Sourdough Chicago-Style Thin Crust Pizza

Thin crust pizza (not deep dish) is actually the most popular style of pizza in Chicago. Chicago-style thin crust pizza is often referred to as “tavern-style” or “cracker-crust” pizza because it features a cracker-thin crust and was first sold in bars and taverns in the early 1940s. Today, I’m sharing my recipe for sourdough Chicago-style thin crust pizza which uses sourdough starter instead of yeast to make the pizza dough rise.

If you want to make a sourdough version of traditional Chicago deep dish pizza, I’ve got a recipe for that here.

Why This Recipe Works

If you go to ten different pizzerias in Chicago, they all might make their thin crust pizzas ten different ways. Some places will put oil in the dough, and other places will use butter. Some places will have cornmeal in the crust, and other places will leave it out. Some places will cook their sauce and other places will use a raw sauce. You get the idea. In general though, Chicago-style thin crust pizzas will have the following:

• A cracker-thin crust (which is achieved by using a little bit of butter or oil in the dough)
• A thick and zesty tomato sauce (this sauce is often cooked, and it usually includes tomato paste and a touch of sugar)
• A blend of shredded mozzarella cheeses (which always features low-moisture mozzarella instead of fresh mozzarella)
• Italian Sausage (fennel-spiked Italian sausage was easy to come by in Chicago in the 1940s, so this became the preferred pork-based pizza topping in the Windy City)
• Square slices (a round pizza cut into little squares is the classic Chicago-style party cut, or tavern-style cut)

This sourdough Chicago-style thin crust pizza recipe checks all the above boxes, and it uses sourdough starter instead of baker’s yeast to make the dough rise. This small change produces a more flavorful and complex pizza crust.

Special Tools You’ll Need

• 12″ Baking Steel: Baking your pizza on a pre-heated baking steel will help you achieve the thin and crispy crust that you’re looking for in this type of pizza. If you have a 12″ pizza stone, this will also work, but a baking steel gives much better results in my experience.
• Pizza Peel: Use a pizza peel that is 12″ or larger to help you launch your pizzas onto the hot pre-heated baking steel.
• Digital scale: I highly recommend using a digital scale to weigh your ingredients instead of trying to measure with cups and tablespoons. A scale will allow you to weigh your ingredients accurately.

For the Pizza Sauce

• Crushed Tomatoes: You’ll need one 28 oz. can of crushed tomatoes for this recipe. Get the best-tasting tomatoes that you can find. Brands that I recommend are the Cento brand of crushed tomatoes, and the Bianco di Napoli brand of crushed tomatoes.
• Tomato Paste: You’ll use 3 oz. of tomato paste in this pizza sauce. The tomato paste brings a deep, rich tomato flavor and thicker texture to the sauce.
• Italian Seasonings: This sourdough Chicago-style thin crust pizza recipe requires a zesty, herb-spiked tomato sauce. The best way to achieve this is by using dried Italian herbs, specifically the following: dried basil, dried oregano, dried thyme, and dried marjoram. You can use a pre-bottled Italian herb blend, but the herbs contained in the bottle might vary.
• Salt: I used Morton Kosher salt for this recipe. Any Kosher salt, sea salt, or plain table salt will work fine.
• White Sugar: A touch of white sugar mellows out the zip of this zesty pizza sauce.
• Granulated Garlic (Garlic Powder): Garlic powder brings a deep, rich, umami flavor to the sauce. I prefer to use coarse granulated garlic, but any garlic powder will work.
• Oil: I used extra virgin olive oil, but you can use a neutral vegetable oil or butter as well. You just need a fat to toast your spices in.

