Recipe: Chicago Tavern Style Pizza
Tags: recipe, pizza, chicago
Published: 2019-12-30 17:25:57

Though Chicago may be known for its stuffed, deep dish and thick crust pizzas, a vast majority of the pizzas sold and consumed are thin crust, what is known in the trade as Tavern-Style Pizza. The stuffed and deep dish being a relatively recent invention from the early 1970s and 1940s respectively. Thin tavern style dates back to Vito and Nick's Tavern opened and operated by Sicilian immigrants in the 1920s. Thick crust is the second oldest Chicago pizza tradition based off of Sicilian pan pizza as well. 

I spent my teenage years working in a Barnaby's Pizza in the suburbs of Chicago and ran the pizza kitchen 6 nights a week. The oven had 6 rotating shelves that held 6 large pizzas each. I didn't think I would ever make pizza again when I left Barnaby's. 

When I moved to Ireland I was able to find good Neapolitan style pizza. There is even a Rays Original New York pizza in Dublin -- as well as Broadway Pizza Parlour if you are the the mood for New York style pizza. 

As far as Chicago style here in Ireland, there are no options but to make it myself. There is one place that offers what they call Chicago style, but it is just an Irish pizza with chicken and corn -- the farthest thing from Chicago style. Chicken and corn don't belong on a pizza. 

So here is my recipe based on a copycat Home Run Inn dough recipe that is now blocked in Europe, Barnaby's, Fassano's, and of course JB Alberto's -- the best pizza in the world. 

## Dough

> **NOTE:** Since dough has a long fermentation period it is impractical to make dough for 1 pizza. The dough recipe will make 3 pizzas, where unless noted the rest of the recipes following is for 1 pizza.

> After fermentation you can evenly split the dough into three dough balls and freeze the remaining for later use. 

 * 1 cup warm water
 * 4 cups of plain flour
 * 2 tsp salt
 * 2 tsp or 10 grams of active dry yeast or 14 grams of instant dry yeast or 30 grams of fresh yeast
 * 2/3 cup of corn oil

### Directions

 * Dissolve the salt in the warm water. Add the yeast, mix well, and allow to activate for 5 minutes. 

If you are using a Thermomix or a bread machine, you can just add the remaining ingredients and allow the machine to knead the dough for 2-5 minutes. 

For the manual method:

 * Add 1 cup of flour and mix well. 
 * Add 2/3 cup oil and 1 and 1/2 cup flour and mix well. 
 * Add remaining 1 and 1/2 cup flour and mix well. 
 * Knead the dough for five minutes. 

Place the dough in a large bowl and cover the dough with a dampened cloth and allow to ferment in a warm place. It may be helpful to place the dough in a proving box or in the oven with the oven light on, or set to 50°C with oven door open, for an hour to help start the fermentation process. 

After an hour or two punch down the dough. 

Allow the dough to ferment at, or a little above, room temperature for 24 hours. Place the dough in the refrigerator and allow to ferment for an additional 24-48 hours for a total of 48 to 72 hours.   


## Sauce

> 700g passata should give you enough sauce for 3 pizzas. 
 
 * 500 - 700g Passata 
 * 140g Tomato Puree 
 * 1 tsp salt
 * 1/2 tsp Ground Black Pepper (do not use coarse ground -- the finer ground the better)
 * 1 tbsp Dry Basil
 * 2 tsp Dry Oregano 

The thicker or more rustic the passata the better. Passata from sweet tomatoes, rather than acidic, works better -- though avoid adding sugar. 

### Directions

 * Pour the passata into a large bowl and mix in the tomato puree. 
 * Mix in the salt to taste, it should be a balanced.
 * Mix in the black pepper to taste, the pepper should not overwhelm the sauce. 
 * Mix in the basil and oregano. This should give the sauce its signature taste. 

## Sausage

> Except for dough, sauce and cheese -- all of the other toppings are optional. 

Sausage on pizza is not a thing here in Ireland. Ordering sausage on a pizza and you may end up with hotdogs or breakfast sausages on your pizza. 

Pizza sausage is not a cased sausage, but rather the sausage filling. The key to the flavour is the fennel seeds. 

In Chicago it is the most popular topping, where pepperoni or salami would be the most popular the rest of the world over, which may trace back to Chicago once being the "hog butcher to the world" with the industrial pig slaughterhouse and now infamous stockyards at the end of the 19th century. 

