Double Crust Stuffed Pizza

I am the one that submitted this recipe, but allrecipes left out an important detail. With the cooking time and temperature being what it is, the crust will tend to overbrown. I cover the edges with aluminum foil about halfway through to avoid this. Enjoy!

Its not often that I am compelled to review something but this recipe is incredible! I've made it once a week for 4 weeks now. The only thing I do different is make it in a 9X13 and double the sauce, everything else is done as is. I strongly recommend using a stand mixer with a hook to knead the dough, the smoother it is, the easier it will be to roll out. I always end up adding an additional 1/2 C to 1 C of four, just until it pulls together into a ball and adding an additional teaspoon of salt. For the sausage patty, which is a MUST (don't brown and crumble, for authentic Chicago style pizza, you must use the patty) I fold a sheet of foil into a template the size of my pan, spray with cooking spray, spread out sausage to the edges, invert over pan and peel back. No mess, no fuss. Also, I use a long sheet of foil folded into a strip to crimp around the top of the pan to protect the crust from browning to much, it works very well. It's a labor intensive pizza, true. But this is a $35 dollar pizza at Uno's, I make it once a week for around $8. Call it "sweat equity." Good luck!

Very labor intensive, but the results were very good. The dough can be made in the bread machine on dough cycle, but I found I needed to add 1/2 c. flour. The crust was great though! The sausage patty added a LOT of grease to the pizza, but then the diet conscious probably aren't going to be indulging in deep dish Chicago style pizza ; ) Certainly need to cover the edges of the pan in foil so the crust doesn't over-brown. I left the sugar out of the tomato sauce, just not a sweet sauce fan.

This pizza is AMAZING!! You can fill it with just about anything you want. We used two chicken breasts that we had left over from last night and pepperoni. A few things I did differently: I tripled the sauce recipe. I didn't have crushed tomatoes so I used a large can of petite diced tomatoes and cooked the sauce for about an hour which gave the sauce a great texture. It's a sweet sauce so if you can cut back on the brown sugar if you don't want it as sweet. When layering the middle I layered it as follows: cheese, pepperoni, chicken, cheese, sauce (about half of what you make) , pepperoni, chicken, cheese and then topped it off with the crust. Seal the edges and pour the rest of the sauce over the top :)

This was really good, but next time I'll use a larger pizza dough recipe because I found that half the dough was not quite enough to bring it up the sides of the springform pan. I waited untill half way through the baking to put tomato sauce, grated moozerella and parm on top. Looked great!

Can't believe I never got around to reviewing this great recipe! I've made it twice, once exactly as written and the second time with my own sauce, which for our palates improved things tremendously. The sauce recipe, which is slightly sweet and disappointingly bland, loses one star. If a nice, hearty, appropriately spiced tomato sauce is used, however, the recipe benefits exponentially, and it's catapulted into the 5 star stratosphere. Also, I added about 1/2 cup of the sauce to the filling ingredients in the middle which increased our enjoyment and tied everything together nicely. It's extremely filling, and no one but the heartiest of eaters will be able to consume more than one slice without busting a gut. Because of the fat in the sausage, which melds into the crust as it bakes, it's not healthy, but this is a favorite, very occasional guilty pleasure in this house.

This recipe is fantastic! I love that this is a great base recipe that can be improvised based on taste and ingredients on hand. I add some dried herbs and garlic salt to the dough while mixing, and leave out the sugar in the sauce. I've made it twice in the last week with a variety of cheeses and whatever veggies I have around. The sausage patty is really delicious and cooks so well as kind of a base to an incredible pizza. ALSO-- I have never had a pizza crust bake up so perfectly! It neither gets overdone nor remains too doughy.

This was wonderful. I can't rate the pizza sauce however, I used my own that I had in the freezer. Only difference is I don't use the brown sugar and do add oregano to mine. The filling is fantastic as well as the crust. Cooking time is right on. Will be making again.

This is a terrific, *authentic* Chicago stuffed pizza recipe. I moved away from Chicago in 1993 and, apart from a couple of visits over the years, I'd never found a way to buy or make a good version of my favorite pizza until using this recipe. I even looked into Giordano's mail order service at my most desperate - thanks for saving me that $75!

I just made this for dinner tonight and it was a hit. Even my 3 year old liked it. its not difficult to make, just a little bit time consuming. its worth the effort. I give it 2 thumbs up!!