For the Toppings

• Low-Moisture Mozzarella Cheese, shredded: This style of pizza calls for shredded, low-moisture mozzarella cheese. To avoid starchy additives, it’s best to buy a block of cheese and shred it yourself at home with a cheese grater. Many people recommend using whole milk, low-moisture mozzarella cheese for Chicago-style pizza, but one of the most famous thin crust pizza taverns in Chicago (Vito and Nick’s) reportedly uses part-skim mozzarella for their pizza. So, feel free to use whole milk mozz, part-skim mozz, or a mixture of the two. In developing this recipe, I used a 50/50 blend of part-skim mozzarella and whole milk mozzarella – I really liked the end result.
• Pecorino Romano or Parmesan Cheese, grated: You’ll finish the pizza with a little bit of hard grating cheese, ideally a high-quality one like Pecorino Romano or Parmigiano Reggiano.
• Italian Sausage: You can grab a pound of hot or mild Italian sausage from the grocery store, or do one better and make your own sausage. The Chicago version of Italian sausage for thin crust pizza typically is a little sweet, a little spicy, and uses ground or crushed fennel seeds.
• Vegetables: You can top your thin crust pizza with just about any veggies that you want, but the best veggies for this style of pizza are mushrooms, green bell peppers, and red onion (in my humble opinion). In fact, there is a classic Chicago topping combination called “Chicago S.M.OG.” which combines sausage, mushrooms, onions, and peppers to create a supremely delicious pizza.
• Giardiniera (Hot or Mild): Giardiniera is a Chicago-area specialty that features diced vegetables and hot peppers that are brined, pickled, and then packed in oil. There are other variations of giardiniera that you can find around the US and Italy, but the kind that is sold around Chicago seems to be the only one that is packed in oil. This makes a difference in the flavor. If you like spicy pickled vegetables, give giardiniera a try! It comes in hot or mild varieties.

Note: Check recipe card below for full ingredient amounts and quantities.

How to Make Sourdough Chicago-Style Thin Crust Pizza

Suggested Timeline

Step-by-Step Instructions for Sourdough Chicago-Style Thin Crust Pizza

Feeding the Sourdough Starter

In the evening, take 25 grams of leftover sourdough starter out of the fridge. Feed the starter 50 grams of water and 50 grams of all-purpose flour. Cover the jar and let the starter rise overnight for 6-8 hours, or until doubled in size. The next morning, your starter should be doubled in size.

Mixing and Kneading the Dough

In the morning, gather the ingredients for the dough. Into a mixing bowl, add the all-purpose flour and the oil. Mix the oil into the flour with a spoon. Then, add the active sourdough starter, the salt, the white sugar, and the water. Mix all of the ingredients together until a rough dough is formed. Knead the dough on your kitchen counter for five minutes or so until the dough starts to hold together as a ball, then cover the dough up with the mixing bowl and let it rest for five minutes. After the short rest, uncover the dough and knead it by hand for another three minutes. The dough should now feel smooth and slightly tacky. Cover the dough with the mixing bowl and let it rest for five minutes.

Dividing and Balling Up the Dough

Using a bench scraper or a chef’s knife, divide the dough into three equal pieces. (Each piece should be roughly 273 grams by weight.) Roll each piece of dough against the counter to form them into smooth balls of dough. Transfer the shaped dough balls into a container dusted with a small amount of flour (I used a 9×13″ cake pan with a lid). Close container with an airtight lid or a sheet of plastic wrap to keep the dough from drying out.

The First Rise

Allow the dough balls to rise in the container at room temperature for 4-6 hours, until they roughly double in size. Don’t worry about the dough balls “overproofing” or rising too much. Overproofed dough is OK for this style of pizza, since it can actually enhance the cracker-like nature of the pizza crust. Once the dough balls have roughly doubled in size, it’s time to roll them out.

Rolling and Shaping the Pizza Doughs

Use a rolling pin to roll each dough ball into a very thin 12″ to 13″ circle. You can dust your kitchen countertop with a very small amount of all-purpose flour if your dough balls start to stick to the counter when rolling. Each pizza crust should end up being around 1/8″ to 1/4″ thick and just a little bit larger than 12″ in diameter. (The doughs may shrink a little bit while they are resting, so a 13″ diameter pizza crust will end up being around 12″ when you bake it). Roll the doughs balls very thin and cut any odd edges off with a pizza cutter to make a perfectly circular crust.

