Chicago Deep Dish - just as good as Malnati's

Tjcoley · March 3

Did a couple of Deep Dish pies tonight - one sausage, one plain. Sausage done in authentic steel pan, plain done in CI. Both turned out great, but for Deep Dish I think I'll stick to steel. Can't beat CI for pan pizza, but I liked the crust on the other one better.

hapster · March 3

Don't the place you are talking about... But they look pretty damn good!

Tjcoley · March 3

Thanks Hap. Lou Malnati's is a Chicago original - one of the top 2 or 3 Deep Dish places in town. I used to pay a fortune to have frozen ones shipped to PA, but never again.

Solson005 · March 3

Looks great! I've done pan but haven't tried deep dish on the egg.. yet. I worked on a project for a summer a couple years back in Chicago and had my fair share of Malnati's and Geno's. Its going on the ever growing list of things to try on the egg!

cazzy · March 3

Look awesome! Can you talk about your approach a lil more please. I would love to try and pull this off.

Dyal_SC · March 3

That does look good. I need to give that a try sometime.

Tjcoley · March 3

cazzy said:

Look awesome! Can you talk about your approach a lil more please. I would love to try and pull this off.

Here's the step by step. Using a more simple dough now which is just as good. Will post in a minute.

http://eggheadforum.com/discussion/1142348/chicago-deep-dish-pizza-pic-heavy#latest

Tjcoley · March 3

Here's the dough recipe - keep in mind, this is not typical pizza dough. More biscuit like - just like the original.

Chicago-style Deep Dish Pizza Dough

11/2 cups warm water

1/2 tablespoon active dry yeast

1/2 tablespoon sugar

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup semolina flour

1/2 cup shortening

1 teaspoon salt

Mix water, yeast & sugar. Let sit for 5 minutes

Using dough hook on mixer add shortening, 2 cups of the AP flour and salt then mix for 5 minutes. Add 1 more cup of AP flour and the semolina flour, mix until a dough ball is formed. Add the remaining 1/2 of AP flour as needed. Dough should be wet but shouldn't stick to your hands.

Put in frig to rise over night. (Can be made the same day and let rise for 6 – 8 hours at room temp) Take out about 2 - 3 hours before use.

Preheat Egg to 500 degrees 30 minutes before baking.

Well grease (Crisco) a 15” deep dish pizza pan. Pat out dough in the pan and top.

Bake about 15 minutes.

Z_Eggineer · March 3

My SWMBO's FAVORITE pizza is Lou Malnati's (she is from Chicago) and say's it's the best deep dish. We agree that yours looks extremely similar to the original so congrats!!!

Where did you get the steel pan? Why do you rub the pan with shortening as fat of choice? Eager to learn from you.

Tjcoley · March 3

I'm using a steel pan I bought from a restraraunt store I seasoned myself. At some point I will order pans fron Malnati's but haven't got around to it yet. Everything I could find out said they used Crisco to grease the pans. I found it works well, and have never had sticking. The pie falls right out of the pan. The dough is like play dough, very easy to spread through the pan and up the sides just with pressing with your fingers. I let it proof in the pan for an hour or so before topping. Use sliced cheese (mozzarella and provolone) then toppings ( Malnati's uses a disk of sausage that covers the pie) then sauce and grated parm.

Z_Eggineer · March 3

@ Tjcoley, you are amazing. I have now been ordered to make this. We are going to make the cheese/plain one. Does it matter which kind of mozzarella?

caliking · March 3

@Tjcoley: that's a tall claim if I ever heard one. You'll have to send me a pie to settle this.

Who am I kidding?? :) Your deep dish looks fabulous.

Tjcoley · March 3

Z_Eggineer said:

@ Tjcoley, you are amazing. I have now been ordered to make this. We are going to make the cheese/plain one. Does it matter which kind of mozzarella?

I used Sargento Whole Milk Mozza

cazzy · March 3

Thanks for linking me to the directions & for posting the dough recipe! Well done sir! Great looking pie and looks authentic! =D>

Pacuare · March 4

Looks good! I will definitely add his to my list of cooks to do in the future. I lived in the suburbs of Chicago for a significant number of years growing up, and love Chicago style pizza. My wedding rehearsal dinner was at Gino's, and I have ordered frozen pies from them a couple of times.

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Chicago Deep Dish - just as good as Malnati's

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