Lou Malnati Dough Question (Jazzman's recipe)

Buxwheat

Just got through making a batch of dough and put it in the fridge. Read the instuctions (Jazzman) thru a couple of times before starting and thought I had it down pat. Somehow I got the impression that the cup of corn oil was used to grease the pan you bake it in. After mixing the dry ingredients and adding the water/yeast, I realized this stuff was way too dry, and I still needed to add another 1/2 cup of flour. I'm guessing that the olive/corn oil must go in the dough. Yuck! Sounds gross but I went ahead with it. Ended up needing an additional 1/4 cup flour to get this stuff to ball up and climb the dough hook. Is this correct to add all that oil to the dough? I'm going to trust that I did it right and try baking a Pan Pizza later this week. Pics will follow if it's worthy of documenting. Made one the other nite with a half batch of Zippylip dough that was pretty good (not exactly Chicago style, but good in its own way).

BobS

I am not familiar with that recipe, but I jsut read it and it seems that you did everything right

Even the guy that posted the recipe had to come back and add a little more flour.

I have never attempted a Chicago style pizza before, but for other pizza dough, this would be a little light on water and a little heavy on oil.

Cosidering the detail provided about quantities, I was surprised to see the error in some of the conversions about the amount of water.

The recipe shows: Water (47%) 1 cup / 255.58 g / 9.02 oz / 0.56 lbs.

The 255.58 grams water is 47% hydration, but that is not one cup and one cup is 8 ounces vs the 9.02 shown.

Unknown

You are correct about the inaccuracies of the recipe that Jazzman posted. He got this recipe from the pizza forum by Deven Mercer. If you're going to make a proper dough you need to follow the directions exactly or you will not get the same result.

BobS

Here is the link to the pizza forum recipe mentioned above.

http://www.pizzamaking.com/dkm_chicago.php

Jazzman

I actually did not use the DKM recipe as posted above (although I'm sure it's excellent as well), but the BTB recipe at this link:

http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,6480.0.html

He posts a few versions of his recipe, the one I settled on is the one with 25% (by weight) semolina. I think it's on page 2 or 3. I use his weight calculations exactly, but did "fudge" a little bit on the conversions to cups, just to make it easier for those without a scale (the original recipe did NOT have the cup conversions - I added them for simplicity sake, when I don't feel like getting out the scale). I have used the formula both ways and it comes out great, even though 1 cup is not exactly 9 oz. If you have a scale - use it. If not, the conversions still work well.

You're right about adding the oil. It's a very oily dough - the first few times I tried it, I thought I had done something wrong, even as I'm rolling it out it seems very wierd. BUT it always comes out great! I usually end up adding a bit more flour when I'm rolling it out - not much, though. I have found that you can slightly vary some of the measurements and still come out OK - as long as you are using the semolina and all the oil - those are the keys. Sometimes I use a pinch more flour, a pinch less water, etc. to get the right consistancy. I would NOT recommend you play around with the recipe until you've made it a few times and know what you're going for. I never use oil in the pan before baking - always a light coating of crisco - sooo good.


And yes, I would recommend anyone serious about this to go to the pizza forum link provided above. There's a ton of great info there. The only thing(s) I do differently than the original recipe is: 1) I do pre-bake the crust 4 minutes before I add the cheese or toppings. I like the way it turns out better, and will continue to do so. 2) I usually (not always) pre-cook the sausage - at least part-way. That's really just to release some of the moisture. I have never felt that doing so has resulted in overcooked sausage. But you can't go wrong following the original recipe. And use a scale if you can - especially the first few times. It's worth it!

mkc

Jazzman wrote:

I actually did not use the DKM recipe as posted above (although I'm sure it's excellent as well), but the BTB recipe at this link:

http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,6480.0.html

I've done the BTB recipe a couple of times myself (my posts in the pizzamaking.com thread show the pizza made in a cast iron skillet).

It is definitely an unusual dough if you're used to a traditional flat pizza. Rather than a bread-like crust, it's got more of a biscuit texture.

I also don't roll it out but instead pat it into the pan.

We really like the result! A nice change once in a while from our usual NY style.