Stuffed Chicago Style Pizza

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There is a pizza place in the Oakland Bay Area called Zacharay's that specializes in stuffed Chicago style pizza. This was my first introduction to this style of pizza many years ago. I have since visited Chicago and tried it at the source, but Zachary's will always be what I aim for when making this style pie.

When I lived in California I was within an hour drive of being able to stop in and order without having to create the dish myself. Now that I live in Oregon, and that is not an option, I've had to determine how best to replicate the recipe.

I've shared my method for a thinner crust off the grill (the dough for this pizza is the same recipe), so it is only right that I share the extreme opposite. A stuffed Chicago style pizza is a deep dish pizza, filled with cheese and toppings, enclosed with a thin layer of dough and topped with sauce. This is pizza that nearly demands to be eaten with a fork!

I don't lean more heavily one direction or the other what style of pizza is the best. I can equally enjoy a thick crust or thin crust pizza and every variety in between depending on what mood I am in. I believe each has its time and place. That being said I will note that this style of pie takes a bit more work to assemble, but the results are vastly different from your standard take out.

Dough

I use the same dough recipe as my grilled pizza.

Allow the dough to proof and double in size.
Punch the dough down and again allow it to double in size
Scale the dough into roughly a 1/3 and 2/3 portion and again allow it to proof and double in size. There is going to be scrap dough so no need to be exact on the sizing.


Before Proofing	Doubled in Size	Split the dough into 2/3 and 1/3 and allow to double again

Sauce


	I like to keep my sauce simple. I used a 28-ounce can of crushed tomatoes and stirred in the following. 1 Tablespoon garlic powder, 1 Tablespoon onion powder, 1 Tablespoon dried basil, 1 Tablespoon dried oregano, 1 teaspoon dried thyme, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon sugar and 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

Assembly

Photo	Step
	Preheat your oven to 450°F and place a pizza stone or inverted sheet pan on the middle rack. Grease a deep dish pizza pan, or cast iron pan, with butter and lightly dust with cornmeal. I used a 10" cast iron pan. There is enough dough in my recipe to fill a 12" pan, there will just be less dough scraps at the end with a larger pan.
	Roll the larger dough portion to roughly 1/8" thick so that it has enough excess dough to hang over the sides of your pan (I used the excess dough for breadsticks). Place the dough into the greased pan and lightly press so that it evenly lines the pan. Line the bottom of the dough with sliced provolone cheese. Sliced works better than shredded on the bottom layer to give an even flat surface to build on.
	Fill with your favorite toppings about half way up the pan. I choose to pre blanch my spinach, roast the mushrooms and brown the veggie sausage before hand. I have made this in the past without precooking the ingredients and I preferred the texture of the dough using precooked ingredients. I have a hunch that less moisture helped with a crispier outside crust.
	My son didn't want spinach or mushrooms so I left 1/4 of the pie with just cheese and sausage.
	Top the toppings with shredded mozzarella and parmesan cheese.
	Roll the smaller dough portion as thin as possible. You should almost be able to see through it. Place the rolled out dough on top of the cheese. pinch the top dough into the bottom dough and use a sharp knife or pizza cutter to trim the dough around the edges of the pan. I use the scraps to make breadsticks, but you could make a more traditional pizza as well.
	Score the top dough 10-12 times with 1/2" cuts to allow steam to escape while cooking.
	Top with roughly 1 cup of the sauce. Make sure the dough is not visible underneath to prevent bubbles. You may note in the finished pictures I actually had one bubble come up during cooking. This is what you are trying to prevent with the scores in the dough and plenty of sauce up top.
	Sprinkle 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese over the top of the sauce. Place the pan in the preheated oven, on the pizza stone or sheet pan, and bake for 35-45 minutes until the dough has pulled away from the sides of the pan and is well browned on the edges.

Time to Enjoy

Photo	Step
	Remove from the oven when golden and you can see the dough pulling away from the sides of the pan
	Use a large spatula, or fork to remove the pie from the pan onto a cutting board. I would suggest letting it rest for five minutes before cutting to give everything a few minutes to cool, but I'm typically impatient at this point and can't wait 😀
	The larger the knife the better. If your knife won't span across the entire pie, cut from the middle to an outside edge and turn the board to complete the full diameter cuts. I have found eight to be the perfect number of slices so cut the pie in half then the halves in half and half the remaining quarters.
	Enjoy! 🍕
	The dough scraps made a full 10" pizza that I brushed with butter, pesto, dried herbs and some left over shredded cheese. I cut these into bread sticks and served with the accompanying salad that I served while the pie was cooking.