Where it comes from
Chicago deep dish was invented in 1943 at Pizzeria Uno (29 East Ohio Street) by founder Ike Sewell and pizzaiolo Ric Riccardo. The pan format and inverted layering were a deliberate departure from the Neapolitan pizza arriving with Italian immigrants — the Italian-American community of Chicago wanted something more substantial. Italian-Americans elsewhere (especially New York) refuse to call it pizza; Chicagoans don't care. Lou Malnati's, Gino's East, and Giordano's later codified variants, with Giordano's adding the stuffed-pizza form (a second crust on top, sauce above that).
On the plate
First cut releases steam and a slow molten cheese pull from the bottom layer. The crust is unlike Neapolitan or New York: 3cm thick, biscuit-like at the rim from the butter, faintly cornmeal-gritty on the bottom — closer to a savory pie shell than to bread. Eaten with knife and fork. Sausage chunks, then the bright still-acidic raw tomato on top — a layered structure, not a melt. A slice weighs about 350g; one is a meal.
How it works
The cheese-under-tomato order is structural, not stylistic. A 30-minute bake at 220°C with raw tomato on top would soak through any standard pizza dough; the cheese layer acts as a moisture shield, and the long bake renders the sausage in its own fat directly into the cheese. The buttery cornmeal crust is closer to a shortcrust than a bread dough — it has to support a 5cm-deep load of wet filling without going soggy, which is why butter (instead of olive oil) and cornmeal (for crisp structure) are both load-bearing.
Invented in 1943 at Pizzeria Uno (29 East Ohio St) by Ike Sewell and Ric Riccardo. Cheese-under-tomato is structural, not stylistic — the cheese is a moisture shield during the 30-minute 220°C bake; raw tomato on top would soak any standard dough.
Variations
Pizzeria Uno (1943, the original); Lou Malnati's (butter-crust); Gino's East (cornmeal crust); Giordano's stuffed pizza (second crust on top of cheese, sauce above that); Pequod's caramelized-cheese-edge pan pizza.
On the Palate
Ingredients
Serves 4
How it's made
6 steps · Show ↓50 min active · 130 min waiting
How it's made
6 steps · Show ↓- 18 min
Mix 320g all-purpose flour, 60g fine yellow cornmeal, 7g salt, 7g instant yeast, 5g sugar in a stand mixer. Add 200ml warm water (38°C / 100°F) and 60g melted unsalted butter. Knead on low 6 minutes — dough should be soft, slightly tacky, pulling cleanly from the bowl.
Watch outCornmeal makes the dough thirstier than standard pizza dough — if it's stiff, add water 1 tablespoon at a time.
- 290 min
Cover and proof at room temperature 90 minutes until doubled. Punch down. Optional: refrigerate overnight for deeper flavor.
- 320 min
Grease a 9-inch (23cm) round cake pan or cast-iron pan with 2 tablespoons softened butter, including the sides. Press dough into the bottom and up the walls to about 5cm height. Rest 15 minutes — the dough will relax and stay up the wall.
Watch outIf the dough springs back when pressed up the wall, walk away for 10 minutes — over-stretched cold dough tears at the corner.
- 45 min
Lay 250g sliced low-moisture mozzarella directly on the dough, edge to edge — this layer is what protects the crust from the wet tomato. Crumble 200g raw Italian sausage in chunks over the cheese. Optional: scatter sautéed bell pepper, onion, mushroom.
Watch outCheese goes UNDER the toppings, not on top — this is non-negotiable Chicago order.
- 55 min
Spoon a chunky crushed tomato sauce over the top: 400g hand-crushed San Marzano tomatoes, 1 minced garlic clove, 1 tsp dried oregano, ½ tsp salt, pinch sugar, drizzle olive oil. Do not pre-cook the sauce — it cooks in the oven. Dust with grated Parmesan.
- 645 min
Bake at 220°C / 425°F on the lower rack 30-35 minutes — top should be bubbling, crust deep golden brown, sausage cooked through. Rest 10 minutes before unmolding — molten cheese needs to set or it floods.
Watch outIf the crust browns before the center cooks, tent with foil for the last 10 minutes.
