deep-dish double-crust stuffed pizza slice
I caught the cooking bug early in my childhood. As a kid I had a lot of positive food influences, including a big garden in my yard where I learned to harvest and can vegetables, lots of gourmet magazines and cookbooks, and my mom. My mom is both a practical and creative cook with a sense of adventure. Both of my parents were from small towns, so they were never exposed to the sophistication of big-city fine dining, but good, simple, healthy food was always a part of our family’s life.
My mom stayed at home until my youngest brother was born. Until that point, she spent most of her time taking care of us brats and working the homestead. A big portion of that “taking care of us” time was spent cooking. When my mom cooked, she cooked big–and I mean physically. There were five of us in my family, four of us boys with big appetites. I’m sure that the need to feed a crew of that size good food had something to do with my mom purchasing the Chicago Style Deep Dish Pizza Maker Kit back in 1978.
Chicago Style Deep Dish Pizza Maker recipe book
The pizza kit came with a deep-dish pan, a special clamp to pull the hot pizza out of the oven, and a recipe book. That book–with grease splotches and pencil and pen tick marks next to the ingredients, compiled over years of use–holds some of the very first recipes I ever prepared on my own. The recipes for the incredibly savory, cheese and onion dough that makes up the two blankets of aromatic crust and the slightly sweet, not-too-chunky sauce with just the right amount of oregano will always have a place in my repertoire.
deep-dish
Sometime, probably around the time I was 11 or 12, when my mom started working outside of the home, I was left with the task of looking after my two younger brothers. It was during this time that I began taking an interest in some of the cooking shows that were on television and reading through our library of cookbooks, magazines, and recipes to make lunch for my brothers and eventually, dinner for my parents. I began to really enjoy the process of cooking. I loved handling the ingredients, chopping things, and watching the recipes evolve into a finished product. Most of all, I loved sharing my food with other people and seeing their reactions when eating it. To a kid with the blessing of his mother to have full range of the kitchen, what better thing to cook up than a hulking, stuffed, deep-dish pizza?
deep-dish pizza ingredients
And so this recipe became the “stuffed of legends.” Not to be confused with my wife, Chelsea’s, “Stuffed of Life.” Although I haven’t made this recipe in at least 20 years, I’ve always had a place in my heart for it. I’ve told Chelsea about it a million times, and it has always been one of those things that I’ve promised to make for her. She finally got her wish–and helped in the preparations–and I got to experience the sight, smell, texture, and flavor of the pizza once again thanks to my mom, who brought the recipe book to me this past weekend. If you want the recipe you’ll have to visit our pleasant house. In all seriousness, it’s a simple recipe, and if this post inspires you to roll up your sleeves and make a deep-dish at home, you can use any pizza dough recipe or store-bought dough, your own sauce recipe, or even store-bought sauce (I recommend Pastorelli).
One note: The original pizza kit is from Sassafras Enterprises, Inc. in Evanston, Ill. Via email last weekend, the founder of the company informed me that the original Sassafras pizza-making kit was the influence for the many products that her company now specialises in–children’s products for baking–and Sassafras strongly believes “that there is a resurgence in home cooking and kids are leading the way!” I would have to agree.
Freaking YUM.
How does the crust stay crisp and flaky with everything piled onto it?
Steve,
The bottom crust stays nice and crisp during the long baking time because the sauce is on the top crust. Since the crust stays nice and crisp it is also really good cold. Which is a good thing when you know you’re going to have left overs.
Art – thanks for the comment on my blog (Gamblingblues.com – about The Publican and Apple TV). Even though I fully believe Chicago-style pizza is a crime against humanity, I enjoy what you guys are doing around here. Keep it up!
I have to say, although I enjoy pizza in all its forms, my favorite has always been crispy, thin crust, sweet-ish sauce. My favorite pizza joint was a place called Chesdan’s on Archer Ave., near Polonia Banquets between Kedzie and 47th. They closed some years ago, unfortunately. Me and my parents used to go there every Friday night when I was a kid, for years and years. They had a great jukebox (Off Broadway “Stay In Time”!) and a few of the earliest coin ops, back in the day. We’re talkin’ 1980. Man, I loved that place. And I loved their pizza.
Ahhh, the power of pizza… Thanks for the story Steve. Are we talking table top Galaga and Asteroids?
Well, I remember Chesdan’s having, in the very early days, one of those electronic bowling machines with the metal puck. Then, it must have ben ’80, they had Pac Man, which was mind-blowing for the time. Over the years they had Space Invaders and a couple others I can’t recall. But it was Defender that had me begging my dad for quarters all the time.
