Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Chicago Style Pizza



This morning I planned to make homemade pizza for supper.  Well... let me back up.  Last night my husband wanted to order out pizza for supper.  We had some errands to do and just ended up eating leftovers when we got home so I decide this morning to quickly make some pizza crust so that I could make homemade pizza for tonight's supper and avoid that whole $12 pizza thing.

I made a half batch of 5 Minute A Day Dough in about 30 seconds flat this morning, stuck it in the fridge, and called her GOOD!  It's that easy and makes two pizzas for this half batch of dough.

Quicky instructions for that would be:

Measure and stir together gently:

1 1/2 cups hottish (hot but no hurt) water and added:
1 teaspoon yeast (about half a packet)

While that was dissolving, I measured  and stirred in a mixing bowl:

3 1/4 cups of all purpose flour
1/2 Tablespoons salt

I dumped the yeast/water mixture over and stirred as well as I could to get it all incorporated.  Covered it with a plastic grocery sack and stuck it in the fridge.

When I got home, I preheated the oven to 400 degrees, took out an iron skillet for my Chicago Style Pizza and a cookie sheet for Doug's regular pizza.

Chicago Style Pizza
 
I don't have any real experience with "Chicago Style Pizza".  I just saw it featured on The Food Network and gave it a try.  Chicago Style Pizza seems to be pizza that is inside out.  The crust goes first, then the cheese, then the toppings, the sauce, and finally some parmesan, and/or sometimes, more mozzarella.
 
Here's how I make Chicago Style Pizza AT HOME MY WAY.

dough for the crust (5 Minute a Day recipe HERE)
pizza sauce (jarred or just use tomato sauce + seasonings)
toppings:  mushrooms & pepperoni
mozzarella (I grated half a 16 oz block = about 8 ounces)
parmesan (I use the canned stuff.)
oil/cooking spray for the pans

To make the Chicago Style Pizza:

Remove the dough from the fridge and sprinkle with flour. 

Remove a little less than half of the dough from the bowl (a half batch of 5 Minute a Day Dough) and place it in a lightly greased iron skillet.  A pie pan works great as well.  Let it rest for about 10 minutes.

Press out the dough into the sprayed/lightly greased/oiled skillet/pie pan.  If it keeps springing back, walk away and let it rest 5 minutes or so.  It will work better after a little rest.



Sprinkle the crust with grated mozzarella.




Next, add some toppings.  I used pepperoni and mushrooms.



Drizzle with sauce and carefully spread it over the toppings.



Sprinkle with parmesan cheese (I use the canned stuff.)



Bake in preheated oven (400 degrees) for 30-35 minutes or until lightly browning.  You may need to peak underneath the crust to see if it is browning.


Here's Doug's pizza, before and after. One half batch of dough made both of these pizzas.

Before baking:



and after:



We had a great supper and spent a lot less than $12!  I made both of these pizzas with a half block of 16 oz of cheese, a half jar of pizza sauce, a can of mushrooms, a small amount of a package of pepperoni, and a few sprinkles of parmesan.  Both of us agreed that this was just a DELICIOUS SUPPER and we have leftovers for lunches tomorrow (since there are only two of us). 


Enjoy!
 
Gina