Tried and True Recipe: Chicago-Style Pizza

My family loves pizza. I've tried many different variations throughout the years, from BBQ Chicken Pizza to Ciabatta Bread Pizza. We like any version really but one does stand out in regards to being flavor-packed and easy to make. You may remember me mentioning it last year; it is the Chicago-Style Garlic and Butter Pizza. Made it so often that it has become the Tried and True Recipe of the Pizza World; for this house anyway! 

Tried and True Recipes (TNT) are those great, no-fail recipes you reach for again and again. I am doing a TNT series here on this blog where I will post one of my family's TNT recipes every other Sunday. See my previous posts:

TNT Recipe: Favorite Brownies

TNT Recipe: Blueberry Pancakes

Tried and True Recipes Intro

So this is what the pizza looks like:

13x9 pan! Yay! Makes it so much easier to do. If you have a Pyrex dish of some sort you might want to make the pizza in that. It allows you to take a peek of the bottom while cooking to make sure it is not too under or over browned.

So here is the recipe and a side note to go with it. It is not necessary to use garlic and butter in the crust. The garlic can be completely omitted (which I did once and it still was tasty), and vegetable or olive oil can be substituted for the butter.

Update: I modified the following recipe on 4/14/13 to make it closer to what I personally do.

Chicago-Style Garlic and Butter Pizza Crust

Yield: One 13x9 pan / Click here for printable recipe

• 1 (2-1/4 tsp.) package active dry yeast
• 1-1/4 cups lukewarm water (110F - 115F)
• 3-1/4 cups flour, plus more for dusting (Try using half bread flour; makes for a chewy crust)
• 1 tsp. sugar
• 1/2 cup cornmeal
• 1 tsp. salt
• 4 tbsp. butter
• 4 garlic cloves, minced 
• pizza toppings, your choice (What I Did: My toppings were homemade pizza sauce--tomato sauce, dried basil, salt and pepper, sugar--mozzarella cheese, sliced bell peppers lightly sauteed, and browned, Italian pork sausage)

Directions:

1. In a measuring cup, dissolve yeast with 1-1/4 cups lukewarm water and sugar. Wait until yeast starts to "bloom" or create foam. 

2. In a small saucepan, melt butter. Add garlic to butter and cook on medium heat until fragrant. Move from heat. 

3. In a large bowl, combine flour, cornmeal, and salt. Stir in yeast mixture. Add butter and garlic mixture.

4. Turn out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead until soft and elastic, about 5 minutes. Lightly grease a large bowl, add the dough and turn to coat. Cover and let rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour.

4. Deflate dough. Grease a 13x9" baking dish and press in dough to cover bottom and 2 inches up the sides; let rise for 20 minutes. While waiting for dough to rise, preheat over to 400F.

5. Top pizza dough with your favorite toppings and bake for 30 minutes.

Ciabatta Bread Pizza

1/24/11: Ciabatta Bread Pizza

Meal details: Pizza with a Ciabatta bread crust, homemade pizza sauce, and a pepper, pepperoni, and cheese topping.

Defining moments: First time for us to try out Ciabatta bread, which, by the way, is an Italian bread that is usually used when making panini. The interior of the bread has very large holes so it a great candidate for soaking in flavors like olive oil.

Recipe sources: No recipe was needed for this pizza. Annemarie came up with the concept last Fall and we've been waiting to try it out since. We actually prepared our bell peppers for the freezer in a special way (cut them into ring shapes), just for this pizza.

The pizza sauce was concocted by me, so read on to find it!

What I learned: I created a very tasty recipe for the pizza sauce. I made Sloppy Joe's the Saturday before (I used this recipe here), and I kept a pint of our tomato puree and about a cup of canned tomato paste. On the day of this pizza's creation, I combined these two ingredients with some spices, sugar, and apple cider vinegar. I'll write it out here:

Homemade Pizza Sauce

Yield: Makes about 3 cups

Ingredients:

• 2 cups (16 oz) tomato sauce
• 1 cup (8 oz) tomato paste
• 2 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
• 1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tbsp. white sugar
• 2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. pepper
• 1 tbsp. dried basil
• 1 tbsp. garlic salt

Instructions: Combine all ingredients in a medium sauce pan and cook over moderate heat. Reduce until consistency resembles apple sauce. I recommend tasting at this stage and adjust seasoning if necessary. When it comes to a tomato-based recipe, you usually need to change something in your ingredient lineup.

