Homemade Chicago Pizza
Before you start You can start this recipe a few hours before serving. But, you might find it more convenient to start the evening before. The dough needs around an hour for the first rise at room temperature. Then at least 1 hour (or up to 3 days!) to hang out in the fridge. If starting a day ahead, don’t leave it too late - no one wants to stay up late solely to wait for dough to rise. You’ll need to do a little prep before tucking the dough in the fridge overnight for its long cold rest. Here's a recipe for the beautiful Tomato & Basil Sauce, which takes about an hour to make.When ready to bake the pizzas, allow your oven plenty of time to preheat. You can get the rest of the fillings prepped in this time. The pizzas take 15 minutes to bake. (Important) they need to rest for 15 minutes before serving. This allows the filling to cool and set slightly, so you can cut the pizzas without the filling pouring out. Makes two 23cm pizzas. This is 4 portions (half a pizza each)
Servings: 4 hungry people
Equipment
- 2x 23cm (9 inch) cake pans
- Stand-mixer
Ingredients
Pizza Dough
- 100 g unsalted butter
- 460 g plain flour
- 7 g instant dried yeast
- 60 g polenta
- 1 ¼ teaspoon salt
- Tablespoon granulated sugar
- 300 ml lukewarm water
Toppings (for both pizzas)
- Tomato & Basil Sauce (or 400ml of any good quality pasta/pizza sauce)
- 100-115 g smoked streaky bacon, about 4 rashers
- 70 g pepperoni (thinly sliced)
- 375 g mozzarella (note)
- 45 g parmesan
- extra olive oil
Instructions
Make the Dough
- Butter - melt HALF the butter (50g) and allow to cool slightly. Leave the remaining 50g butter to soften to room temperature for later.100 g unsalted butter
- Dry Ingredients - using a fork or hand whisk, combine the flour, yeast, polenta, salt and sugar in a stand-mixer bowl.460 g plain flour7 g instant dried yeast60 g polenta1 ¼ teaspoon saltTablespoon granulated sugar
- Wet Ingredients – add the lukewarm water and cooled melted butter to the dry ingredients. Combine using a flexible spatula so that it comes together into a craggy dough.300 ml lukewarm water
- Knead Dough – using the dough hook attachment on low-medium speed, knead for about 4-5 minutes. The dough will end up soft and supple and starts ‘slapping’ around the sides of the bowl. It will stick a little to the bowl in a small area directly under the dough hook. When you stop and lift the dough hook, the dough (really) slowly ‘drips’ off (note).
- Dough Ball – liberally line a large bowl with olive oil (either using your hands or a spray). Oil your hands. Get the dough out of the stand-mixer and form a large ball. The dough will be very soft and quite sticky. Place the dough ball in the bowl, turning to coat in the oil.
Warm Rise
- First Rise - cover the bowl loosely with plastic wrap or a clean shower cap. Allow to rise in a warm environment for around an hour, until roughly doubled in size. It’s about the visual clues rather than any particular time limit – we want the dough to roughly double in volume. When you press a fingertip into the dough it will leave a slight imprint that will bounce back slightly. If dough is over-proved, the imprint will not retract at all. This isn't a deal-breaker, but you will find that the dough is a bit more floppy to work with and the end result will be a little less 'bouncy'.
- Baking Sheet - spray/rub a large baking sheet or tray with a little oil.
- Press Out Dough - tip the dough out gently onto a lightly floured work surface. Gently press down on the dough with your palms to remove any big air bubbles. Ease out to an evenly thin large rectangle roughly 30×20cm.
- Laminate – gently spread the very softened butter evenly over the whole top of the dough with your fingers. Roll up the dough rectangle from one of the short sides into a log shape.
- Divide & Shape Dough – cut the dough log in half along the length to make two equal-sized rods (no need to be exact). One at a time, pick up each dough portion and bring the ends underneath to meet. Shaping in your hands, gently gather up and pinch together any seams underneath to form a smooth ball. Place each ball on the baking sheet with some space between and around them.
- Cover - spray/drizzle the tops of the balls with oil and cover generously with plastic wrap. Seal well around the tray at the edges to keep the dough from drying out.extra olive oil
Cold Rise
- Second (Cold) Rise - allow to puff up and relax in the refrigerator (not in a warm place) for at least 1 hour (note) . They will flatten and relax slightly.
Fill & Bake
- Preheat Oven to Max. – at least an hour before baking the pizzas.
- Prep Fillings – fry and finely chop the bacon (note). Coarsely grate the mozzarella on the largest holes of a box grater. Finely grate the parmesan.100-115 g smoked streaky bacon, about 4 rashers70 g pepperoni375 g mozzarella (note)45 g parmesan
- Prepare Base – take the dough balls out of the fridge for 5-10 minutes to allow the butter to soften slightly. On an unfloured work surface, press (don’t pull and stretch) one of the dough discs into a larger flatter disc using your palm of your hand, moving from the centre outwards. We want it to be big enough to line one of your cake pans, about 30cm diameter. Try not to make too much bigger than you need for lining the base and up the sides with no overhang. Doubled-up crust gets a little thick. You can use a dinner plate as a guide.
- Line Tin – gently drape the dough circle over the back of your hand to transfer to a cake tin (no need to grease the pan first). You can reshape the dough a little in the tin. If you went a bit thin and there’s a hole, drag a little of the surrounding dough to cover it up. If part of the side is a bit low, press along the base and up the sides to work it higher. Repeat with the other dough ball.
- Oil Edges - brush the rim of the dough with a little olive oil. This is easier to do before filling.extra olive oil
- Fill Pizzas - share the grated mozzarella between the bases. Share out the bacon bits and pepperoni slices. Pour over the tomato sauce (there should be about 200ml per pizza). Use the back of a spoon to spread out to cover the ingredients underneath. Finally, sprinkle with the finely grated parmesan. The pizzas won’t be filled to the top, but the topping will rise up as the pizza base puffs up.Tomato & Basil Sauce (or 400ml of any good quality pasta/pizza sauce)
- Bake –for 15 minutes, until the crust is well-coloured, and the tomato sauce is bubbling hot.
- Rest - remove the pizzas from the oven and allow to cool in the pans for 15 minutes before removing.
Notes
Mozzarella - don't buy pre-grated cheese (ever!). It's got other products in it to keep the strands separate, but affect the melting properties of the cheese. Buy the firm stuff that's not packaged in water. You can grate it on the big holes of a box grater. No drying required. This mozzarella is usually cheaper than the balls sold in water and just as good for this purpose. Save the fancy stuff for caprese salad.
Adjusting the Dough - add a touch of water if the dough feels too dry, or flour if it feels too wet. Go slowly either way, only a teaspoon of each at a time. Allow some time for them to worked through the dough before deciding if you need more.
Cold Rise - the dough can pause here for up to three days in the fridge.
Cooking Bacon - a great way to cook crispy bacon - place rashers in a cold frying pan (no oil required) and turn up heat to medium. Turn them when browned and cook the other side. This renders the fat beautifully and you end up with evenly golden and crispy bacon.