Prize Winner

Finally documented: My Garlic Knots (here)

Seriously, you've got to try these things.

Windy City Style

A few years ago while visiting Chicago I tasted the famed Chicago Style Deep Dish Pizza. Let me tell you, it has its reputation for a reason.

I haven't had it since and don't think I even know of somewhere around here that serves Chicago Style Pizza. So naturally I decided to tackle it myself.

I've never been a fan of homemade pizza so I wanted to make sure I did it right - I did a lot of research! I read tons of dough recipes, tips, tricks, and musts. After my thorough reading, I dove right in! So here you have it:

Chicago Style Pizza

Dough

Ingredients:

3 1/2 C Flour

1 1/2 C Water

1/2 C Yellow Cornmeal

1/2 C Canola Oil (I just used vegetable oil)

1 tsp Sugar

1 tsp Salt

2 1/4 tsp  Active Dry Yeast

Directions:

24 hours prior to baking:

Mix water, sugar, yeast, flour, cornmeal,  and salt.

Mix at a low speed until  the dough comes together and then slowly add oil. Mix for 7 more minutes (in my reading I read that the less you knead the dough the more biscuit like your crust will be - which is more authentic to Chicago, but you may want it more "bread" like - I only mixed for 2 minutes).

Form the dough into a ball and place in a bowl - loosely cover with plastic wrap and then a dish towel and refrigerate over night.

One hour prior to baking:

Get the dough out of the fridge about an hour before baking.

Preheat the oven at least 30 min if not more at 450 (also in my research, everyone raved about a pizza stone - so we splurged for $13 (at target) and got one - I'M A BELIEVER! If you use one, make sure it is in the over for about an hour to preheat)

Once the dough has "rested" for and hour coat the bottom of a 15 X 2 deep dish pan (I bought a 12 x 2 cake pan from Michael's for $6.50 w/coupon - but this left dough over for garlic knots- Yum!) with regular olive oil (the recipe says specifically not extra virgin and I also added some cornmeal for the crust)

Place the ball of dough in the middle and spread out to the edge and then use your fingers to pinch it up on the edge (should be about 1/8" thick)

Now comes the toppings!

This is the trademark of Chicago pizza - you top it backwards!

Cover the bottom of the dough with sliced mozzarella (I just bought the ball of mozzarella and sliced it to my liking - which was a bit thicker)

Next add whatever toppings you might like (we did pepperoni and sausage)

Now comes the sauce (I was nervous about this, but it turned out AWESOME!)

One large can of crushed tomatoes (I think about 26 or 28 oz)

Spoon over the top of your pizza

Season with Italian seasoning, oregano, basil leaves, garlic salt (all to your taste - but since they are plain tomatoes I would suggest more than you think)

Sprinkle some Parmesan cheese.

Cook for 20 to 25 minutes (turning half way through) or until golden brown (this is where the pizza stone is genius - since it has been heating for an hour it distributes heat evenly on the bottom of the pan and cooks the crust evenly - which always seems to be the problem with homemade pizzas)

Let cool for about 5 minutes before serving

Doesn't that look delicious! I must say I was a bit impressed with it.

Ideas/Tips:

• Use the extra dough for garlic knots as a perfect addition to this meal
• My crust seemed to get a little thick right around the bottom edges - make sure to get it all even.
• I will for sure add olives or jalapenos or something - just the meat made it seem a bit lasagna-y

This was a bit more difficult/time consuming meal but I already can't wait to make it again - Anyone want to come over for a pizza night?

I want to make sure credit is given where credit is due - so I got this recipe here.

Pizza Joint Must-Have

I've wanted to find a good recipe for Garlic Knots and have read a lot of recipes, but last night I struck gold! I didn't even use a recipe I read - not that it is hard - but I just made them by what sounded good for what I like.

I better make these sparingly, with their bite-size goodness it is hard to limit myself!

Easy Peasy Garlic Knots

Ingredients:

1 can (11 oz) refrigerator pizza dough/crust

Butter (about 3 Tablespoons) - melted

Garlic Salt (this is for ease – you can use fresh chopped garlic)

Parmesan cheese (I prefer shredded)

Parsley (I just use dried and I even crumble it so it isn’t big pieces – but that is just personal preference)

Red pepper flakes

Directions:

-Open dough/crust and roll into a rectangle (when I opened my can it wasn’t a nice rectangle for me and I think the dough held together better after rolling it out)

-Cut 1 inch strips on the short side and then cut down the middle the long way (this does not have to be scientific, as long as they are pretty close the same size – but even if not it’s not a huge deal)

-Tie into knots (tucking the ends underneath so it is like a little ball) and place on baking sheet (they don’t grow too much so you can fit them all on one pan)

-Cook at 450 until golden brown (mine were maybe 10 min)

-Put in a large bowl and gently coat with melted butter (you can just stir them with a large spoon since they are so small and they nicely evenly coated)

-Next add Parmesan cheese, parsley, and red pepper flakes to taste (no real magic here – just do to your liking)

Wha-la! Deliciousness! And from start to finish – 20 min

Ideas/tips:

• These are delicious dipped in ranch, but you can also use pizza sauce or marinara sauce to dip them in
• You can probably use any bread dough for this, but I have used breadstick dough before and they were much more flat and light, the pizza dough is a bit more dense and I think more fitting for these.

(Sorry no picture - we ate them too fast to even have time for one -

but trust me, I will be making these again)