Deep Dish Chicago Style Pizza (+some files recovered!)

One of the first recipes and files I recovered after my website crash disaster was this one: A pizza night Ev and I shared in our first house together on Hamilton street in Springfield, that we called the “pink house”.

We had some pretty funny roommates in that house, it was quite the neighborhood, and our cats Coco and Carol Brown used to roam the streets and bring home guest cats for a saucer of milk on the porch. We called that cat “Le visitor” after the great 1993 french film.

I was so excited when I found these photos because I have such fond memories of this night. There was a big blood moon we watched from the front porch, and there was lovely music playing while we cooked.

We talked about how one day, we’d go visit Chicago and Ev would take me to this pizza place he’d been to that had the best deep dish.

We ended up a few years later, visiting Chicago on a whirwind day trip to get my French passport renewed, and of course, we went to that place and ate the pizza. And it was cheesy and delicious: But still nothing compared to this one, shared together in our first home, love in the air.

Cheers to pizza, and the nostalgia of good memories.

Recipe from February 23rd, 2016

A while back, we made an evening of making two big deep dish pizzas, stuffed with all the best fillings Chicago Style pizzas are good for.

I’m a big fan on thin crusted, wood fire pizzas, but after taking on this project, a good deep dish pizza may be an equal rival. I’ve gained much more respect for this style of pizza and the amount of toppings I can pack on without making the crust flimsy

Here’s an outline if you feel tempted to invite some friends over, and make some too..

Pizza Dough:

1 package of yeast

3 cups All purpose flour

3 tbs olive oil

1 tbs sugar

1 tbs salt

1 cup warm water

dissolve the yeast into the warm water and let sit for five minutes. Add flour and mix, then add all other ingredients, and stir with a wooden paddle or with your hands. Let dough rise 1 hour in a warm area before use.

Toppings:

Caramelized onions

Bacon

Mushrooms

Anchovies

Spinach

Cheese: shreaded blend and goat cheese

Pizza sauce

In an oiled cast iron pan, place rolled pizza dough and spread sauce. Add toppings in layers, adding more sauce as you go. Bake at 375degrees for 35-40 minutes.