Chicago Style Pizza

I had a hankering for home, and cooked up a Chicago deep-dish pizza: thin bread crust in a bowl shape, filled with the toppings on the bottom, layered mozzarella, and topped with tomato sauce.

DOUGH

I made a half-batch of Jaime Oliver’s recipe and divided the final product into thirds, using one and putting two in the freezer.

• 500 g white bread flour or Tipo '00' flour, or 800g strong white bread flour or Tipo '00' flour, plus 200g finely ground semolina flour
• 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
• One 7 g dried yeast sachet
• 1/2 tablespoon sugar
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 325 ml lukewarm water

Mix yeast, sugar and oil in tepid water; wait until bubbly. Sift dry ingredients together and then combine with yeast mixture. Knead until springy and dough passes the windowpane test. Let rise in floured bowl for 1hr; knock down and divide, freezing unused portions. If not using immediately, cover in cling wrap and refrigerate.

SAUCE

While the dough is rising, prepare your sauce and fillings:

• One 14oz can diced tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• ~30 small basil leaves, chopped
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 teaspoon of Sriracha sauce
• Salt and pepper to taste (a few turns of each grinder)

Heat oil and press garlic into it; sauté until fragrant and golden. Add remaining ingredients; simmer over medium heat about one hour until wateriness is gone, big tomato chunks have cooked down, and sauce is thick, stirring occasionally.

FILLING PREP

This one is of course up to you.

• 250g pepperoni, sliced (I used pepperilli, a chilli-pepper variant)
• Handful of diced green bell pepper/capsicum
• Small handful of sliced black olives
• 250g mozzarella, sliced or shredded

Pre-cook the pepperoni in a pan (as if you were frying bacon) until it begins to crisp up (it won’t get crispy buried in the middle of the pizza, and also all that fat can be overwhelming in the middle of the pie). Sauté capsicum as well to eliminate most of its moisture.

BRING IT TOGETHER

Brush olive oil into a 9-inch spring-form pan, make a bowl shape of crust about 1” / 2.5cm deep. Pre-bake in a 170°C/325°F oven until beginning to cook through but still quite white, about 10 minutes (cooked enough that it can hold the ingredients, but not so much that it will burn in the following hour of cooking).
Fill with a layer of pepperoni on bottom; sprinkle on capsicum and olives. Layer on plenty of cheese, about 1/4” or 1/2 cm thick. Top with tomato sauce.
Bake uncovered for about 1 hour at 170°C or until crust golden and cheese melted.