Now how exactly did I put this pizza together?

I cut the ciabatta bread loaves in half lengthwise and brushed them with a 1/4 cup of olive oil. I then placed them in the oven for about five minutes at 425F; just to crisp up the cut side. I then smeared my pizza sauce over the entire surface of the bread and followed it with lots of shredded mozzarella and monterey jack cheese. On top of the cheese, I fanned out some pepperoni and bell pepper rings evenly. I moved both pizzas to the oven preheated at 425F and I baked them for about 20 minutes, or until the cheese was golden brown and the peppers were sizzling.

Any modifications? Created this recipe.

How it tasted? Very, very, very, very, GOOD! The ciabatta bread made a terrific, crunchy crust and the sauce was zingy and had distinctive tomato flavor.

How about a 2nd time? Oh yes, definitely. And maybe next time I will use homemade ciabatta bread--sounds interesting, huh?

Basil Bliss -- Tomato and Basil Pizza from Scratch

7/4/10: Tomato and Basil Pizza

Meal details: The sole dish comprised of a tomato, mozzarella and basil pizza. I used pizza dough made from scratch, our homemade tomato sauce, and fresh basil from my herb garden. Talk about homemade!

Defining moments: I've made pizza before many a time (both from scratch, the mix, and frozen), so nothing new for me this week.

Recipe sources: The pizza dough recipe came from the basic recipe section of the 2500 Recipes from Everyday to Extraordinary cookbook. The toppings idea, however, comes from yours truly.

What I learned: There is one thing that stands out for me with this pizza, and that is the sauce I used. I used my family's homemade tomato sauce (which we use as spaghetti sauce so it has all kinds of flavors. . . Peppers, onions, garlic, and different seasonings), and this is something I haven't used as a pizza sauce. I thought it might be kind of liquid-y but after 30 minutes of reducing, it was perfectly thick. And about the addition of the basil. I knew from my Le Hog Pizza experience that sensitive ingredients like thin cut meat or basil will burn if added at the beginning. That is why I sprinkled chopped basil before I added the cheese and added the final basil leaves during the last ten minutes of cooking.

A little side note here. I used one quart of tomato sauce for two 14" pizzas.

Any modifications? I followed the dough recipe exactly.

How did it taste? It was fantastic! The dough was crispy and chewy at the same time. But you know, with all that flavor packed sauce, the gooey mozzarella, and fresh basil, I can't see why it wouldn't!

How about a 2nd time? Absolutely.

We're Knee-deep in Deliciousness --- Experiencing Deep Dish Pizza

4/11/10: BBQ Chicken Deep Dish Pizza and Cookies and Cream Cake

Meal details: For the main course I made a deep dish style pizza with a bbq sauce, mozzarella cheese, chicken, bell pepper, and onion topping. And for dessert I made a chocolate cake with a cream cheese frosting, all of which had Oreo crumbs whipped in! I'm an Oreo fiend so you can see why I chose this type of cake!

Defining moments: I finally was able to use a Christmas gift I received last year. They're called Evenbake Cake Strips and they are from Regency.
Another defining moment for me this week was making a deep dish pizza. Never did that before!

Recipe sources: The recipe for the pizza crust came from the King Arthur's Flour blog, Baker's Banter. I didn't follow the instructions for the topping though, I made my own by combining chicken, bell peppers, onions, bbq sauce, and shredded mozzarella cheese. The Cookies and Cream Cake is a Pat and Gina Neely recipe and I specifically chose it because I am part of the Food Network Chef Cooking Challenge that is being hosted by the writer of the I Thank My Mother blog.

What I learned: You know those cake strips I just mentioned? Well, I learned that they are suppose to help your cakes remain level and moist. To use them, you have to saturate the strip in water, squeeze a little, wrap it around your cake pan, pour the batter in, and bake. Really simple and I discovered that it actually works! My cakes (I made a two layer cake) came out with a level top and they were incredibly moist. So I give this unique kitchen gadget 2 thumbs up! :D

Any modifications? I just modified the pizza toppings, I did everything else according to the recipes.

How it tasted? Can you believe that people are still talking about that pizza days afterwards? In a good way, too! ;) Everyone loved the pizza and the Cookies and Cream cake was exceptional. Annemarie, who is from Chicago, said that the pizza crust is just like the real thing. Wow, huh?!

