Reviewed: Jan. 4, 2009

We love Giordano's pizza so I was excited to try this recipe. I followed the suggestion to omit cornmeal, add extra oil and shorten kneading time as this definitely resonates with my memories of Giordano's. The first try turned out well enough to warrant a second. I recommend using bread flour to make the dough less sticky and adding extra sauce; however the tomato sauce in the recipe didn't appeal to me and my commercially-prepared sauce didn't mesh well with the rest of the pizza.

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Reviewer:

keh

Reviewed: Jan. 4, 2009

I cheated, used store bought fresh pizza dough. Cut it half, ratio of about 60/40[60 on the bottom, 40 on the top] Used a spring form pan. Put slices of mozzerela on the bottom, then I put all of our favorites in it.Laid the top of the pizza crust on. Then used sauce and more cheese. Might not be true Chicago Style, but turned out great.

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Reviewer:

Trisha

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Living In: Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA

Reviewed: Sep. 22, 2008

We just had Giordano's a week ago during a trip to Chicago, and tried to duplicate it. We came up with our own filling, but basically just used the dough recipe. I needed to add more flour to the dough, because it seemed too sticky, but other than that, had no trouble with the dough and it baked up fine. I used a stoneware deep dish pan and had plenty of dough. Using a heavy pan like that I think also makes it less likely to burn.

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Reviewer:

SHIRLEYBONSELL

Reviewed: Jul. 18, 2008

Too bad there is no stars! The dough is over raised and gummy and the filling isn't very creative and sort of gloppy. I've been making deep dish using Uno's and Lou Malnetti's recipe for years and the proper way to make deep dish is a richer crust, cheese tiled on top, Italian sausage,toppings, chunky seasoned crushed whole tomatoes and sprinkled with Parm.cheese. This is the pizza Chicago is known for(the top crust is an infatuation with some pizza places for variety).

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Reviewer:

Pyewackit

Reviewed: Feb. 23, 2008

For a quick and easy version of this, I used 2 packages of "just add water" pizza crusts and a spring form pan. I followed the filling or stuffing recipe as listed. press one crust to the bottom and a little up the sides of the lightly greased spring form pan and toss in the 450 oven's middle rack for 4 minutes. Roll out the second crust so that it will be large enough to blanket the stuffing and reach the edges of the pan and apply it to the top of the 1st crust over the filling. I dipped the handle end of a wooden spoon in flour and used it to firmly press the top crust down to meet the bottom crust all around the edges. Cut 3, 2 inch slits in the top for ventilation. Bake on the near top rack of the oven for 15 mins. or until top crust is very slightly browned in spots. Open a an 8oz. can of pizza sauce and add 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar. Pull pizza from the oven reinforce the 3 ventilation slits and put 1/2 the sauce on top. Place pizza back in oven on middle rack for 5-7 minutes. Pull the pizza out and apply the remaining sauce to the top and sprinkle with grated parmesan cheese. Cool for a few minutes and devour. I don't know if I'd call this Chicago style, but I live here and if I want delicious pizza I don't cook, I go to Pequod's.

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Reviewer:

BettyCracker

Reviewed: Sep. 23, 2007

For me this recipe was a total disaster. The crust was soggy underneath, (Even though I baked it first for 4 minutes.) and burnt and black on top. The pizza was very oily, and I had to constantly interupt the baking in order to pour the grease out of the sides as if it were meat loaf. I didn't cut the garlic fine enough so there were several 'hot' spots in the pizza. At the end I had to toss the whole thing out. But I love Chicago Style Pizza, so I refuse to give up. I'll definitely try this recipe again, and I'll post if I get better results. EDIT: I just wanted to add, that I do not blame the recipe for my hishap at all. I'm a beginner cook and still learning. I will definitely try this recipe again, hopefully with better results.

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Reviewer:

Jackie

Cooking Level: Beginning

Home Town: Schaumburg, Illinois, USA

Living In: Chicago, Illinois, USA

Reviewed: Aug. 31, 2007

I used Jay's Signature Crust also per reviews. I used 8x8 pan, too small. Next time 13x9. My 8x8 was packed with all these ingredients. Very yummy! I'll have to adjust the amounts to fit a 13x9. I love pizza.

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Reviewer:

ReneeBJC

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Home Town: South Bend, Indiana, USA

Living In: Edwardsburg, Michigan, USA

Reviewed: Aug. 6, 2007

We really enjoyed this recipe, as I love to make unusual pizzas for my family. I used a combination of ground beef and hot italian sausage for a little kick!

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Reviewer:

Mrs. Chef Esh

Cooking Level: Expert

Home Town: Lancaster, Pennsylvania, USA

Living In: Lititz, Pennsylvania, USA

Reviewed: Jun. 8, 2007

The pizza I made using the filler from this recipe (though tweaked just a bit) turned out great! I did use the "Jay's Signature Pizza Crust" recipe for my pizza crust, and I used the "Easy Pizza Sauce III" recipe for my pizza sauce (though I tweaked the sauce a little by only using 2 teaspoons of oregano, adding 2 teaspoons of basil, and adding 1/2 teaspoon of white sugar). I also used about 14 to 15 ounces of mozzarella cheese instead of the 9 ounces this recipe called for. And I put a layer of ricotta cheese down on the pizza crust before adding the rest of the filler. Finally, I only made a pepperoni pizza, instead of using all of the vegetables this recipe called for. The combination of these three recipes, with the few minor tweaks I made, made for an EXCELLENT pizza!!! Very, very tasty!!

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