Chicago Style Pizza

This may be the hardest post I have written so far... and not for the obvious reasons. The food was good, and pretty straight forward so I wasn't totally confused during the cooking process. (It did take a lot more work than I anticipated but I will get back to that later). No, this post is tough because I have music stuck in my head and am having a hard time getting my own thoughts straight. I went to a Christina Perri concert last night and I continually want to write "you put your arms around me and I'm..." and then realize that no one reading this can possible be romanced by me writing a love song. (Although while writing this there is music in my head that go along with the lyrics).

Here goes, back to the pizza. In the past weeks I have been asked to spend more time talking about the process of cooking as well as the recipes. The recipes may be tough, mostly because I don't follow one specifically, and am not sure exactly what I put into the dish, but I will do my best to let you know how the dish was made.

The dough was simple, if anything too simple. Bring water up to 110 degrees, add yeast, let rest, add flour, vegetable oil, sugar and more of another type of flour I had never heard of. Knead together while adding more flour and bang! you got some dough. (Let sit for approximately 1.5 hours before putting into your pizza dish). I wasn't prepared for this much prep time so if you try this, give yourself an afternoon.

The pizza toppings themselves were also simple, and much better and more flavorful than the pizza from Blue Line. I took some advice from my cousin who suggested making large Italian Sausage patties and putting them on the pizza in place of ground sausage. By doing this you are able to get large bites of sausage and that great Italian flavor, I thought it was great. "It's easier for you to let me go..." Sorry, singing Christina again. I made what I thought is the best and most authentic Italian pizza; sausage, onion, mushroom and olive. I put a homemade pizza sauce over it, fresh oregano and basil mixed with garlic and tomato topped with a sprinkle of parm. Once cooled from the oven some fresh basil and I had an authentic Chicago Pizza. (Minus being from or in Chicago).

Not gonna lie, the past few paragraphs were boring for me to write, and now I want to sing you a song... Jar of Hearts? No... really. My voice is great over the Internet... whatever. The dinner was good and fun. Tyler, my cousin from a town close to Chicago said that the pizza held its own. Everyone at the table agreed that the crust was a little dry and that I should do something to add flavor to the crust next time, but it wasn't offensive. Like all SilCratian meals the company was better than the food, but the food is pretty damn good. As a proud SilCratian I am happy with the dish.. what's SilCratian you ask, stick around, it is bound to come back and explain itself. I can definitely make some improvements on my Chicago Pizza, but I didn't embarrass myself. Come back next time... NEXT ROUND'S ON ME