How about a 2nd time? Are you kidding? Of course!

Pizza Heaven

1/31/10: Le Hog Pizza and Peach and Blueberry Crumble

Meal details: For the main course I made a pizza using homemade pizza dough that was topped with a white sauce, bacon, ham, etc. For dessert, I made a crumble consisting of two of my favorite fruits: peaches and blueberries.

Defining moments: First time making a white sauce (aka cream sauce). I've seen this done many a time on tv and I was very excited to try this one out.

Recipe sources: Both recipes came via the Food Network channel. The pizza recipe is from Guy Fieri, the host of Guy's Big Bite and the crumble is from Ina Garten, the host of Barefoot Contessa--Back to Basics. I chose to do these two recipes in honor of the FNCCC (Food Network Chef Cooking Challenge) that is being hosted by the I Blame My Mother blog. Ina Garten is one of my favorite chefs so I have been looking forward to doing one of her recipes since the beginning of the challenge. The pizza dough recipe came from the basic recipe section of the 2500 Recipes from Everyday to Extraordinary cookbook. I received this cookbook as a birthday gift and it has many delicious sounding recipes in it.

What I learned: I learned a very unique way of baking pizza in the oven. The 2500 Recipe cookbook told me to place my pizza dough on a lightly oiled sheet of heavy-duty aluminum foil and stretch it to my desired diameter. I then add the pizza toppings and move the whole pizza--foil and all--to the oven. (I used a cookie sheet to transfer it.) The book says to leave the pizza on the foil for the whole baking time but when it was in the oven for 15 minutes I didn't see any browning action happening on the bottom. So as soon as the pizza was sturdy enough, I moved it to our pizza pans that have large holes on the bottom and I gave them another 15 minutes to bake. The bottom crust was then able to brown. I didn't want to put the pizza on the pizza pan at the beginning of baking because I thought it would seep through the holes. I think the foil and pan technique worked out well.
I also learned how to make a cream sauce which was unexpectedly easy. I was thinking about this sauce all week long and when it was time to make it, I was finished in a matter of 10 minutes. For some reason I was wishing the process took longer!
I didn't learn anything new from doing the crumble. I've done similar preparations in the past.

Any modifications? Yes, I made major modifications to the pizza recipe and a couple to the crumble. The pizza recipe found on the Food Network website is the scaled-down version of a recipe used in a restaurant. The recipe was scaled down drastically and, in my opinion, suffered dramatically. Proportions were way off in some places. This is my revised recipe for two 14" pizzas:

Le Hog, Revised Edition:

• Pizza dough (I used the pizza dough recipe found in this cookbook and doubled it)
• 6 meatballs, broken up
• 1 lb. chopped cooked bacon
• 10 slices of honey ham cold cut slices
• White Sauce (see recipe below)

Roll out pizza dough to 14 inches and top with white sauce, bacon, and meatballs. Bake in a 425F oven for 25 minutes. Top with ham slices and bake for another 5 minutes.

White Sauce recipe:

• 2 tbsp. butter
• 1 large onion
• 1 clove garlic
• 3/8 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup chicken stock
• 12 oz. whipping cream
• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
• 1 tbsp. black pepper

In large pot, over medium heat, add the butter, onion and garlic and saute until the onion is translucent. Stir in the flour and when flour starts to bubble, whisk in the chicken stock, cream, cheese, and pepper. Remove from the stove and cool. Yield: 3 cups.

For the peach and blueberry crumble: The original recipe had ramekins in mind and since we don't have those I used a 4 quart casserole dish and tweaked the recipe. This is my ingredient list:

For the fruits:

• 1 1/2 quarts of canned peaches, drained (I used the peaches I canned last year, see here to learn more)
• 2 teaspoons dried lemon peel (didn't have any lemons on hand)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3/8 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 quart frozen blueberries
  

For the crumble:

• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3/8 cup brown sugar
• 3/4 tsp. salt
• 3/8 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1 1/2 sticks cold butter

How it tasted? Both dishes were wonderful. The pizza was crispy and slightly chewy and the white sauce was very rich and flavorful. The crumble was warm, tart, and sweet. Everyone liked the meal!
How about a 2nd time? For sure!

Note: There was enough white sauce to cover both pizzas. I just wanted to make sure half of one pizza was done in the ''traditional'' way just in case someone didn't want to give the new sauce a go.

