Chicago Stuffed Pizza

Ingredients:

• Dough - Start 1 day before

  • 1 1/4 cups (300ml) slightly warm water

  • 2 1/4 tsp (7g) Instant yeast (1 standard packet)

  • 3 and 1/4 cups (406g) all-purpose flour

  • 1/2 cup (60g) yellow cornmeal

  • 1 1/4 tsp salt

  • 1 tbs (12g) granulated sugar

  • 1/4 cup (4 Tbsp; 56g) butter, melted

  • olive oil for coating

• Sauce - Start 2 hours before cooking time

  • 1/2 cup diced onions (1 small onion)

  • 1 tbs butter

  • 2 cloves garlic, diced

  • 1 - 28oz can of crushed tomatoes

  • 1 tsp dried oregano

  • 4 tsp sugar

  • 1/2 tsp salt

• Fillings

  • 1/2 lb Hot Italian sausage

  • 1 tbs fennel seeds, crushed

  • 8 oz mushrooms

  • 12 oz frozen spinach

  • 8 oz sliced provolone cheese

  • 8 oz sliced mozzarella cheese

  • 2/3 cup grated parmesan cheese

• 10 in pan with 1.5-2 in depth

Directions:

• Dough:

  • Add the warm water (90° F) to a small bowl then stir the yeast pack in. Allow to proof for 10 min.

  • Combine the flour, cornmeal, salt & sugar to a mixing bowl and stir to combine.

  • Add the butter & yeast then use the dough hook to roughly mix till just combined. Cover and allow to sit for 15 minutes.

  • After the rest, mix for 10 minutes to build the glutton.

  • Move to a clean mixing bowl with a little oil, cover and allow to proof for 2 hours till doubled in size.

  • Move to the fridge for 24 hours

  • Remove 30 minutes before using.

• Sauce:

  • About 2 hours before you are ready to cook the pizza, start the sauce.

  • Saute the onions in butter and a little oil if needed for 5 min till softened.

  • Add the garlic for about 1 min.

  • Stir in the tomatoes and remaining ingredients and simmer for 1 hour to consentrate the flavors. The sauce needs to be a little thicker for using on the pizza.

• Fillings:

  • Prepare the sausage by crushing the fennel seeds then mixing it into the sausauge.

  • Place the sausage on parchment paper and roll out to the size of your pan.

  • Sauté the mushrooms and squeeze the liquid out of the spinach.

• Assembly:

  • Divide the dough into 2 pieces, one about 3/4 of the dough and the other the remaining 1/4. Approximately 16 oz & 7 oz.

  • Roll the larger piece to about 15 in and the smaller to 10 in. Adjust to the size of your pan. Cover the dough and let sit for 15 min.

  • Butter the bottom and sides of the pan.

  • Lay the larger piece of dough in the pan allowing the excess to hang over the edges.

  • Place the disc of sausage on the bottom then layer with the cheese slices. You may not use all the cheese slices but make sure there is a very good, overlapping layer of cheese.

  • Add the remaining toppings, mushrooms and sausage in this case.

  • Place the smaller dough on top then fold the excess from the bottom dough over and crimp over the top dough to seal. Trim any dough if there is too much hanging over.

  • Pierce the top dough a few times then cover the pizza and allow to reset for 30 minutes.

  • Heat the oven to 425.

  • Just before baking, top the pizza with a thick layer of sauce and a coating of parmesan cheese.

  • Bake for 30 minutes.

  • Remove from the oven and let it rest for 10 minutes. You should be able to use a knife and slide the pizza out of the pan to a cutting board. You may need scissors to cut the pieces.

Notes:

• Servings - 1 pizza will feed 3 or 4 people

• Dough recipe - Chicago-Style Deep Dish Pizza - Sally's Baking Addiction (sallysbakingaddiction.com) 

• Pizza construction recipe - Stuffed Pizza | King Arthur Baking