Most people think of Deep Dish with sauce on top when they picture Chicago style pizza. But in reality, Chicago pizza is tavern-style – with a thin, almost crackery crust, sauce and cheese all the way to the edge, and cut into a grid shape rather than triangles. Chicagoland natives like my husband and his family have fond memories of precisely this style of pizza. While you can easily make tavern style pizza with store-bought ingredients, taking the time to make it from scratch is more than worth it.
Tips for Making Tavern-Style Pizza
One reason why you’ll more likely see pizza at a restaurant than at home? You can easily batch the steps to make pizza, but it requires quite a bit of prep time. Pizza at home exists along a spectrum of “totally from scratch” to “grabbed at the grocery store.” You can take a few shortcuts if you wish (pre-grated “pizza blend” cheese, jarred sauce, precut pepperoni) to save time. However, if you want to make it totally from scratch, I’ve got a few tips.
The Crust
The crust is absolutely the most important part of making a successful tavern-style pizza. The desired result is a thin, crisp crust that’s strong enough to support the toppings. Believe it or not, the ingredients required for the crust are exactly the same as any standard pizza crust: flour, yeast, water, oil, salt, and sugar. It all comes down to the preparation technique.
There are two possible ways to get the very thin, crispy crust. First, you can roll the pizza out and let it sit in the fridge uncovered for an extra day. Second, you can roll the crust out and bake it slightly (parbake), then remove it from the oven and add the toppings and bake again. Parbaking saves both time and fridge space, so I included that method in my recipe.
The Sauce
The Toppings
How to Make Tavern-Style Chicago Pizza
Tavern Style Pizza
Equipment
- Electric stand mixer with dough hook optional but very helpful
- Food scale
- Medium mixing bowl
- rubber spatula
- whisk
- 68 oz container with lid
- 4 Smaller containers with lids
- Food processor or strong blender
- Pizza Stone
- Pizza Peel optional but very helpful
- Cheese Grater
- Ladle
- Cutting board
- Knife
- Frying Pan
- spatula
Ingredients
For the Crust
- 14 oz room temperature or slightly warm water
- 1 tsp active dry yeast
- 2 tsp sugar or honey
- 23 oz bread flour
- 2 1/2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tsp salt
For the Sauce
- 1 28-ounce can whole peeled tomatoes
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp minced garlic (2-3 cloves)
- ½ teaspoon salt
- Fresh Italian herbs (rosemary, thyme, basil, oregano) or 1 tbsp dried Italian seasoning
Toppings
- 2 lb fresh mozzarella grated or sliced
- 1 lb Italian sausage
- 1 lb pepperoni
- 4 oz banana peppers
Instructions
For the Crust
- Add the yeast, sugar, and water to the bowl of your stand mixer and let stand for 5 minutes.
- Weigh out your flour, and add it a scoop at a time to the mixing bowl. Make sure it's just incorporated between each addition.
- Halfway between incorporating the flour, add the salt.
- Keep adding the flour and mixing until the dough starts to come together (it doesn't need to be perfect, just 90% there). If you overmix, the dough will be too tough.
- Turn the dough out into a container with a lid at least 2x the size of the dough ball.
- Cover the top loosely with plastic wrap, add the lid, place in the fridge, and allow to rise at least 12 hours, preferably 24.
- Once the dough has risen, flour a clean surface and grab your kitchen scale.
- Weigh the dough out into 4 equal portions, roll them into balls, and place each ball in its own smaller container.
- If making pizza immediately, allow the balls to rest for 2 hours at room temp. If making pizza later, place each container in the fridge for up to 1 week.
For the Sauce
- If using fresh herbs, remove the leaves from the stems and add to a small bowl.
- Add all ingredients to the bowl of a food processor or blender.
- Blend all ingredients together until smooth.
- Transfer to jars and store in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
Assembly and Cooking
- Preheat your oven (with a pizza stone in it) to 550℉, or as high as your oven will go.
- Flour a clean surface and roll out 1 ball of pizza dough into a 12-inch pie. You'll want it to be as thin as possible without tearing or allowing light through.
- Pick up the dough with a pizza peel or pizza pan, and place on the pizza stone. Bake for 2 minutes.
- Remove crust from the oven. Allow to cool until you can safely touch it, then tamp down the bubbles on the surface.
- Using a ladle for ease, pour sauce on the pizza crust and use the underside of the ladle to evenly smooth it around.
- Liberally sprinkle mozzarella over the top of the sauce.
- Place your desired toppings in an even layer over the top of the pie.
- Place the pizza back in the oven (this is where the peel really comes in handy). Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the cheese is browning in the center.
- Cut into a grid shape for authenticity. Top with fresh grated parmesan and red pepper flakes.
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