Chicago Thin & Crispy “Tavern Style”
This Recipe Can Replicate: Lou Malnati’s, Home Run Inn, Aurelio’s, House of Pizza, Vito & Nick’s, Villa Nova, Donato’s, Barnaby’s, Al’s of Warrenville, Parkview of Naperville, and others.
General Description:Thin and crispy crust with just a bit of “chew” in the middle, whilecracker-crispy on edges. Sauce is smooth and rich, almost pasty in some pizzerias, but neverchunky with whole tomato. Cheese lightly browned on the top. Never, Never sliced in wedges!! Tavern style should always be cut “party style”, or in squares.
Materials: The signature crispy crust with just a bit of “chew” can be a real challenge to replicate. The key to success at home here is to use a blend of high proteinwheat flour (14%) and fine milled Italian flour (like Tippo 00 blue or King Arther clone), but at a smaller ratio than found in the Neapolitan recipe discussed on this site. Additionally, adding a small amount of “dough improver” allows for easier working of the dough which is essential torolling out a uniformly thin but sturdy shell.
Dough (provides enough for two 14 inch pies)
For Best Result: Use HPG Chicago Thin Pre-Mix 
13.5oz Home Pizza Gourmet Chicago Thin “Tavern Style” Pizza Crust Pre-mix
Contains blend of Caputo Tippo 00 “Blue” Pizzeria flour (flour of choice for most top pizzerias; not available in stores) and King Arthur Sir Lancelot high protein (14%) wheat flour, plus dough improvement additives to enhance home-oven results
6.6 oz Water –(NEVER tap, if your water is chlorinated — use bottled spring water)
2/3 tsp IDY
2/3 tsp Kosher or Sea Salt
2 1/4 T Olive Oil
1Tbsp King Arthur Dough Improver
1 tsp Sugar
Variations:
1.forLou Malnati’s thin–replace olive oil with melted butter and add 1/4tsp garlic powder
2. For Donato’s – replace 1/2 oz of water with 1/2 oz of beaten egg (about 1/2 of a large egg)
3. For Home Run Inn – replace olive oil with corn oil
Sauce (enough for two14 inch pies)
1 28oz Can high quality tomato puree. Cento orEscalon 6 in 1 domesticbrands are good,and if yourbudget allows, any of the San Marzano D.O.P certified varieties imported from Italy are a great choice.
3 T Tomato Paste (Hunts, Contadina, Cento — all work well)
1 t Dried Oregano
1 t Dried Basil
1 T Olive Oil
½ t Salt (or more to taste)
Pinch of Sugar
mix all together, and let it sit at room temp for at least 1 hour before bake time
Cheese (each pizza)
8oz Mozzarella (no more, no less!). For perfect texture and browning of cheese, use whole milk, low moisture (never soft or “wet” mozzarella on this style of pizza). Part skim can be used if you want to cut down on fat, but you will find that the whole milk (look for at least 7g of fat, with 4.5g saturated) will give you the best browning and texture
1 oz grated Asiago
1/2 oz very mild Provolone
1/2 oz grated Parmesan
Variation: for some of the old school standards in Chicago like Home Run Inn, Al’s, Parkview—replace the Asiago with Scamorza (plain, not smoked). This gives an extra-browning effect on the cheese for a really true “Tavern” pizza
Other toppings can be added as desired, but my suggestion is to keep it simple, no more than 3 ingredients, or the pizza becomes overloaded. Other toppings are usually added on top of the cheese for Tavern style.
Machinery: the secret to a perfect tavern style crust lies more in the materials and methods areas. Though there are a few pieces of equipment that give restaurants an edge, its rather easy to substitute these at home. Most importantly, restaurants employ a piece of machinery called a “sheeter” which essentially takes finished dough balls and rolls them out ultra thin and fast into a perfectly formed round shell. The sheeter makes for perfectly formed shells that are just the right thickness, but also has the added advantage of incorporating more flour into the dough just before baking, which helps provide the signature crispiness. With a bit of skill and practice, however, a good heavy rolling pin can get the home chef to the same place. Its worth noting here that to get the classic “thin and very crispy” crust for this style, you must roll the dough, and not hand stretch or toss. Here, you want to make a thin dense base for the crust. Don’t skip the “dough improver” ingredient in the recipe above. This helps relax what is otherwise a very stiff dough, and allows you to properly rollthe shell. Oven temperatures are also high for this style of pizza, but this too can be overcome by using the oven / baking stone methods described below.
Method: The key to a perfect tavern style crust is less a function of having commercial equipment and more a function of having the right ingredients, and most importantly, following the process steps below very closely. The most critical elements that differentiate this pizza style from others are : (1) the overnight rise (2) minimal kneading (3) firm rolling the dough, thin and consistent, whileincorporating more flour as possible (4) docking to avoid bubbling of the crust
- Blend all dry items together in the mixing bowl (flour, IDY, salt, sugar
- addthe water and mix on low speed for 1-2 minutes
- add oil,bump up to speed 2 and mix for another 5-7minutes or until dough comes together on the hook
- Remove, compress into a ball, and place in a VERY slightly oiled bowl, covered tightly with plastic wrap and then covered with a towel….let rise in a warm place (this is called the “hydrating” stage) 3-4 hrs.
- After 3-4 hrs rise,punch down, but do not knead
- cover and return to warm place for another 2-3 hrs.
- After 2nd rise, punch down again (don’s knead), cut ball in half, form into 2 balls,place each into a separate VERY lightly oiled glass or plastic container. Each container should be (a) no more than 2x the volume of the risen (halved) dough ball (b) able to seal tightly, or at least covered tightly with a tight plastic wrap and a towel over the top
- Place 2 sealed containers in refrigerator and “cure” for at least 24 hrs, preferably 48 hrs, and up to 72 hrs.
- remove from fridge2-3 hrs prior to baking and let dough slowly riseto room temperature
- Preheat pizza stone at 550F on the bottom rack ofthe oven (allow at least one hour)
- flour work surface, make 2 discs the shape of a hockey puck; dust top with flour and let rest with towel on top
- After 10-15 min resting time, on floured surface, push out with rolling pin to ~14 inches – incorporating as much additional dough as possible in the process. With your fingers, form a small ridge around the perimeter of the shell (roll and pinch, making a small ridge ofno more than ~1/2 inch)
- Dock — if you dont have a docking tool, pierce the entire surface of the formed crust with a fork, every couple inches to prevent bubbling and maintain stability of the pie during cooking
- transfer shell to a wooden pizza peel, dusted with flour orcornmeal
- Ladle 14-15 oz of sauce (about half the above recipe) and spread evenly on each pizza. You can use slightly more or less, depending on your taste
- Top with shredded cheese first, and then other ingredients as desired
- Pizza stone should by now be at full 550F pre-heat; now turn oven down to 450F
- Place pizza on the stone and bake for about 10min or until cheese begins to get bubbly and crust browns (but not burned) — check it at 6-7 minutes for progress.
- At 10 min, check bottom of crust. If crust is golden brown, but cheese and crust edges arenot yetnicelybrowned by 10min— thenturn on broiler, carefully move pizza to 2nd from top rack (you risk scorching if you use the top-most rack) and watch closely. Do not burn, but allow cheese to brown nicely.
- Remove from oven and place on wire rack to assure crust says crisp
- Cut in squares, not wedges!