We're Canadian and when we go to Florida in the winter we always have a Giordano's pizza. While this recipe isn't a clone, it is very good. The only thing I would alter is to cook the sausage prior to baking as mine wasn't quite cooked through and we had to microwave each piece to ensure we wouldn't have food poisoning. All in all a great recipe that we will enjoy for many years to come while in Canada. Thanks Pnutmommy for posting.

This is sooo yummy!! The left overs tasted better the next day. It also held together better the next day too. Next time I will be making this the day before and re-heating it when it's time to eat. I will be adding loads more veggies next time and less meat.

My hubbby almost fell off his chair knowing that this was in the oven!!! It was quite easy to make, and boy oh boy it is delcious.....in fact. I'm making it again tonight!!! Thanks for a GREAT recipe! I did have a difficult time cleaning my Springform Pan, tho'......but it was well worth the trouble! I’ve smartened up since the first time I made this pizza; now after spraying the pan I dust it lightly with cornmeal!

This was a wonderfuly easy recipe. My only compliant is that the top crust didn't cook. I baked the pizza in the middle of my oven for 45 min as directed, the edges were perfect and the top was still doughy. I think next time I will leave the sauce off until the last 10 min. I hope that fixes the problem. Even though the crust didn't bake the pizza disappeared, it was the perfect size for 4 hungry adults. I don't think anyone even noticed the crust was still doughy. UPDATE: My oven has since bit the dust. I believe that is why the top crust didn't bake as it should have. I can't give a recipe less because of faulty equipment. *****

This is a great base recipe....i use the crust for every pizzza i make....i stuff the pizza with whatever toppings i have on hand but usually includes sausage and pepperoni....i make my own sauce but i believe it is the crust that really makes this pizza

AMAZING! Will definitely make again!

My family did not like this pizza. For the amount of work that goes into this, it is VERY disappointing. I followed the recipe exactly. The crust was good though, so I may make a different stuffed pizza sometime in the future with my own fillings instead of this recipe.

This recipe is amazing!! There is a pizza shop in Warren,Ohio that makes a pizza very close to this, always had to wait until we were there to get one. Now can make it anytime! The sausage patty is a stroke of genius! KitchenMama88's family is crazy!

I am watching "Pizza Paradise" on the Travel channel and came her looking for a recipe for the pizza featured on the show, which was this exact pizza!!! I am so excited to make this for dinner tonight! Thank you for sharing, im sure it will be amazing, as this is the dough and sauce recipe I already use!!

Came out absolutely wonderful! Getting the dough in the pan is a bit of a challenge, but totally worth it! Replaced one of the cups of flour with whole wheat flour, so the dough was a bit tough. But I was amazing at how well the dough cooked and how great the pizza tasted!

Pretty amazing. Moved to LA from Chicago and our biggest gripe for the past 10 years is we miss chicago's pizza! No more...this recipe was fantastic. I used italian turkey sausage, subbed some wheat germ, whole wheat flour and brewers yeast in the flour, used trader joes pizza sauce, and added roasted red peppers. Next time I will add really fine ground cornmeal to flour and work the dough faster (the top puffed up to big for our liking because we took our time filling the pizza..._

My husband and I loved this.I made it as written except I used diced Italian tomatoes. It was so good and a great base recipe to try other ingredients.The italian sausage patty made it awesome and you do have to put aluminum foil around the edges halfway through.Thanks!

This was so good. I made two pizza's. One dough I did by hand and the other in the bread machine. Both turned out wonderful. The one I made by hand,[ my home is chilly so I turned my oven onto 200* and put my covered bowl towards the back of my oven.] It rose at the same rate as the bread machine one. I loved the sweetness of the sauce. I thought the sausage pattie was a little weird, but it makes the pizza. Thank you for a wonderful recipe.

Recipe didn't make enough dough.

Great pizza. I was dubious about putting the uncooked meat pattie in the middle and baking it; so I crumbled the meat and sauteed it. I also sauteed the mushrooms, assembled the pizza and baked for 40 minutes. I'll cut the cooking time by 5 minutes next time.

this was good. easy to make and it make a great impression on the table. the dough is a little sticky and hard to work with but it is well worth the effort

This was really awesome, the only thing is, my top crust kind of burned. I just peeled it off and everyone loved the rest of it. I think the sauce on top, with that high of a temp, might have been what happened. I did my own pizza sauce though, because my kids don't like chunky tomato sauces. I'll definitely make it again. Thanks!

