The best American Italian pizza dough recipe (Chicago style)

This Chicago style American Italian pizza dough recipe is so simple, you'll wonder why you have never tried it before. Get a pizza dough with a nice crusty base. So simple you’ll wonder why you didn’t try it earlier.

Why an Italian Pizza Dough recipe?

The best pizza in the world is from Italy. This is an Italian pizza dough recipe that I found via a genuine American Italian chef from Chicago Illinois. (Home of the Chicago Town pizza of course). I believe this is one of the simplest yet also one of the best recipes for a pizza there is going.

In our family, we use this recipe more than the simple pizza dough recipe that I have because of how forgiving it is with measurements and how quick it is to make.

If you want a pizza like Pizza Hut or Dominos, then use the simple pizza dough recipe. If you want something that is a bit more thin base crispy Italian style, then this Italian pizza dough recipe is the daddy.

If you are looking for pizza dough options and detailed instructions how to make it, try my pizza dough calculator. This offers all weights and measures to get a great dough.

I thought Chicago Town Pizza was Deep Pan?

Well that's correct, Chicago is the home of the Deep Pan Pizza. This is the recipe they use for that. It is possible to use this dough to make a deep pan pizza but you need two things extra. First of all, you will need a good quality deep pan pizza base dish. This will be where your dough gets cooked in so something that will be non stick and pass the heat through will be important.

Secondly you will need to have quality cheese for in between the pizza dough. This is because the deep pan pizza requires two layers of dough which will need to be cooked first before any toppings get put on. The best sort of cheese to use is a mozzarella or a grated parmigiano cheese to place between the layers.

What else can I make with this dough?

So aside from Pizza, the Italian pizza dough recipe below can be very flexible in what you can make with it. In the past I have made:

• Bread rolls - divide the dough in to 10 equal pieces after the initial rise.
• Garlic bread - make a slightly smaller base and add garlic butter on it before cooking.
• Doughballs - roll a load of individual balls (marble size) after the initial rise and they will only take 6 minutes to cook.
• Ciabatta - a rustic Italian roll. Sprinkle with olive oil before cooking.

So many options are available with this dough and the possibilities are endless. Serve them up with a Barbeclette raclette cheese accompaniment.

Stuffed crust?

So let's go one step further, and this is my daughters favourite bit with this Italian pizza dough recipe. The option to make it a stuffed crust is SO easy. Two words, Cheese Strings. Get a pack of cheese strings and slice lengthways. Then fold over the edge of the base to cover it up.

This will cook the base and melt the cheese string in the middle. Yum. This is one of my favourite simple pizza dough recipes to stuff with cheese.

Best Chicago style pizza dish

While you can cook this on a pizza stone and get a good enough effect, I find that a tray with a lip edge or even a cast iron skillet pan are good items to use to bake the base.

Using a pizza oven will mean the top might cook quicker than the bottom so the tip here is to bake the base first for a few minutes and then bring out the part cooked base, add the sauce and toppings and then put back in to finish off.

I can guarantee it will take you a few attempts to get right so don't expect this to be perfect first time especially if you are holding a pizza party or gathering of people.

Stretch pizza dough without sticking

To stop pizza dough sticking to either your hands or the work surface when stretching it out you need to use a different flour to the dough. So if you have used 00 flour in the dough, use semolina flour or rice flour when stretching. This will stop the flour getting absorbed into the mix and so will not stick.

I recommend using semolina flour as a work surface covering. Make sure your hands a dry when working with this flour otherwise it will ball up into a sticky mess.

Freeze for later

This dough can be frozen for use at a later date too. The best time to freeze it is after the initial rise. Split the dough however you need it, then seperate off and freeze in individual portions.

Make the dough in bulk and freeze them all. When needed, just then lift out what you require a few hours before you want to use it.

The Recipe

Tell me how you get on with making this dough. Have you managed to get the recipe down to a perfect work of art? Better still, are you throwing the dough around like a professional pizza chef? If you are not, don't forget you are always able to roll the dough out with a rolling pin and still get a successful pizza base.

Try it out with other recipes such as the Nduja pizza recipe or even some garlic dough balls.