2nd Deep Dish Attempt - More crust problems

kbutler84 · December 2012

Second deep dish attempt, and once again had crust problems. I'll admit that I cheated this time and scored some dough from a local pizza place, and it tasted much better than my homemade last time.

Anyway, my problem is that the bottom of the pizza is sticking to the deep dish stone. The first time I used corn meal at the bottom of the stone, and this time I used canola oil. Both resulted in the crust sticking to the bottom.

Would it help oiling the stone and putting it in the oven (or egg) empty at around 450-500 in an attempt to season it?

cazzy · December 2012

Get with @jfm8030 he has the same deep dish pan and produces good results with it. I use a oiled cast iron pan and have zero problems with sticking.

Ellis · December 2012

Every since Cazzy and Griffin posted the pics last week I have made two, one last week and tonight each with great results in the cast iron 12", and I have always thin crust in the past. It's a nice to have change now and again.

bud812 · December 2012

+ 2 for CI skillet.

jfm0830 · December 2012

I actually have the old 8" version of that pan, and this looks like the 14" version that just came out this year. But either way it's the same material and I've had zero problems with anything sticking to the pan. I will post a link for the recipe I use which comes from the BGE website. I believe the recipe was custom tailored for the pan you have, because it came out right at the time that 14" pan started hitting the store shelves.

But all I do, as per the recipe, Is swirl some vegetable oil around the inside surface of the pan so it is completely covered. Then you partially bake the crust and bring it back inside and add the fillings. Have a look at this link and adapt your cooking techniques so that they are similar to the techniques in this recipe and you should be fine. From the looks of it, if you are making it at 450 to 500° that is probably the problem right there. This recipe I use has you use 425° for your temperature. With that much filling inside the crust, the lower temperature probably helps get the inside materials cooked without burning the outer crust.

I hope some of this helps, believe me the end results are more than worth it!

Jim

http://www.biggreenegg.com/recipes/deep-dish-pizza/

Skiddymarker · December 2012

IMHO, if you are using stoneware you may actually need more oil than a seasoned CI. Deep dish, by its nature needs the crust to be "well lubricated", per the instructions of @jfm0830. Most folks try to use stoneware to cut down on oil in the final product, with deep dish, don't think it is possible.

Stoneware pans need to be very well seasoned before you can cook without oil. Given the way most of us clean them, water and scrape is all you can do without removing the seasoning, they often never become seasoned.

I think CI is much easier to use, it is a more nonporous surface that covers very well with Crisco or other oil.

@kbutler84 - I'd try using Crisco, coat the pan and season it as you suggest. Try another pizza using Crisco once again. I'm betting you will have better results.

jfm0830 · December 2012

Surprisingly enough, the recipe used very little oil. For the 14 inch pan it called for 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil. Where my pan is smaller I used about a tablespoon and a half which was about enough to swirl around the pan and up the sides. There really wasn't an excess of oil on there, just enough that you could tell it was wet. I've now made this pizza about a half-dozen times with zero issues regarding the crust sticking. My guess is the difference in cooking temperature is probably the main differentiator between success and failure.

Skiddymarker · December 2012

@jfm0830 - many folks trying to reduce fat intake see 2 Tbs in a 14" pan and immediately reduce it to 1 tsp, they brush or spray, not swirl as you do. It may not seem like too much to you, but for someone who has been using cornmeal 2 Tbs of oil is like deep frying. If you have a sticking crust, to me the first thing to try is more oil and as you point out cook at the right temp.

jackieb79 · December 2012

I had the same problem using the deep dish stone this weekend. Crust stuck to the stone so badly we had to destroy the pizza to get it out, and then had to soak the stone to get the rest off.

We cooked ours indirectly, sitting on egg feet, at 425F and I oiled my stone twice before putting the dough in. Each time, the stone just sucked up the oil to the point that it was dry to the touch again. After the 2nd time, I figured okay, maybe it's supposed to do that.

I'm thinking we'll try again and use butter or shortening next time so it doesn't just soak into the pores of the stone right away like the liquid oil did.

One thing I noticed was that my dough tasted very oily even though I clearly did not use enough oil to keep it from sticking. It makes me leery about using even more.

vidalia1 · December 2012

Authentic Chicago Deep Dish pies recipe call for Crisco in the bottom and sides of the pan to give you the cracker style crust & prevent sticking....Crisco is all I use on my deep dish pies and I have the BGE ceramic stone...

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2nd Deep Dish Attempt - More crust problems

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