Chicago tavern-style dough calculator
Cracker-thin Chicago squares: 50% hydration, 8% oil, and skins dried overnight before they are baked.
Chicago tavern-style: the cracker-thin, party-cut pizza of Midwest bars, rolled flat, cured dry, and snapped into squares. The defining work happens in the fridge: a multi-day cold ferment and an overnight uncovered “cure” of the rolled skins.
How it works
A stiff, fatty dough
About 49% ice water, 8% oil, 1.3% each of salt and sugar, with 3.5% of the flour base as cornmeal for bite. The 0.5% instant yeast dose belongs to a 4–5 day cold fermentation.
Janjigian’s batch
The Wordloaf recipe: 365 g of high-gluten flour and 13 g of cornmeal, 185 g of ice water, 30 g of oil, 5 g of sugar, 5 g of salt and 2 g of instant yeast, for two 295 g balls. The default batch is that recipe: 369 g of flour base, 181 g of water, 30 g of oil, 5 g each of salt and sugar and 2 g of yeast. The water is ice water because the dough goes into the fridge straight after mixing.
Roll, dock, cure
Roll 295 g balls to a full 35 cm with a rolling pin, dock thoroughly, then rest the naked skins uncovered in the fridge overnight (up to ~24 h). That drying step is what produces the signature cracker snap.
Dress to the edge, cut in squares
Sauce and cheese go all the way to the rim; tavern style has no crust “handle”. Bake hot until deeply browned, then party-cut into squares. Thin toppings only; this base carries no weight.
Sources & methodology
Every percentage in this calculator traces to the published sources below — nothing is invented. Where respected sources disagree, the default sits inside the documented range.
- Andrew Janjigian — Wordloaf, Chicago tavern-style — Andrew Janjigian’s formula: 49% ice water, 8% oil, cornmeal in the base, 4–5 days cold plus the overnight uncovered skin cure.
- PizzaBlab — dough formulas for every pizza style — Style bands: 45–55% water, 5–10% fat.
FAQ
Why cure the rolled dough?
A dried surface bakes into a crisp, almost laminated shell instead of a bready one. Every serious tavern-style source agrees on the step. Skip it and you get a thin pizza, but not the crackle.
Can I shorten the cold ferment?
Published schedules run from overnight to 7–10 days, with 4–5 days as the sweet spot. Shorter works, with a little more yeast, but flavor and blistering suffer.
Why only 1.3% salt?
That is Janjigian’s 5 g on 378 g of flour and cornmeal. PizzaBlab’s band for the style is 2–2.5%, so this is one place the published sources disagree; both bake fine.
What does the cornmeal do?
Janjigian puts 13 g of cornmeal in 378 g of flour base, 3.5%, for bite in a base this thin. It is a small share; without it the dough still works and the crunch is a little less gritty.
Why squares?
The party cut is the tradition: a bar pizza eaten over napkins, not folded slices. Practically, a cracker-thin 35 cm round simply handles better in small squares.
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