Not My Best Showing

11/15/09: Pizza and Apple Pie from Scratch

Meal details: For the main course I made three different types of pizzas: Broccoli and Parmesan, BBQ Chicken, and Traditional. For dessert I made two apple pies, one with Gravenstein apples and the other using apples picked from a wild apple tree growing on our farm.

Defining moments: This would be my first time making apple pie! Can you believe that one?

Recipe sources: I came up with the pizza toppings but I used a recipe created by Cat Cora for the dough. Check it out here. I chose this recipe because I am part of the Food Network Chefs Cooking Challenge that is being hosted by the writer of the I Blame My Mother blog. (Learn more about this fun challenge by visiting this page.)
For the pie now. I made the pie crust using the following recipe that came from The New Antoinette Pope School Cookbook, but I did shorten the instructions significantly.

DOUBLE PIE CRUST

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour -- sifted
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 cup shortening (we use butter flavored Crisco)
7 tablespoons cold milk (about)

Sift together dry ingredients and with pastry blender, cut in shortening until mixture looks like coarse meal. Add enough milk until dough appears moist but not wet. Try not to use more than 7 tablespoons unless necessary to hold dough together. Turn dough out and knead for a few seconds to hold mixture together. Handle as little as possible. Roll out using your favorite technique.

I didn't follow a recipe for the apple pie filling, I just did what Annemarie usually does. Which is...

Apple Pie Filling:

2 tablespoons flour
8 cups of apple slices *
1/2 cup sugar
3 tablespoons butter

Directions:

Place bottom crust in pan and dust with the flour. Add the apple slices and sprinkle sugar on top, no need to mix. Dot apples with butter. That's all there is to it! No cooking whatsoever.

* I used Gravenstein and a wild apple for my pies this time. For those who are interested in making their own, I suggest using the following varieties: Northern Spy, Idared, Jonathan, and Empire.

What I learned: It was difficult for me to make six, 10" sized pizzas using Cat Cora's pizza dough recipe. There just was not enough dough to work with, and because of this I had to break out a box of pizza dough mix. So if you are going to do this recipe, expect four, 10" sized pizzas or six, 6" sized pizzas. The dough is lovely to work with by the way!
I learned something invaluable this week and that is to bake my apple pies for a longer time! I've only done one type of fruit pie before and that was peach. With a peach pie it is easy to tell when it is done because you just wait until the peach juice bubbles. But this is not so with apple pie. So I was having a hard time deciding when to grab my potholders and I ended up under baking. Oops! :( Next time I will bake them at 350 degrees for 45 minutes and no less.

Any modifications? No, I followed the pizza dough recipe exactly.

How it tasted? The pizza dough was delicious and I liked how thin I rolled it out. Everyone liked the Broccoli and Parmesan pizza the most; the BBQ Chicken came in second.
The pies were just OK namely because of me under baking them. I was really disappointed by that! The wild apple didn't impart enough flavor; won't be using them again.

How about a 2nd time? I will be using the pizza dough recipe again but will double the recipe or just make one large one.

The Broccoli and Parmesan Pizza. I simply brushed the dough with olive oil, pre-baked it for two minutes, added the vegetables and cheese, then placed it back into the oven for 20 minutes at 375.



This is the BBQ Chicken version. I pre-baked the crust for two minutes, added the BBQ sauce, chicken, and mozzarella, then placed it back into the oven.



This is the Traditional Pizza. It is larger than the others and the dough was made using a boxed mix and some of Cat Cora's dough. The toppings are store bought pizza sauce, chicken, and a Monterey Jack/Colby cheese mix.





Mr. Apple Pie, I hope our next meeting shall be more pleasant.

The Word is "PIE!"

6/10/09: Chicken BBQ Pizza and Peach Pie with Asparagus on the Side

No, June 10th is not a Sunday but it happens to be my youngest sister's birthday. Many months prior to her birthday she was requesting me to make BBQ Pizza and Peach Pie for her birthday supper. Click here and here to see my past experiences with BBQ Pizza and here and here for the peach pie. The asparagus came in later and let me tell you how and why. Back in May my family watched a PBS special called Asparagus: Stalking the American Life (you can learn more about this show by visiting this blog). During the duration of the 53 min. program we learned about a farmer who lives in our area who was combating the foreign trade issue. Later on, around the end of May, this same asparagus farmer stops at our farm market and promises to bring some of his asparagus to us on a later trip. He stayed true to his word and last week he gave us 10 pounds of fresh picked asparagus!

