Chicago deep dish pizza in a deep pan with thick tomato sauce on top

Chicago-style deep-dish pizza

Chicago Deep Dish in a Pizza Oven

Name: Chicago Deep Dish in a Pizza Oven
Yield: 4 pizza
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: 1240 g flour; 680 g water (55% hydration); 25 g salt; 6.2 g instant yeast; 37 g olive oil; 12 g sugar; 720 g low-moisture mozzarella, sliced or torn (goes in first); 400 g italian sausage or seasoned ground beef (raw); 520 g crushed tomatoes (thick, barely seasoned); 8 garlic, minced; 8 g dried oregano; 40 g extra virgin olive oil; 80 g parmesan, grated (scattered over sauce)

Chicago, Illinois, USA · round · deep pan · tall crust

Chicago deep dish inverts everything you know about pizza. A buttery, slightly enriched dough is pressed into a deep, well-oiled cast-iron or dark steel pan with a tall wall of crust. The cheese — a generous layer of sliced or torn low-moisture mozzarella — goes in first, directly on the raw dough. Toppings (Italian sausage, vegetables) go next. Then a thick, barely-seasoned crushed-tomato sauce blankets the top. It bakes slowly at low heat for 30–40 minutes; the base caramelizes and crisps against the oiled pan while the sauce reduces slightly on top. Using a small amount of semolina flour in the dough is optional but adds the characteristic slight crunch and richness.

What sets it apart — Cheese on the bottom, sauce on top — the inversion is intentional. The long, slow bake turns the sauce into something closer to a rich tomato stew. A single slice is a meal; a whole pie feeds four comfortably. This is not pizza you eat by the slice standing up.

How many pizzas?

makes 4 × 500g balls
2000 g total dough

The dough · baker’s %

Flourstrong 00 or bread flour1240 g
Water55% hydration680 g
Salt25 g
Instant yeast×1.25 active-dry · ×3 fresh6.2 g
Olive oil37 g
Sugar12 g

Bake

250–280°C · 480–540°F30–40 min

Place the deep pan on the stone at lower heat. This is a long, patient bake. Rotate at the halfway point. The sauce will reduce and darken on top; the crust edge should be golden-brown. Check the base by lifting one corner with a spatula — it should be deeply caramelized, not pale.

Serving

Cut into wide wedges. The molten cheese interior runs into the sauce on the first cut — let the pie rest 5 minutes before serving. Eat with a fork.

Topping — scaled for 4 pizzas

Low-moisture mozzarella, sliced or torn (goes in first)720 g
Italian sausage or seasoned ground beef (raw)400 g
Crushed tomatoes (thick, barely seasoned)520 g
Garlic, minced8
Dried oregano8 g
Extra virgin olive oil40 g
Parmesan, grated (scattered over sauce)80 g

Mozzarella down, sausage, chunky tomato up

Layer strictly in order: mozzarella directly on raw dough, crumbled raw sausage over the cheese, then ladle the tomato sauce (stirred with garlic, oregano and a little oil) over everything. The sausage cooks raw in the bake and does not need browning. Scatter Parmesan over the sauce and bake. Do not mix the layers — they stay distinct.

Ferment & prep: Mix a firm dough — slightly enriched with butter or extra oil if desired, and 10% semolina for texture (optional). Bulk-ferment 1–2 h. Butter or oil a deep 30cm pan generously (25g+). Press the dough into the base and up the sides to form a tall wall. Rest 20 min before filling — the dough will relax and the gluten will settle.