Deep-dish Pizza with Beef, Bacon and Sage Meatballs

Hannes Kruger

26 October 2022

Photos by Hannes Kruger

8

Servings

3

Hours

5
(15)
It's cheesy, it's saucy, and it's meaty. This Chicago-style deep dish pizza recipe is one of the most flavorful and comforting pizzas you'll ever have. What a moment!

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  • Dough:
  • 810 ml all-purpose flour
    (450 g / 16 oz.)
  • 60 ml cornmeal (45 g / 1 ½ oz.)
  • 15 ml sugar (1 Tbsp.)
  • 10 ml salt (2 tsp.)
  • 15 ml instant yeast (10 g)
  • 110 ml butter, cubed (110 g / 4 oz.)
  • 280 ml water 
  • Sauce:
  • 30 ml butter (2 Tbsp.)
  • 15 ml olive oil (1 Tbsp.)
  • ½ brown onion, grated
  • 4 garlic cloves, crushed and finely chopped
  • 45 ml tomato paste (50 g / 2 oz.)
  • 2 cans crushed tomatoes
    (2 x 400 g / 14 oz.)
  • 5 ml dried basil (1 tsp.)
  • 10 ml dried oregano (2 tsp.)
  • 10 ml sugar (2 tsp.)
  • Salt to taste (+/- 5 ml)
  • Sausage/meatballs:
  • 500 g beef mince (17 oz.)
  • 200 g streaky bacon, finely diced (7 oz.)
  • 7,5 ml salt (1 ½ tsp.)
  • 7,5 ml smoked paprika (1 ½ tsp.)
  • 10 fresh sage leaves, finely chopped
  • 2,5 ml black pepper (½ tsp.)
  • 2,5 ml dried chili flakes (½ tsp.)
  • 5 ml garlic powder (1 tsp.)
    (Not garlic salt!)
  • 7,5 ml roasted fennel seeds, crushed (1 ½ tsp.)
  • 15 ml canola oil, for frying
  • Cheese layers:
  • 600 g mozzarella cheese, grated
    (2 x 300 g / 10.5 oz.)
  • 50 g parmesan cheese, finely grated
    (2 x 25 g / 1 oz.)
  • 2 loose bottomed cake pans / cast iron pans.
  • And maybe a personal trainer for the following week.
  • Dough:
  • 810 ml all-purpose flour
    (450 g / 16 oz.)
  • 60 ml cornmeal (45 g / 1 ½ oz.)
  • 15 ml sugar (1 Tbsp.)
  • 10 ml salt (2 tsp.)
  • 15 ml instant yeast (10 g)
  • 110 ml butter, cubed (110 g / 4 oz.)
  • 280 ml water 
  • Sauce:
  • 30 ml butter (2 Tbsp.)
  • 15 ml olive oil (1 Tbsp.)
  • ½ brown onion, grated
  • 4 garlic cloves, crushed and finely chopped
  • 45 ml tomato paste (50 g / 2 oz.)
  • 2 cans crushed tomatoes
    (2 x 400 g / 14 oz.)
  • 5 ml dried basil (1 tsp.)
  • 10 ml dried oregano (2 tsp.)
  • 10 ml sugar (2 tsp.)
  • Salt to taste (+/- 5 ml)
  • Sausage/meatballs:
  • 500 g beef mince (17 oz.)
  • 200 g streaky bacon, finely diced (7 oz.)
  • 7,5 ml salt (1 ½ tsp.)
  • 7,5 ml smoked paprika (1 ½ tsp.)
  • 10 fresh sage leaves, finely chopped
  • 2,5 ml black pepper (½ tsp.)
  • 2,5 ml dried chili flakes (½ tsp.)
  • 5 ml garlic powder (1 tsp.)
    (Not garlic salt!)
  • 7,5 ml roasted fennel seeds, crushed (1 ½ tsp.)
  • 15 ml canola oil, for frying
  • Cheese layers:
  • 600 g mozzarella cheese, grated
    (2 x 300 g / 10.5 oz.)
  • 50 g parmesan cheese, finely grated
    (2 x 25 g / 1 oz.)
  • 2 loose bottomed cake pans / cast iron pans.
  • And maybe a personal trainer for the following week.

Prep Time

2½

Hours

Cooking Time

30

Minutes

Background & Method

Guys, this deep-dish pizza with beef and bacon sage meatballs recipe is lit and a must-try. It is one of those recipes you want try on a Saturday and invite friends over for fun and games.

This is a Chicago-style deep-dish pizza recipe which is usually an enriched dough, mozzarella, meat like pepperoni, sausage or bacon, and a tomato sauce. For this recipe, we make “sausage” from scratch, but it is in essence small roughly shaped meatballs.

Step 1: Preparing the dough

Add all the dry ingredients to a large mixing bowl or food processor and mix them together. Rub the cubed butter into the flour mixture until it looks like a very coarse flour. Add the water and mix until just combined. No need to knead the dough. It will not look smooth, it should be manageable and soft.

Form the dough into a ball and transfer to a lightly greased clean large mixing bowl and cover, and let rise for about 1 hour until double in size. 

Gently punch down the dough and divide into two equal pieces, shape into two loose rounds, and transfer to a lightly greased oven tray and cover. Rise for another hour until double in size. 

Step 2: Prepare the sauce

Meanwhile, prepare the sauce by heating butter and olive oil in a heated medium-sized saucepan or pot. Add onion and garlic and fry for about 3 to 4 minutes over medium-high heat. Stir in tomato paste and fry for another 2 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients, stir, and cook uncovered until relatively thickened, about 15 minutes. Set aside.

Step 3: Prepare the sausage 

Mix all the sausage ingredients (except the canola oil) together in a large mixing bowl. Cover and let it rest for about 30 to 60 minutes. Then, shape roughly into small flat meatballs (it should look like pieces of roughly chopped sausage) and place on a plate. In a large frying pan, fry “meatballs” in canola oil until well browned.

Step 4: Assemble and bake

Preheat oven to 200 °C / 400 °F. 

Roll out one dough ball at a time on a lightly floured surface, working it into a 30 cm / 12-inch circle. Place over a 23 x 5 cm / 9×2 inch loose bottomed cake pan. Press the dough into the cake pan. Make sure it is tight fitting and equally thick inside the pan. Trim any excess dough off the edges if you are into detail and perfection. Repeat with the second ball of dough.

Fill each pizza with 300 g / 10.5 oz. mozzarella cheese, then half of the sausage, and lastly, half of the sauce. Bake for 20 minutes or until crust is golden brown. 

Let cool in the cake tins for about 5 minutes and then carefully remove sides of cake pan. Remove pizzas from the bottom of the cake pans and place on a wire rack to cool for another 5 minutes. Sprinkle each pizza finely grated parmesan cheese. Place on serving plates, slice and serve immediately. 

Note: You can use a normal cake pan or a cast iron pan of the same size. We tested it with both. It is just challenging to remove the pizzas. Slice the pizzas in the pan and serve from the pan.   

Chicago-style deep-dish pizza
This deep-dish pizza with beef and bacon sage meatballs recipe will put a smile on your face.

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Notes

  • Environmental factors and measuring accurately differ from kitchen to kitchen, when busy preparing the dough, follow your gut as to how much additional water or flour to add if needed. Just make sure you end up with a smooth, but quite firm and manageable dough. Add a bit more flour if your dough is too wet and more water if it is too stiff/dry. Only add a teaspoon more water/flour at a time.
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