Chicago-Style Stuffed Pizza

A post dedicated to all my Northwestern friends – here’s how to get a Chicago-style stuffed pizza even when you live on the east or west coast!  Much thanks to Karen for teaching me how to make this. 

Sorry if it's confusing, the pictures are of two different pizzas that I was making at the same time (one spinach, one pepperoni). 

INGREDIENTS:

DOUGH:

-         1 tablespoon sugar

-         1 cup warm water

-         1 packet (1/4 oz.) yeast

-         3 cups flour (plus extra for kneading)

-         1 teaspoon salt

-         1/4 cup olive oil

TOPPINGS:

-         Veggies or meat of choice (I like ½ bag of fresh spinach or 1 packet of pepperoni)

-         8 oz. mozarrella cheese

-         pizza sauce (1 jar or equivalent homemade)

EQUIPMENT: 

-         mixing bowl

-         measuring cups and spoons

-         wooden spoon

-         place to roll out dough

-         rolling pin

-         pie pan or other deep round baking pan

STEP 0: If your house is cold or drafty, heat the oven to 200* F.  This is just to help the dough rise later, so if your house is warm and cozy there is no need for the oven to be on yet.

STEP 1: Make the dough

Dissolve sugar in water and add yeast packet. Let stand for 5 minutes and foam should form at the top. If no foam forms, discard and try again with new yeast. 

Put 3 cups of flour and salt in mixing bowl. Pour in water/yeast mixture and oil. Mix with wooden spoon for as much as you can and then mix with hands. 

Use flour on counter surface to knead dough. Knead until dough is thoroughly mixed and then for an extra minute, about 2-4 minutes total.

(I seriously don't know why picture is flipped.)

Coat dough ball in oil and place back into mixing bowl. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let dough rise on the counter in a warm room for 1 hour or until dough doubles in size. Or, put dough in fridge and let rise overnight or during the day (dough should still double in size. If not, let is rise a bit more out of the fridge in a warm room.)  If your house is cold, set bowl on top of warmed oven or set bowl on open oven door (turn off the oven if you choose this option – can’t have too much heat). 

STEP 2: Prep toppings

Grate the 8 ounces of cheese.  (Picture shows 16 ounces since I always make 2 pizzas at a time.)  Thaw frozen toppings or otherwise prepare them.  Do some dishes or relax a bit until the dough is ready. 

Now, preheat your oven to 400* F. 

STEP 3: Make first crust

When the dough has risen, break it into two sections (or three, if you are using a small pan like I do – the third section will be kept for a thin-crust pizza later).  

Roll one section out into a circular shape about 1/8^th inch thick (I roll it into I can’t get it any thinner without breaking.  Because you have two crusts, neither one needs to be very thick, trust me.)

Lay the dough over your baking pan and allow it to drop into the edges so it fits the pan.  Cut off excess dough but leave enough so it hangs over the edge slightly.  Don’t worry if it’s not gorgeous, this is homemade pizza!

Put the crust alone in the oven and bake for 5-10 minutes, until it is somewhat baked but not too hard.

STEP 4: Add “stuffing” (toppings)

This step is a matter of some debate in our house.  Do you add toppings first and then cheese, cheese then toppings, or cheese before AND after toppings?  Or should you mix them together?  I say this is up to the chef.  I add toppings first then cheese, only because I like to make pretty patterns with the pepperoni (the prettier the pattern the less likely sneaky hands are to steal a piece of pepperoni!!).  If you are using various chopped veggies like mushrooms and peppers and think it would be good to mix it all with the cheese.

 

Put the toppings on your par-baked crust. 

STEP 5: Add second crust

Roll out your second section of dough the same size as the first (although you will have more to cut off, you want this one to be the same thickness or maybe even thinner).  Place this dough over the toppings and pinch the edges over and into the par-baked bottom crust. 

You may need to push down on the upper crust (yes, it’s clearly the better crust) to flatten your toppings a bit.  The photo shows some spinach poking through – not a big deal.

Poke a few holes to let steam escape.  Bake for 10 minutes.

STEP 6: Add sauce

Once the top crust is browned, pour sauce on top.  If you used fresh spinach you may need to press down on the crust before adding sauce to give yourself a little room, but the sauce always ends up fitting.

Now you can refrigerate your pizza and serve later or do the final baking right away. 

Before eating, put back in the oven (400* F) for about 15 minutes or until sauce is hot and cheese is melted.  Happy eating!

Wrap leftover dough and store in fridge or freezer.  BE FOREWARNED – if you put it in the fridge it will CONTINUE TO RISE, so don’t put it in a tight ziploc (I learned the hard way).