I rolled the dough out too much so that a significant amount of the dough extended beyond the lip of the pan. This made the crust less thick than it should have been. In my next version, I plan to roll it out only until it reaches halfway up the side of the pan. The original recipe included some additional cheese and a second bake to brown that cheese, which I did not do since the pizza seemed to have quite enough cheese already, and that cheese was nicely browned.
The dough was started two days before the pizza was baked, and it was a bit unusual, with some cornmeal and fat included. It was quite tasty.
Note that the sausage is put on the pizza raw in thin pieces. It fully cooked while the pizza baked.
This made 6 portions for us with a salad.
Dough
4.5 g. (1.5 tsp.) yeast
70 g. lukewarm water
430 g. all-purpose flour (~12% protein – I used King Arthur Flour. Author uses Ceresota)
23 g. medium grind cornmeal
9 g. diastatic malt
18 g. (1 Tbs. + 1 tsp.) lard or unsalted butter, softened and cut into little pieces
18 g. (1 Tbs. + 1 tsp. unsalted butter, softened and cut into little pieces
202 g. ice water
9 g. salt
Topping
1 lb. Italian sausage cut into ½ inch rounds
1 cup finely grated pecorino Romano
1 large clove garlic, finely chopped
9 oz. low-moisture mozzarella slices
9 oz. sliced provolone
Dried oregano for dusting
2 cups Sauce for Chicago Deep Dish Pizza, warmed
2 tsp. unsalted butter
Cornmeal for dusting work surface
Put the yeast in a small bowl with the lukewarm water. Stir vigorously to wake up the yeast. If the yeast is good, it will dissolve and foam.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, mix together the flour cornmeal and diastolic malt with a dough whisk. Add the lard and/or butter and mix with the dough whisk. Add the yeast mixture from the small bowl and the ice water. Mix with a dough whisk until a rough dough is formed. Then mix with the dough hook on low for about a minute. Add the salt and mix for another minute with the dough hook on low. Scrape down the sizes of the bowl to ensure that all the flour is incorporated.
On a clean flourless work surface, knead the dough for 2-3 minutes until smooth. Place in a doubling container and cover it. Ferment on the counter for about an hour. Line a quarter sheet pan with plastic wrap, add the dough, and cover with a second layer of plastic wrap. Put in the refrigerator for 24-48 hours.
About an hour before baking, preheat the oven with a baking steel or stone for about an hour.
Prepare a suitable pan ~12-13 inches in diameter and 2 inches high by putting it in the warming oven with the 2 tsp. of unsalted butter until the butter melts. Grease the bottom and sides of the pan with the butter and set aside.
Take the dough out of the refrigerator to warm. About 30 minutes before the bake, dust a clean work surface with cornmeal and coat the top of the dough also with a dusting of cornmeal. Roll it out until the dough is big enough to cover the bottom and to go at least halfway up the side and then put it in the prepared pan. Allow to rest for 30 minutes.
Cover the bottom of the dough with a layer of mozzarella slices. Squeeze the pieces of Italina sausage into disks and put them on top of the mozzarella slices. Sprinkle on the chopped garlic and half of the grated pecorino Romano. Top with the provolone slices.
Bake for 25-30 minutes until the cheese is melted and browned and the crust is a nice brown color. Sprinkle the baked pizza with oregano and the rest of the pecorino Romano. Remove it from the pan only a large cutting board and cut into 6 large pieces. Serve each piece with a topping of warmed pizza sauce.