The asparagus: (I steamed some and pan-roasted the other half. My family hasn't really tasted asparagus before so we're kind of testing it using light seasoning.)

So here are some photos of the peach pie (1 of 2) made using the canned peaches my family did last year:

My youngest sister can't seem to get the pie ecstasy out of her system! For the past 6 days she has been constantly saying with much ardor: "PIE!"

Roll Out the Red Velvet Cake for Our Mother Mary!

5/10/09: Chicken BBQ Pizza from The California Pizza Kitchen and Red Velvet Cake for dessert.

• Sources: Pizza recipe came from recipezaar.com and the cake was from Annemarie's Betty Crocker cookbook. I made the Chicken BBQ Pizza before, so check it out here.

• Defining moments: First ever Red Velvet Cake and first time using a piping bag. You can certainly tell it was the first time--read on!

• What I learned and modifications: Did you know that Red Velvet Cake and Devil's Food Cake are one and the same except that the former has red food coloring added? I didn't know that one!

I chose to bake a cake this Sunday in honor of the month of Mary: May. I was planning on adding fondant roses to the cake but wasn't able to find glycerin in time. I then decided to make the roses out of buttercream frosting but yours truly had one of her clumsy moments and the piping bag came apart at the seams. One big and heavy sigh. I couldn't make the roses this time but I'm looking forward to buying another piping bag and decorating tools to have at least one little rose to come into existence. I requested The Icing on the Cake from the library so should be able to figure out what I need soon.
So any mods this time? Well, I sort of winged it with the pizza recipe. I never did follow it, even for my first attempt. The recipe ingredients sort of sowed the "seed" in my mind and I went on from there.
Here is what I did:

Becky's BBQ Chicken Pizza
Prep: 1 hr. Cooking: 25 min.
Yield: Two 10 x 15" cookie sheets
Ingredients:

• 1.5 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cooked and cut into 3/4 inch cubes
• 3 boxes of Jiffy Pizza Dough Mix
• 4 cups of bbq sauce (I add some ketchup, worcestershire sauce, and granulated garlic to Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ Sauce)
• 1 medium onion
• 1 1/2 c. bell peppers
• 2 1/2 c. shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions: Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Cook the chicken in the dutch oven with 2 cups of water. After they turn light brown take them out and cut them into small cubes, then transfer them back into the pan and wait until they are thoroughly cooked. In the meantime, cut the onion and peppers and prepare the bbq sauce and pizza dough. After the chicken is done move it to a small bowl and toss it with a small portion of the sauce. While the chicken is cooling knead the dough and role it out to the pan size. Spray the pans with cooking spray and move rolled dough to each pan. Pat down and stretch dough up sides of pan. Bake crust for 2 minutes. Take pans out of oven and brush crust with bbq sauce. Top with onions, peppers, chicken, and cheese. Place back in oven and bake for 25 minutes. Cut each pizza into 8 pieces. IMPORTANT NOTE: I must leave two pieces free of onions and peppers for Annemarie. :)

• How it tasted? Can you really complain about this pizza? No, I didn't think so. The cake was good, too, even though it was missing a rose. I believe Mary wouldn't find fault with it so that's good to know. :)

• What about a 2nd time? Yes, indubitably.

Here's a cake for Mary. You can see that I used the star tip with the piping bag for the filling--before it broke!




What's this?! My photographer happened to take a shot of me cooking the chicken! Boy, you're a sneaky one, sis!

Going Against the Grain

12/28/08: Chicken BBQ Pizza from The California Pizza Kitchen

• Sources: recipezaar.com. See recipe here.
  

• Defining moments: Tried an iffy recipe. Yes, when I first came by this recipe I thought it sounded really "extrana" (aka "strange", I'm learning Spanish right now, hehehe), so I kind of was risky that day. Paid off though as you will soon find out!

• What I learned: Boxed pizza dough is really easy to use. All I had to do is dump the box contents into a bowl, add water, stir, let sit 5 minutes, and that's it. Maybe it was too easy. . . I like to feel like I am doing something.

• How it tasted: My goodness, everyone flipped over this one! I guess it was a good idea to try something a little bit out of the ordinary.

• How about a 2nd time? It was liked so much that I made it again in the middle of the week.