Chicago tavern-style pizza

Method

1. Mix the flour, cold water, oil, sugar, salt, and yeast until evenly combined. Knead for 2 to 3 minutes, only until smooth. Do not develop the extensible structure wanted in New York pizza. The exact dough weight is 411 g.
2. Divide into two exact 205.5 g balls, rounding only enough to close the seams. Cover and refrigerate for a 24 to 72 hour cold ferment. This builds flavour while the restrained yeast prevents a puffy rim.
3. Roll each cold ball between sheets of baking paper to a very thin 30 cm round, about 2 mm thick. Peel away the upper paper, prick the entire surface at 2 cm intervals with a fork to dock it, and place the round uncovered on a tray in the refrigerator for an 8 to 24 hour cure.
4. The uncovered cure deliberately dries the surface and supports the cracker-like snap documented for tavern pizza. If refrigerator space is limited, cure the rounds for at least 2 hours, then give them a 3 to 4 minute bare parbake, but the texture will be less dry and brittle.
5. Put a baking steel or stone in the lower third of the home oven and heat at the maximum setting, ideally 250 to 275°C, for 45 to 60 minutes. Remove one cured round while keeping the other cold.
6. Use the topping selector below for exact quantities and before-bake and after-bake steps. Apply the selected Chicago-tavern-compatible topping edge-to-edge, leaving no raised bare rim, and stay within its thin-crust capacity. Check that the topped skin still slides on the cornmeal-dusted paper or peel.
7. Slide the pizza, still on its lower sheet of baking paper, onto the steel or stone. After 2 minutes, pull out the paper. Bake for another 6 to 9 minutes, rotating once, until the underside is evenly brown, the edge is rigid, and the cheese has dark freckles.
8. Cool on a rack for 3 minutes to set the crisp crust, then make the traditional square cut with parallel cuts in both directions. Repeat with the second pizza only after the steel or stone has reheated for 10 minutes.

Notes

• Baker’s percentages: plain flour 100%, water 50%, oil 10%, sugar 2%, salt 2%, and instant yeast 0.4%. The exact 411 g batch is divided into two 205.5 g dough portions for 30 cm rounds.
• Tavern style is not a miniature New York pizza. It is rolled very thin rather than hand-tossed, docked to suppress bubbles, cured uncovered to dry the surface, topped edge-to-edge without a puffy rim, and finished with a square cut.
• Both docking and the uncovered cure matter. Docking vents expanding gas; curing reduces surface moisture and helps the baked round become dry and cracker-like. Do not let raw dough contact unclean refrigerator surfaces.
• A home oven cannot reproduce a tavern’s seasoned deck and rapid service bake. A fully saturated steel gives the closest firm underside, though a stone works with a few extra minutes. The second pizza needs recovery time.
• The topping selector owns the complete topping quantity, moisture preparation, and finishing order. Keep its load restrained: too much moisture makes the centre leathery. This page owns the dry rolled skin, curing, docking, bake, and tavern cut.
• Refrigerate cooled leftovers in a sealed container for up to 3 days. Reheat directly on a preheated rack or steel at 220°C; do not cover, because trapped steam destroys the crispness.

Sources consulted

• Serious Eats: Crispy Bar-Style Pizza
• New York Times Cooking: Chicago Thin-Crust Tavern-Style Pizza Dough
• Brian Lagerstrom: Chicago Tavern-Style Thin-Crust Pizza