After all of the pizza crusts are rolled out, dock (poke) each pizza crust all over with a fork. This will keep the pizza crust thin and crispy when it bakes in the oven, preventing it from bubbling up.

Curing the Doughs in the Fridge

Transfer each docked pizza crust onto a sheet of parchment paper and then place the pizza crusts into the fridge to “cure.” Leave the doughs in the fridge to rest for 12-24 hours in the cold environment. During this time they will slightly dry out and develop a more complex fermented flavor. Since they’ll dry out slightly in the fridge, the doughs will also be very easy to slide off of the pizza peel the following day.

Making the Pizza Sauce

Add the oil to a saute pan on medium heat. When the oil is hot, add the Italian herb blend (basil, oregano, marjoram, and thyme). Toast the dried herbs in the oil for 30 seconds or so, until fragrant. Add the 3 oz. of tomato paste and fry the tomato paste in the herb-infused oil for one minute, stirring regularly until the tomato paste is dark red and caramelized. Add the crushed tomatoes along with the salt, sugar, and garlic powder. Stir to combine the sauce. Bring the sauce to a simmer and then lower the heat to low to maintain a low simmer. Cover the pan with a lid with holes that let the steam escape, and cook the sauce for five minutes on a low simmer. After five minutes, remove the pan from the heat and allow the pizza sauce to cool. You can use the sauce on the same day, or make it ahead of time and store the sauce in a container in the fridge for up to a week.

Preparing the Toppings

30 minutes before baking your pizzas, preheat your oven to 500°F (260°C) with a baking steel or pizza stone on the bottom rack. Then, prepare any toppings you would like for your pizza.

• Dice the raw vegetables to a fine dice
• Tear the raw sausage into small chunks (quarter-sized or smaller) and keep them on a covered plate in the fridge
• Shred the low-moisture mozzarella cheese with a cheese grater and store it in a covered bowl in the fridge
• Pre-grate the pecorino Romano or parmesan cheese and keep it in a bowl (or have the cheese wedge and grater ready to go if you want to grate it directly on your pizza)
• Have an Italian herb blend (or dried oregano) and salt ready for sprinkling onto the pizza

Assembling the Pizzas

Here’s how to assemble three classic pizza topping combinations:

Sausage, Mushrooms, Onions, and Green Peppers: Sprinkle your pizza peel with semolina flour or cornmeal, place the pizza crust on top of the pizza peel with the dry side down and the sticky side up (remove the parchment paper), place 1/2 cup of pizza sauce onto the pizza crust and spread it out all of the way to the edges (leaving only a small amount of crust uncovered), add about 6 oz. of shredded mozzarella on top of the sauce (saving 2 oz. for later). Add 8 oz. of Italian sausage torn into small chunks on top of the cheese, then add one cup of the diced vegetables, and add the remaining 2 oz. of mozzarella cheese on top of the toppings. Spread all of the cheese and toppings to the edge of the pizza. Finish the pizza by adding a pinch of Italian herbs or dried oregano, a pinch of salt, and 1-2 tablespoons of grated pecorino Romano cheese or grated parmesan cheese.

Italian Sausage and Giardiniera: Sprinkle your pizza peel with semolina flour or cornmeal, place the pizza crust on top of the pizza peel with the dry side down and the sticky side up (remove the parchment paper), place 1/2 cup of pizza sauce onto the pizza crust and spread it out all of the way to the edges (leaving only a small amount of crust uncovered), add about 3 oz. of shredded mozzarella on top of the sauce (saving 5 oz. for later). Add 8 oz. of Italian sausage torn into small chunks on top of the cheese, then add 1/3 cup of hot or mild giardiniera, and add the remaining 5 oz. of mozzarella cheese on top of the toppings. Spread all of the cheese and toppings to the edge of the pizza. Finish the pizza by adding a pinch of Italian herbs or dried oregano, a pinch of salt, and 1-2 tablespoons of grated pecorino Romano cheese or grated parmesan cheese.

