Ooops, it did not turn out very good

Banker John

I tried pizza today, Chicago deep dish - stuffed pizza. It did not turn out very well; actually, we tossed it.[p]I started with homemade dough, split it into 2 balls, let it rest overnight in the fridge and then pulled it out about 2 hours before ready to work the dough.[p]I used a 10" spring form pan for my deep dish pan, since I don't own one. Stretched the first dough ball and lined the bottom of the spring form pan leaving the dough lipped up & over the sides. I then laid sliced mozzeralla (not shredded) in the bottom and followed with a thin, hand spread layer of bulk italian sausage. Next came fresh spinach mixed with a light amount of shredded white cheddar. All this was topped with sauce. I then stretched the second dough ball and covered the pie, lapping the dough down the sides letting the 2 doughs come together. I stretched several holes in the top dough and then added some shredded mozz cheese and topped with more sauce. Added 4 thin sliced tomatoes and parmesan cheese. With the 2 doughs lapping over the sides of the pan, I used a rolling pin pressed on the lip rim and sealed the doughs while separating the excess away.[p]I had the egg up to 500, as that is what I normally cook pizza at. I realized after 30 minues that the temp was too hot, so I lowered to 350 for the remaining 20 minutes... after 50 minutes, the exterior was real done. The result was an overcooked outer dough with chewey, underdone inside dough with not completely cooked sausage.[p]Things I learned from this failure.
1) The consistent thickness of the pizza dough is critical to success. Thick and thin spots make for uneven inside heating of contents.
2) Use very, very little sauce on the inside or none at all... the juice of the sausage provides plenty of moisture.
3) Temp of the egg. I started at 500, which in hind sight is WAY too high. I'm thinking closer to 400. I'll try this at 400 next time.
4) After pulling from the spring form, cut the top edges, marking where the slices will be removed from. After the pie cools somewhat, the crust hardens and if these cuts are not made, the pie is demolished while trying to cut pretty pieces.
5) after removing from the spring form pan, place the pie on 2 stacked pizza screens. This elevates the bottom crust off of the serving platter. The result is that, as juices come out of the pie, it will not make the bottom dough soggy.[p]The look of the finished product is fantastic. Just a few adjustments as noted above and we may have a winner.[p]If you have not tried this, go ahead - it really is not all that hard. Learn from my mistakes.[p]Banker John

GrillMeister

Banker John,[p]Thanks for sharing your disappointing experience with us so we can learn from them.[p]Better luck next time.[p]Cheers,[p]GrillMeister

Pakak

Banker John,[p]Just noticed this - "with not completely cooked sausage".[p]When using sausage on pizza, I precook it at least partially. If covered with a lot of cheese, probably precook it completely.

Banker John

Pakak,
Thanks for the tip on precooking the sausage. I got the whole idea by watching the travel channel yesterday when they did a thing on the 10 best Pizza places across the US. One of them was Chicago Stuffed Pizza. On the pizza made in this restaurant, they did not precook. [p]I only tried what I saw... thnking as usual, I can cook that as good, or better on the egg.[p]Banker John