This was DELICIOUS!! The sausage patty made it absolutely fantastic. We doubled the sauce so we could have extra to pour on top when it was done. Thank You!!

Lovely! Simple directions even I can follow! Do remember to cover edges as stated in some reviews - but if you don't it's not burned enough to affect taste!

I was following the directions so closely that I forgot to add the sauce to the pizza, because it wasnt included in the directions!!! When I realized that, I undid the top dough layer and poured the sauce on top of everything, then replaced the top layer. Lol I know... it still tasted great though! Other than screwing up not putting the sauce on the bottom, I followed the recipe exactly, along with the addition of chopped onion. Used turkey pepperoni, and 1 red bell pepper instead of green. Also used jarred mushrooms because they have better flavor in pizza IMO. I used both mozzarella and Imo's provel cheese. note* I probably added in another cup of flour or more over the course of kneading the dough (it shouldn't be too sticky).

This is simply the best pizza ever !!!!!

cook sausage first as it doesn't get done before the top burns otherwise, very flavorful and yummy

Except for the crust, this recipe reminds me a bit of the Pizzeria Uno's pizza I had years ago. I used home-canned tomatoes (16 oz. that I cooked down) and fresh garlic, added a little oregano, and I did omit the sugar. I didn't wait the full 15 minutes of resting after cooking, which is probably what made the crust difficult to remove from the springform pan; the pieces I cut a little later came out without difficulty. Thank you for a very good recipe that my family has already requested again.

I just made the crust,it was good.

Easy and great recipe. In order to make it somewhat healthier, I used 1 cup whole wheat flour & 1 cup of white flour. Family loved it and it gave the crust more taste.

Love this. I make it all the time. I even make a bbq chicken version of this too!

The hubs was jonesing for Chicago-style deep dish, so I made this in my cast-iron skillet, without a top crust. It was terrific. My dough needed more flour (23/4 cups total, and I used spelt flour for 1 of those cups). I oiled the skillet and sprinkled it with cornmeal to keep it from sticking (worked great!). I added Canadian bacon beneath the sausage and skipped the pepperoni and other veg. And I spiked the fresh tomato sauce with a little crushed fennel seed and extra oregano, 'cause that's how we roll. I also temped the sausage just to make sure it was done, and it hit 160 degrees at 50 minutes. Sooo yummy!

I've been making this for just over a year and love it. Like others, I need more flour in the crust. Also, it's MUCH easier to make this in a 9X9 pan than a springform pan. Trying to fit the crust into a round pan while keeping the sides up nearly drove me to tears! Easy to customize, and no leftovers in our house.

Made this for my husband for Father's Day. He said it is the best pizza he has ever had, even from any restaurant. We are originally from the midwest so we have tasted our fair share of chicago style pizza. It was amazing and pretty easy, especially considering the finished product. Sauce was awesome and I have been using it for our homemade pizzas. I left out the veggies only because my husband hates them, much to my disappointment. When I try this again the only other change I would do is add a tiny bit of sauce on top of the pepporoni. This may not make it "traditional" but I thought it might make it good. Great recipe!!!!

very delicious!

Delicious! The biggest hassle is trying to get the dough in the pan, but other than that this is easy to make. The sausage patty was a cool idea...The family really enjoyed this, so that makes it a keeper~YUM! Thanks for sharing. :)

Grate recipe i added cornmeal and wow!!! my pizzas only lasted 2 minutes so i only got to try the crust but IT was GREAT!!!

This is probably one of the best stuffed pizza recipes I have found. I am not a big fan of the giant sausage patty, in the future, I will go for crumbles. And the next time, I will make a spinach and cheese version as that is my favorite at Giordano's. This recipe is not 5 stars because the veggies make everything wet. I have to figure that part out. And the sauce is too sweet. That is an easy fix. I get those two tweaked and then this goes 5 stars! And I will continue to make this pie because it beats the pants off of anything out here! And yes, have the time available for this pizza. Just like at the restaurants, this takes a while, but it is so worth it. Great job!!!

As you can see from my photo I just made a single crust pizza. The dough recipe sounded great so I used it for this. Wonderful; but I will also try the double stuffed next time. Yum

WOW! This recipe is amazing! It was so delicious and satisfying. I did need to add an extra 1/2 c flour to the dough as suggested from another rating. And because I don't have a springform pan, and wanted a round pizza, I used a 9" iron skillet and followed the same cooking times and temps. It worked great! Thank you pnutmommy for sharing this with us : )

This was a great recipe! It tasted just like the restaurant stuffed pizzas we have had in restaurants! I will definitely make this again. It is worth the time.

