ILLINOIS - Deep Dish Pizza

What better way to start off than with my very own home state. It’s known as “The Prairie State,” “The Land of Lincoln” or just good ol' Illinois (the “s” is silent). Illinois became a state in 1818, and was the 21st state to enter the union. In 1865, Illinois was the first state to ratify the 13th Amendment to the Constitution abolishing slavery. A total of three presidents, Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, and Barak Obama have been elected from Illinois, but Ronald Reagan is the only president to have been actually born in the state (Tampico, IL). For all you comic book nerds out there, you’ll be interested to know that Metropolis, the home of Superman, really exists in Southern Illinois. He his honored by a giant statue on the main square, and every June, the city holds a festival called "The Superman Celebration." On to some interesting food trivia. Des Plaines, IL is home to the first McDonald’s, and the ice cream "sundae" was named in Evanston, IL. In 1890, due to influence from the religious community, the town passed an ordinance prohibiting the sale of ice cream sodas on Sundays. However, ingenious drug store owners, still technically obeying the law, started to serve ice cream with the syrup of your choice, without the soda. Because the dish was only served on Sunday it became known as such, but objections were made to naming a dish after the Sabbath, and spelling of "sunday" was eventually changed to "sundae.”

Alright, enough history, let’s get down to business. To honor my home town and great state of Illinois, we’re going to make a Chicago style deep dish pizza. Now this isn’t some wimpy, floppy, greasy, fold in half and stuff in your mouth while you’re walking on the street thing. This is a sit down at the dinner table with a fork and a steak knife, hearty meal of greatness. To make this even more authentic, I’ll be wearing my Mike Ditka Chicago Bears sweater while cooking this meal DA BEARS! If you’re not familiar with deep dish pizza, the main thing to know is that it’s basically assembled upside-down. Cheese goes on first, then topping and then sauce. Let’s get started.

First order of business is to make the pizza dough. This recipe makes enough for dough for a pizza cooked in a 12in deep dish pan, or you can cut the recipe in half to make a pizza in a 9in pan (which is what I did). As far as the pan goes, you can go a head and spend some money buying one of those custom made deep dish pizza pans, or you can take a cue from me, and just use a trusty spring form cheese cake pan. I already had it around the house, and it makes cutting and serving the pizza a hell of a lot easier.

Pizza Dough:

1 cup warm water
1 package yeast
3/4 cup cornmeal
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons melted butter
2 ½ - 3 cups flour

Start by putting the warm water in a mixing bowl and add the yeast until it dissolves, then add the corn meal, salt, sugar, olive oil, and melted butter. You’ll want to whisk it for about 5 minutes so that the cornmeal dissolves and the yeast starts to proof. Now, if you have a kitchen aid mixer, here’s a great time to fire that baby up. I don’t have one, so I’ll be doing this the old fashioned way, with my clean, freshly washed hands.

Next, add one cup of flour and mix it up well, then add the remaining flour, 1/4 cup at a time, until you can handle and kneed the dough without it sticking to your hands. You may not need the whole 3 cups of flour, or you may need more. You will have to use your judgment. Next take the dough out of the bowl and kneed it by hand on a countertop. If you have made the dough right you will not have to put any flour down, or you will only need a minimal amount. Kneed the dough for 3 to 5 minutes. Again, this is a judgment call.

Now we have to let the yeast do its magic and let the dough rise. Lightly oil the inside of a bowl and place the ball of dough inside, cover it with a kitchen towel and set aside on the countertop. The dough will take around 2-3 hours or until it doubles in size. Now is a good time to clean the kitchen and go out for a movie, or a few drinks with friends.

After the dough has risen, punch down the dough into a ball. Place the ball of dough on the counter and flatten it with your hand. Then, using a rolling pin (or wine bottle in my case), roll the dough into a uniform circle 1/4 inch thick. Take your dough and carefully place it into the pan. Form the crust by pinching the dough 1 1/2 inch up the side of the pan.

Pizza Toppings:

½ lb sliced mozzarella cheese
1 link sweet Italian sausage
1 jar sliced mushrooms
15 oz can pizza sauce (store bought or home made)
Grated Parmesan cheese
Grated Romano cheese

Now comes the fun part, adding your toppings. My family always has sausage and mushroom pizza, so that’s what I’m making today. The first thing you will put on is the slices of mozzarella cheese. For a 9in pizza, I used a half pound. Then one link of sweet Italian sausage. Break open the casing and evenly spread little chunks of the sausage over the cheese. Next comes the mushrooms. I like to used the sliced jar mushrooms, because that’s the way my momma makes it. You can use fresh mushrooms or other vegetables, but make sure to cook them first. Otherwise the water in the vegetables will sweat out into the pizza and make it soggy. Then, cover the pizza with pizza sauce. You can used can store bought (like I did) or, if you have time, make your own. Put enough sauce so that it’s just covering up all of the toppings. Then sprinkle the top with Romano and Parmesan cheese. At my store, you can buy Romano and Parmesan already grated and mixed together.

Time to cook the pizza. Preheat the oven to 475ºF. Bake the pizza at 475ºF for 15 minutes. Then, lower the temperature to 400ºF and bake the pizza an additional 25 minutes until the crust is golden brown. Let the pizza cool 5 minutes and then serve and enjoy.