Recipe for cooking Chicago Deep Dish Pizza

Quick Meals- Salad and Pizza :: Dinner Pizzas

Chicago Deep Dish Pizza

Crust
2 pkg.s quick-rise dry yeast
2 C. tepid water (90 degrees F)
1/2 C. canola oil
4 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1/2 C. cornmeal
5 1/2 C. flour, divided

Dissolve yeast in water. Add oils, cornmeal, and 3 C. of the flour. Beat for 10 min. with a mixer. Mix in the additional 2 1/2 C. flour. Knead for several min. Pour the dough onto a plastic countertop and cover with a very lrg. metal bowl. Allow to rise until double in bulk.

Punch down and allow to rise again.

Punch down a second time and you are ready to make pizza. Oil round cake pans with extra virgin olive oil. Put a bit of dough in each and push it out to the edges, using your fingers. Put in enough dough so that you can run the crust right up the side of the pan. Make it about 1/8 in. thick throughout the pan.

Filling
1/3 lb. sliced Mozzarella cheese
2 C. canned plum tomatoes,
    drained and squished
1 tsp. basil
1 tsp. oregano
2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
Salt, to taste
3 Tbsp. grated Parmesan cheese
3 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

Place the cheese in tile-like layers on the bottom of the pie. Next put in the tomatoes and the basil, oregano, garlic, and salt, reservings the Parmesan cheese for the top. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese over the top. Drizzle the extra virgin olive oil over the top of the pie and you are ready to bake at 475 degrees F until the top is golden and gooey and the crust a light golden brown. This should take about 35 or 40 min.

Additional variations
Before you put on the Parmesan cheese and extra virgin olive oil drizzle you might like to add Italian sausage, yellow onions, peeled and diced, pepperoni, sliced thin, mushrooms, sliced, green sweet bell peppers, cored and sliced thin.