Not bad

Memorable,worth the effort.....a really great pizza!

Great recipe! I added chopped onions and basil and parsley to the sauce. You need to divide the dough in more like 1/3 to 2/3 for the bottom and top crust, b/c dividing it half wasn't enough for the bottom.

The crust is great. I added a bit of butter to the yeast/flour before letting it stand an hour. Thanks pnutmommy! This sauce is impecible! I used spaghetti sauce w tomato paste and added the ingredients for the sauce as listed on the websie- i forgot the olive oil though. OMGoodness I feel totally like a chef! My family and I have adopted Pizza Fridays because its so much more cheaper than take out. The ingredients are fresh and you get the sole excitement of the joy of your spouse and children's face's when they bite into the pizza. Plus this is great cooking fun time for the kids 4 & 6 (I let them spread the sauce and put on the cheese)!

I just love this pizza. (my picture is currently 2 of 15). As others have stated, I too had to add a little extra flour to the dough. I also am quite free in my sauce choice since I usually go with what I have made and is in the freezer. For a family get-together, I don't make one huge pie anymore. I use mini spring-form pans instead. That turns it into a party and everyone can customize to their liking. One mini pan will usually serve two people. Or just my brother :)

This was great and really easy. I used pepperoni, mushroom and onion as my fillings (I didn't have sausage or peppers on hand). I can't wait to try it with sausage. The only thing I didn't like about this was the brown sugar in the sauce, it was a tad too sweet for me. I might decrease it a bit or omit it all together. Other than that it was a hit!

Yes I made my pie 100% Kosher with all Turkey meat products, plus I added smoked provolone cheese slices.

My whole family really, really enjoyed this recipe. I did have to add some more flour to the dough like some other people. This is a GREAT RECIPE!!!!!!

Wow! This is the best crust recipe that I ever used! I have picky kids and made them a single crust cheese pizza with store bought sauce (I'm looking forward to using the sauce recipe next time!) and they loved it! Thank you for posting this recipe, it has made our family movie night a lot cheaper:)

Made this today, the recipe is extremely to follow. My family loved this! I used ground beef and salami instead of the filling that is in the recipe. However, it is still an amazing recipe.

I rarely rate and review recipes but this one is the most deserving. Wow -- sooo good! I've been making this treat on occasion for a couple years now. For the sauce (which is a must!), I go with our preferred tastes: adding a fair amount of Italian seasoning, fresh garlic, red pepper flakes, salt, pepper, and brown sugar and let it cook on low, stirring often, for about an hour. I've also used store bought (canned) sauce but it's really not the same at all. Your own sauce is the only way to go. I also add a sprinkling of Italian seasoning to the dough when kneading, just for more flavour. Another must is the sausage patty - it makes this pizza! I love the idea of shaping it on tinfoil beforehand; works like a charm! To avoid a soggy crust, I carefully make a small cut into the pizza about 25 minutes (or so) into its baking and very carefully drain the fat out in the sink. Again, it's a very careful maneuver , but necessary to avoid that soggy crust. This is an incredible recipe and has been a family favourite for some time. Thank you for sharing it!

While the crust is a bit time consuming, it is the BEST recipe I have come across for either deep dish pizza or just for pizza crust! I LOVE this recipe!

All I can say is YUM!!! Followed the directions as far as putting everything together but also brushed both crusts with a small amount of olive oil and sprinkled with sesame seeds. Also used my own meat sauce made the day before instead of the one here. We were stuffed (no pun intended)!

Whenever I make this pizza, my daughter always says "Mom! Stop making this, you're trying to make me look fat!" I leave for a few minutes, come back, and she's literally licking her plate clean!

This was ok. I made as stated and it was too much crust.

Great recipe, I double it and usually end up needing more flour but it makes double crust pizzas taste great! Would recommend!

Interesting is the word for this pizza! I did cheat by using pre-made refrigerated dough and canned marinara sauce...it cut down on my time standing in the kitchen (which I needed to do) and still produced a pizza that was delicious.

This is some kind of good! I was not familiar with this style of pizza so I followed the directions faithfully, other than doubling the sauce, (but not the brown sugar). Once in the oven I panicked reading a review stating, "I almost forgot to add the sauce..." For the record, the sauce goes on top of the top crust, different but delicious!