Plain Cheese Pizza: Sprinkle your pizza peel with semolina flour or cornmeal, place the pizza crust on top of the pizza peel with the dry side down and the sticky side up (remove the parchment paper), place 1/2 cup of pizza sauce onto the pizza crust and spread it out all of the way to the edges (leaving only a small amount of crust uncovered), add the 8 oz. of shredded mozzarella cheese on top of the sauce and spread the cheese to the edges. Finish the pizza by adding a pinch of Italian herbs or dried oregano, a pinch of salt, and 1-2 tablespoons of grated pecorino Romano cheese or grated parmesan cheese.

Baking the Pizzas

Slide the pizza off of the pizza peel and onto the baking steel or pizza stone. Bake for 10 minutes at 500°F (260°C). Depending on your oven, you may need to turn the pizza halfway through so that it cooks evenly. After 10 minutes, remove the pizza with the pizza peel and transfer it to a cooling rack to cool for 5 minutes before slicing.

Serving

To serve your sourdough Chicago-style thin crust pizza, transfer it onto a cutting board or pizza pan and slice it into squares (the traditional slice for tavern style pizza). For a 12″ inch pizza, I do three cuts in one direction and three cuts in the opposite direction. This yields 16 individual slices of various shapes and sizes.

Especially if you bake this thin crust pizza on a baking steel or pizza stone, you should end up with a cracker-thin crust that is crispy and crunchy and slightly browned on the bottom. Each bite of pizza should be crunchy, savory, slightly tangy and zesty from the sauce, and perfectly balanced from the creamy mozzarella cheese.

Continue to Content

Yield: Three 12" pizzas

Sourdough Chicago-Style Thin Crust Pizza

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Thin crust pizza (not deep dish) is actually the most popular style of pizza in Chicago. Chicago-style thin crust pizza is often referred to as “tavern-style” or “cracker-crust” pizza because it features a cracker-thin crust and was first sold in bars and taverns in the early 1940s. Today, I’m sharing my recipe for sourdough Chicago-style thin crust pizza which uses sourdough starter instead of yeast to make the pizza dough rise.

Cook Time 10 minutes

Additional Time 1 day

Total Time 1 day 10 minutes

Ingredients

Sourdough Starter Feeding

• Sourdough Starter, leftover - 25 grams
• Water - 50 grams
• All-Purpose Flour - 50 grams

Main Dough

• All-Purpose Flour - 450 grams
• Water - 225 grams
• Sourdough Starter, active - 100 grams
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil - 25 grams
• White Sugar - 10 grams
• Salt - 10 grams

Pizza Sauce

• Extra Virgin Olive Oil - 1 Tbsp.
• Crushed Tomatoes - 28 oz.
• Tomato Paste - 3 oz.
• Dried Basil - 1 tsp.
• Dried Oregano - 1 tsp.
• Dried Thyme - 1 tsp.
• Dried Marjoram - 1 tsp.
• Red Pepper Flakes - 1/2 tsp.
• White Sugar - 1 tsp
• Salt - 1 tsp.
• Garlic Powder - 1 tsp.

Toppings for One 12" Pizza

• Pizza Sauce - 1/2 cup
• Low-Moisture Mozzarella Cheese, Shredded - 8 oz.
• Pecorino Romano or Parmesan Cheese, grated - 1-2 Tbsp.
• Italian Herbs or Dried Oregano - a pinch
• Salt - a pinch
• Italian Sausage, ground (Optional) - 8 oz.
• Giardiniera, Hot or Mild (Optional) - 1/3 cup
• Vegetables, diced (Optional) - 1 cup

Instructions

Feeding the Sourdough Starter

In the evening, take 25 grams of leftover sourdough starter out of the fridge. Feed the starter 50 grams of water and 50 grams of all-purpose flour. Cover the jar and let the starter rise overnight for 6-8 hours, or until doubled in size. The next morning, your starter should be doubled in size.

