Description
Chicago tavern style pizza is a thin crust pizza that is cut into squares. The sauce should taste of herbs and the crust should be sturdy, crunchy and crisp along the edges.
Ingredients
1 lb pizza dough for 2 pizzas
2 T Cornmeal (1 T per pizza)
6 ounces spicy Italian sausage per pizza
6 ounces whole-milk or part-skim mozzarella, shredded on the large side of a box grater, per pizza
Dried Oregano
Other Toppings include: diced green peppers, diced onions, sliced mushrooms, sliced pepperoni
Pizza Sauce:
1 8 ounce can tomato sauce
1 T tomato paste
2 t sugar
1 t oregano, 1/2 t garlic powder, 1/4 t black pepper, 1/2 t salt
1/2 t crushed fennel seeds
More oregano for sprinkling on top of pizza
Instructions
For sauce: Whisk all ingredients together and set aside.
For pizza:
Preheat oven to 500 degrees with pizza stone on the lowest rack. I let the stone heat for 60 minutes.
After dough has risen, on a lightly floured countertop using a rolling pin, roll dough into a 12 to 13" circle, or as thin as possible. My pizza stone is 14" in diameter. If dough keeps springing back when rolling, let rest for 10 minutes but do not let the dough get to warm or it will not be easy to transfer to the pizza stone. Transfer the rolled pizza crust to a cornmeal dusted pizza peel. You may have to reshape it a bit into a circle.
Spread 1/2 c tomato sauce in a thin layer over the crust to within an 1/8" inch of the edge. Top with your favorite toppings but do not over-do or you may have a hard time transferring to the pizza stone. Put the Italian sausage on last in flat dime-sized pieces, then sprinkle with 1 1/2 c of shredded mozzarella cheese. Sprinkle the entire pie with dried oregano.
Carefully slide the pie onto the preheated pizza stone and bake until cheese is well browned and edges of pizza are dark and crisp, about 10-14 minutes.
The hardest part of this recipe is sliding the pizza onto the baking stone. Hold the pizza peel or the unrimmed baking sheet at a downward angle and using side to side motions (rather than back and forth motions) with your hands carefully slide the pizza onto the baking stone.
When pizza has finished baking slide back onto the pizza peel and let cool slightly before cutting pizza into 2 -3" squares. (Bar or tavern pizza is always cut into squares!)
Notes
The other way to do it is to assemble the pizza on parchment paper and then slide the parchment onto the pizza stone. I do like the flavor and texture of the cornmeal so I do my best to get it onto the stone. Dough that is to warm or to laden with ingredients has a hard time transferring.
With help from Cook's Country
Pizza sauce can be adjusted to taste. However I like mine very herby tasting with a bit of spice.