 * 100g minced pork (should be between a ping-pong and billard ball in size). You can ball and freeze the remaining pork -- or make more sausage. 
 * 2 tsp Salt
 * 2 tsp Ground Black Pepper (fine ground)
 * 2 tsp Smoked Peperica
 * 2 tsp Dry Basil
 * 1 tbsp Fennel Seeds

### Directions

 * Flatten the minced pork onto a plate.
 * Spread the ingredients over the pork.
 * Mix the sausage well by folding it into itself, then form back into a ball. 
 * This can be refrigerated until needed. 

## Onion

Peel and hand dice one white onion into 1 cm cubes. 

## Mushroom

Wash and thinly slice 2-3 medium white mushrooms. 

## Green Pepper

 * Wash and cut inwards on the stem side of the pepper to remove the seeds. Remove any connecting tissue and wash the inside of the pepper.  
 * Thinly slice rings, .5 to 1cm thick, from the open side of the pepper. 
 * Then slice these rings in half. 

> **NOTE:** 1 green bell pepper is enough for two pizzas. 

## Black Olive

 * Soak 6-8 black olives in water for 5-20 minutes to remove salt and brine. 
 * Slice the olives as thin as possible. 

## Cheese

> **NOTE:** Use dry mozzarella blocks rather than fresh mozzarella or grated mozzarella. Fresh mozzarella has too much moisture and grated mozzarella will lack the flavor. Dunnes, here in Ireland, stocks mozzarella blocks.   

 * Grate 200g dry mozzarella block with Thermomix, food processor or by hand. 

## Assembly

Preheat your oven as hot as it goes. If you have a pizza stone place it on the bottom rack of your oven and allow it to preheat for 40 minutes. 

### Crust

Separate the dough into three even balls.


Flour your workspace and roll out the dough into a circle 15 inches in diameter. Use a 14" oven pizza tray as a template or guide. Around the pizza track you should have a half inch overlap around the pizza. It should be about 1/2 (.5) cm thick. Use a rolling pizza cutter to trim off any extra. 

Dust your pizza peel or a large preparation tray with corn meal (polenta) and transfer the dough and pizza tray. Crimp the edges around the pizza dough with the your thumb and forefinger.

If your oven does not go to at least 250°c or 500°f, blind bake your pizza crust for 5-7 minutes on a well greased baking or pizza tray before assembling the pizza. 

> If your oven goes up to at least 250°c and you have a pizza stone, there is no need to blind bake. 

### Sauce

Spread 5 tbsp of sauce with a ladle or large spoon over the dough all the way to the inside of the edge crimps. Be sure not to leave any gaps. 

> Left over sauce may be used as a pasta sauce.

### Sausage

Sausage is the first topping on the pizza. 

With your thumb and forefinger grab 20 cent to 50 cent balls of sausage and press down onto the pizza edge just inside the crimp, circling inward at 1-2 inch spaces. Be sure to flatten these out as any peaks sticking out from the cheese will burn.  

### Pepperoni (alternative to or additional to sausage)

Pepperoni cannot be ignored as a pizza topping. 

The best pizza pepperoni I have found is Horgan's Brand pepperoni (made in Germany) sold in Fresh markets. The Tesco brand pizza pepperoni is also good. 

> Pepperoni goes under the cheese between the sausage and onion, not on top of the cheese. 

Place each slice around the all the way to the edge crimp, with no gap between each pepperoni and wind all the way in. 

1 package of Horgan's pepperoni makes 1 pizza. 


### Mushroom and Onion

Both of these go under the cheese as well. 

Spread the onion, and then the mushroom, evenly over the pizza being sure to get to each edge. 

### Cheese

Start with the outside of the pizza and spread the cheese all the way around just inside, and all the way up to, the crimp at the edge working your way to the center of the pizza. 

> Because outside of the pizza will cook faster than the ceter, you should imperceptibly cheese the parameter more than the center. 

### Green Peppers and Olives

Spread the peppers and olives all the way to the edges of the pizza. 

### Final touches

Sprinkle a tsp of basil and a pinch of fine ground black pepper over the pizza. 

### Bake 

Bake until the (white) cheese starts to turn from yellow to brown. 
![Perfectly Done Pizza](https://thepracticaldev.s3.amazonaws.com/i/1re24mdpnt8n815cb76a.jpg)

Remove from oven. Place a cold oven grate onto your workspace and pass the pizza peel or a large knife (or both) under the pizza to remove as much of the polenta (corn meal) from the bottom of your pizza before cutting. 

Put the pizza back onto the peel and cut into squares with three parallel cuts across the pizza, then repeat with three cross parallel cuts. Use a large knife rather than a circular pizza cutter.