Mixing and Kneading the Dough

In the morning, gather the ingredients for the dough. Into a mixing bowl, add the all-purpose flour and the oil. Mix the oil into the flour with a spoon. Then, add the active sourdough starter, the salt, the white sugar, and the water. Mix all of the ingredients together until a rough dough is formed. Knead the dough on your kitchen counter for five minutes or so until the dough starts to hold together as a ball, then cover the dough up with the mixing bowl and let it rest for five minutes. After the short rest, uncover the dough and knead it by hand for another three minutes. The dough should now feel smooth and slightly tacky. Cover the dough with the mixing bowl and let it rest for five minutes.

Dividing and Balling Up the Dough

Using a bench scraper or a chef’s knife, divide the dough into three equal pieces. (Each piece should be roughly 273 grams by weight.) Roll each piece of dough against the counter to form them into smooth balls of dough. Transfer the shaped dough balls into a container dusted with a small amount of flour (I used a 9×13″ cake pan with a lid). Close container with an airtight lid or a sheet of plastic wrap to keep the dough from drying out.

The First Rise

Allow the dough balls to rise in the container at room temperature for 4-6 hours, until they roughly double in size. Don’t worry about the dough balls “overproofing” or rising too much. Overproofed dough is OK for this style of pizza, since it can actually enhance the cracker-like nature of the pizza crust. Once the dough balls have roughly doubled in size, it’s time to roll them out.

Rolling and Shaping the Pizza Doughs

Use a rolling pin to roll each dough ball into a very thin 12″ to 13″ circle. You can dust your kitchen countertop with a very small amount of all-purpose flour if your dough balls start to stick to the counter when rolling. Each pizza crust should end up being around 1/8″ to 1/4″ thick and just a little bit larger than 12″ in diameter. (The doughs may shrink a little bit while they are resting, so a 13″ diameter pizza crust will end up being around 12″ when you bake it). Roll the doughs balls very thin and cut any odd edges off with a pizza cutter to make a perfectly circular crust.

After all of the pizza crusts are rolled out, dock (poke) each pizza crust all over with a fork. This will keep the pizza crust thin and crispy when it bakes in the oven, preventing it from bubbling up.

Curing the Doughs in the Fridge

Transfer each docked pizza crust onto a sheet of parchment paper and then place the pizza crusts into the fridge to “cure.” Leave the doughs in the fridge to rest for 12-24 hours in the cold environment. During this time they will slightly dry out and develop a more complex fermented flavor. Since they’ll dry out slightly in the fridge, the doughs will also be very easy to slide off of the pizza peel the following day.

Making the Pizza Sauce

Add the oil to a saute pan on medium heat. When the oil is hot, add the Italian herb blend (basil, oregano, marjoram, and thyme). Toast the dried herbs in the oil for 30 seconds or so, until fragrant. Add the 3 oz. of tomato paste and fry the tomato paste in the herb-infused oil for one minute, stirring regularly until the tomato paste is dark red and caramelized. Add the crushed tomatoes along with the salt, sugar, and garlic powder. Stir to combine the sauce. Bring the sauce to a simmer and then lower the heat to low to maintain a low simmer. Cover the pan with a lid with holes that let the steam escape, and cook the sauce for five minutes on a low simmer. After five minutes, remove the pan from the heat and allow the pizza sauce to cool. You can use the sauce on the same day, or make it ahead of time and store the sauce in a container in the fridge for up to a week.

Preparing the Toppings

30 minutes before baking your pizzas, preheat your oven to 500°F (260°C) with a baking steel or pizza stone on the bottom rack. Then, prepare any toppings you would like for your pizza.