I really miss all of the privately-owned pizza places and family restaurants from the ’70s and ’80s. Great memories that make the food from those restaurants seem all the more impressive.
We used to go to Connie’s all the time as well, 25 years ago when it used to be on (I believe it was) 26th street. I think it’s a funeral parlor now. It was cozy and always packed with a long line at the front door. During the winter months they had a big, raging fire burning in a large, square fireplace in the middle of the dining room. I know it sounds hard to believe, but the pizza back then, at that location, was excellent. What happened?
I think progress happened Steve. When businesses realize they’ve got something good they start thinking about things like multiple locations and how to make their product faster, cheaper, more efficient and easy to transport. Brand recognition eventually becomes more important than the actual product. Gone then, are the days of hand tossing dough and making sauce from scratch. Now, the name still exists but it may seem like a soulless version of something you used to love.
This topic is quite hot on the Internet at the moment. What do you pay the most attention to when choosing what to write about?
@Heartburn Home Remedy,
It seems like deep dish has gotten a lot of attention as of late. Shortly after I published this post I was staring at a giant deep dish pizza on the cover of Chicago’s Red Eye daily and an an in depth story on the origins of deep dish.
The answer to your question is part of the answer to why Chelsea and I chose to start The Pleasant House. Basically, we are paying the most attention to those things about food that mean the most to us. It’s our house, so to speak, and everyone is invited. Many of the posts are personal, like the stuffed pizza post, but I think there is great value in sharing it. Chelsea and I have been together for about ten years and I’ve been talking this pizza up for ten years and finally decided to make it after my mom had been going through recipes and thought I’d be interested in having the pizza recipe book that I had first used when I was probably 11 or 12 years old. So, a simple recipe turns into a piece of writing that is about my early inspiration, a fulfilled promise to my wife, an informal thank you to the originators of the recipe and what is hopefully a fun read for anyone who stumbles upon it.
If you thumb through The Pleasant House you’ll see posts that are about our travels, the holidays, foraging and brewing. I hope that helps to answer your question and quell your heartburn.
Hi – a quick question from across the pond (I’m in Holland – okay, pond and river)
I’ve never, ever had this kind of pizza but it’s something that we in the smaller kitchens of Europe could possibly swing. I want to give it a try but I wanted to ask about the top layer of dough on the pizza.
It seems that the top layer, without vent holes, would just end up a soggy layer of dough. Does it cook properly and crisp up?
It’s 6pm now – the stores are closed so I’ll have to wait until Monday to see if I can find a Pyrex dish like that. Always looking for a good excuse to try a pizza recipe – and buy more cookware.
Hi Jim,
The top layer doesn’t get crisp but it does cook through and isn’t gummy. You could definitely put some holes in the top crust if you wanted to.
Honestly, the best thing about this type of pizza in my opinion is that you can take the general idea and run with it however you like. It’s kind of a like the great savory pies that you find in other countries. If you like the idea of a crisp top crust then you could cover it with some fresh, hand-crushed tomato and a little basil so that you get the tomato flavor but retain a crisp crust.
And as far as the dish goes, perhaps you have a pie pan or cast iron skillet that you could experiment with? As long as you have something with high sides it should suffice.
Have fun with it and let me know how it goes!
Very cool – great to hear that!
I’ve only got a springform pan so I’ll try and grab something soon that’s lower and has more of an inclined side. When it cooks up I’ll let you know..
(Hmm…perhaps personal pan sized…hmmm)
I had a quick question about the crust. I lived near Chicago for about 3 years and fell in love with deep dish (Art of Pizza and Lou Malnatti’s being my favorite 2) and have been trying to emulate it ever since. I’ve done quite well in everything but the crust. Although the crust gets crispy, it never has that buttery, almost fried bread taste that I get when I have it made the right way.
What is your basic recipe for the crust? Any tips on achieving the buttery crispy flavor they’re able to come up with in the restaurants?
Thanks in advance.
I will tell you Micah that buttery, fried flavor comes from a lot of oil. Some of these chains, according to a baker friend of mine, use copious amounts of “butter product” in their crust. So much that he has one of those, “you wouldn’t believe it if you saw it” looks. Try a short crust recipe with butter in it and try oiling your pan. My recipe calls for shredded parmesan and romano in the crust and this makes for a richer and crisper crust which I think think is great for deep dish–I like it better than the pizzeria’s crust because I know exactly what I put into it–good butter, good flour, good cheese.
[...] tamales Chicago Style Stuffed Pizza [...]
I have been searching for these recipes after losing my booklet in a flood. As a Chicagoan living in the South, I crave the basic pizza dough and sauce recipes. Any way you could email me the pages from the booklet. I would love to wow my Southern friends.