Chicago Style Thin-Crust Sausage and Onion Pizza
This is a classic take on traditional Chicago thin crust pizza!
Servings: 8 people
Ingredients
For the Dough
- 12.5 ounces unbleached all-purpose flour about 2 ½ cups, plus extra for rolling
- 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoons yeast instant or rapid-rise
- 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
- ¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons cold water
- 2 tablespoons Extra-virgin olive oil
- Cornmeal for dusting
For the Pizza
- ½ small sweet onion thinly sliced with the grain and then again against the grain, soaked in cold water, drained, and dried with a paper towel (about ⅓ cup)
- 12 ounces Italian sausage sweet or hot, casings removed if necessary
- 12 ounces Mozzarella cheese whole-milk, shredded (about 3 cups)
- ½ teaspoon oregano dried
Sauce
- 1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
- ⅛ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon Italian seasoning
- ½ teaspoon fennel seeds
Seasoning
- Crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
Instructions
Dough
- Process the flour, sugar, yeast, and salt in a food processor fitted with the dough blade until combined, about 3 seconds. With the processor running, slowly add cold water and oil and process until dough forms a sticky ball that clears the sides of the bowl, 30 to 60 seconds.
- Transfer dough to a lightly oiled counter and knead until smooth, about 1 minute. Shape dough into a tight ball and place in a greased bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let dough rise at room temperature until almost doubled in size, 2 to 2 ½ hours. (At this point, the dough can be refrigerated for up to 2 days. Bring to room temperature before proceeding with the recipe.) One hour before baking, adjust oven rack to lowest position, set a baking stone on rack, and heat oven to 500 degrees.
Sauce
- Whisk all ingredients together in a bowl. (Sauce can be refrigerated for up to 2 days.)
Pizza
- Transfer the dough to a lightly floured counter, divide in half, and gently shape each half into a ball. Return 1 dough ball to the bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Coat remaining dough ball lightly with flour and gently flatten into an 8-inch disk using your fingertips. Using rolling pin, roll dough into a 12‑inch circle, dusting dough lightly with flour as needed. (If the dough springs back during rolling, let it rest for 10 minutes before rolling again.)
- Sprinkle pizza peel with cornmeal. Transfer dough to prepared pizza peel and carefully stretch it to return to 12-inch circle. Using the a back of spoon or ladle, spread a scant ½cup sauce (in a circular motion) in thin layer over surface of dough, leaving a ⅛-inch border around the edge. Sprinkle half of onion over sauce. Pinch 6 ounces of sausage into approximate dime-size pieces and evenly distribute over sauce. Sprinkle 1 ½ cups mozzarella evenly over sausage just to the edge of dough. Sprinkle ¼ teaspoon oregano over top.
- Carefully slide pizza onto baking stone and bake until cheese is well-browned and edges of pizza are crisp and dark, 10 to 14 minutes. Slide the pizza peel underneath the pizza and remove the pizza from the oven. Slide the pizza onto a wire rack and let cool for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, repeat with remaining dough, sauce, onion, sausage, mozzarella, and oregano. Transfer both pizzas to a cutting board and cut pizzas into 2 to 3-inch "squares". Season with crushed red pepper flakes if using and serve. Enjoy!
Nutrition
Calories: 3877kcal | Carbohydrates: 312g | Protein: 165g | Fat: 215g | Saturated Fat: 88g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 21g | Monounsaturated Fat: 92g | Cholesterol: 527mg | Sodium: 7101mg | Potassium: 1956mg | Fiber: 14g | Sugar: 27g | Vitamin A: 2592IU | Vitamin C: 19mg | Calcium: 1919mg | Iron: 24mg