• Dice the raw vegetables to a fine dice
• Tear the raw sausage into small chunks (quarter-sized or smaller) and keep them on a covered plate in the fridge
• Shred the low-moisture mozzarella cheese with a cheese grater and store it in a covered bowl in the fridge
• Pre-grate the pecorino Romano or parmesan cheese and keep it in a bowl (or have the cheese wedge and grater ready to go if you want to grate it directly on your pizza)
• Have an Italian herb blend (or dried oregano) and salt ready for sprinkling onto the pizza

Assembling the Pizzas

Here’s how to assemble three classic pizza topping combinations:

Sausage, Mushrooms, Onions, and Green Peppers: Sprinkle your pizza peel with semolina flour or cornmeal, place the pizza crust on top of the pizza peel with the dry side down and the sticky side up (remove the parchment paper), place 1/2 cup of pizza sauce onto the pizza crust and spread it out all of the way to the edges (leaving only a small amount of crust uncovered), add about 6 oz. of shredded mozzarella on top of the sauce (saving 2 oz. for later). Add 8 oz. of Italian sausage torn into small chunks on top of the cheese, then add one cup of the diced vegetables, and add the remaining 2 oz. of mozzarella cheese on top of the toppings. Spread all of the cheese and toppings to the edge of the pizza. Finish the pizza by adding a pinch of Italian herbs or dried oregano, a pinch of salt, and 1-2 tablespoons of grated pecorino Romano cheese or grated parmesan cheese.

Italian Sausage and Giardiniera: Sprinkle your pizza peel with semolina flour or cornmeal, place the pizza crust on top of the pizza peel with the dry side down and the sticky side up (remove the parchment paper), place 1/2 cup of pizza sauce onto the pizza crust and spread it out all of the way to the edges (leaving only a small amount of crust uncovered), add about 3 oz. of shredded mozzarella on top of the sauce (saving 5 oz. for later). Add 8 oz. of Italian sausage torn into small chunks on top of the cheese, then add 1/3 cup of hot or mild giardiniera, and add the remaining 5 oz. of mozzarella cheese on top of the toppings. Spread all of the cheese and toppings to the edge of the pizza. Finish the pizza by adding a pinch of Italian herbs or dried oregano, a pinch of salt, and 1-2 tablespoons of grated pecorino Romano cheese or grated parmesan cheese.

Plain Cheese Pizza: Sprinkle your pizza peel with semolina flour or cornmeal, place the pizza crust on top of the pizza peel with the dry side down and the sticky side up (remove the parchment paper), place 1/2 cup of pizza sauce onto the pizza crust and spread it out all of the way to the edges (leaving only a small amount of crust uncovered), add the 8 oz. of shredded mozzarella cheese on top of the sauce and spread the cheese to the edges. Finish the pizza by adding a pinch of Italian herbs or dried oregano, a pinch of salt, and 1-2 tablespoons of grated pecorino Romano cheese or grated parmesan cheese.

Baking the Pizzas

Slide the pizza off of the pizza peel and onto the baking steel or pizza stone. Bake for 10 minutes at 500°F (260°C). Depending on your oven, you may need to turn the pizza halfway through so that it cooks evenly. After 10 minutes, remove the pizza with the pizza peel and transfer it to a cooling rack to cool for 5 minutes before slicing.

Serving

To serve your sourdough Chicago-style thin crust pizza, transfer it onto a cutting board or pizza pan and slice it into squares (the traditional slice for tavern style pizza). For a 12″ inch pizza, I do three cuts in one direction and three cuts in the opposite direction. This yields 16 individual slices of various shapes and sizes.

Especially if you bake this thin crust pizza on a baking steel or pizza stone, you should end up with a cracker-thin crust that is crispy and crunchy and slightly browned on the bottom. Each bite of pizza should be crunchy, savory, slightly tangy and zesty from the sauce, and perfectly balanced from the creamy mozzarella cheese.