Chicago Tavern Style Thin Crust | Fennel Sausage

Welcome to ‪@cheftuan‬ today I want to make a Chicago Tavern Style Thin Crust pizza in my Ooni Koda 16. I see everyone making delicious Neapolitan pizzas in their ovens, but no one seems to be cooking any other styles.
With my recent trips to Chicago this past year, I have eaten a few "REAL" Chicago pizzas. Every Chicagoan that I've met, says that DEEP DISH pizza is for the tourists. And that the real deal Chicago pizza is the Tavern Thin Crust. Personally, I don't think of deep dish as a pizza, it's more of a casserole. But that's my opinion!
Here is my dough recipe. You can most definitely roll this out and cook it in 2 to 2.5 hours of proofing. But I like to let mine continue to proof in the refrigerator for at least 24 hours to develop maximum flavor and to let the dough deflate. This is after all a THIN crust.

Tavern Dough Recipe:
600 g Bread flour
60 g semolina flour (if you don't have, use all bread flour)
14 g kosher salt
5 g instant dry yeast
60 g unsalted butter
1 g honey (or sugar) for the yeast
340 ml warm water 100-110 degrees F

Combine warm water, honey and yeast. Stir and let bloom for 5 mins.
Combine flour, butter, salt in a food processor and pulse until mealy.
Once yeast blooms, combine with dry ingredients and pulse until you get a crumbly dough.
Pour out onto a clean work surface, gather all the dough and knead for 3-4 minutes until a smooth ball form. Place into a greased bowl and cover for 2-2.5 hours.
You can use this dough now. Portion into desired portions (mine were 230g). Let rest for 30 minutes before rolling out.

Pizza dusting flour:
2/3 C semolina flour
1/3 C bread flour

Here is a link to my Italian sausage recipe (    • Sausage and Peppers Sandwich  Homemad...   ). Feel free to use which ever sausage or topping you prefer.

Here is my DOCTORED up recipe for store bought sausage.
1 lb spicy Italian sausage
1/2 tsp fennel pollen
1 tbsp dried crushed Thai chili peppers
1 tbsp garlic powder
1/2 tbsp toasted and crushed fennel seeds
1/2 tbsp fish sauce (the secret ingredient that result in a huge umami bomb)

Combine and mix well. Refrigerate until ready to use. I recommend at least 4 hours.

Pizza sauce recipe:
1 can San Marzano whole peeled tomatoes (puree until smooth)
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 tbsp dried oregano
1 tbsp dried basil
4 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp honey
6 tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp dried chili flakes

In a sauce pan, add olive oil, spices and tomato paste. Let it cook a little to activate the spices and to cook out the metallic flavor of the tomato paste. This should be about 4-5 minutes.
Add the tomato puree. Bring to a simmer and let reduce by 1/4. You want the sauce to be quite thick as to not seep through the dough.
Let the sauce cool before using on your pizza.

I cooked this in my Ooni Koda 16. The stone was heated to about 700 degrees F. The gas was turned down to about 30%. Cook time was approximately 4 mins.

If you are cooking in a home oven with a stone, I recommend heating it to max temp usually 500-550 degrees F. Cook your pizza 8-10 mins or until your desired level of crispiness.

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