Chicago Style Pizza Recipe??

T-Que · September 2006

Does anyone have a good Recipe for Chicago Style Pizza crust and how to bake it? I just tried the following dough/crust recipe.
CRUST:
2 pkgs. Quick rise dry yeast
2 c. tepid water (90 degrees)
1/2 c. salad oil
4 tbsp. olive oil
1/2 c. cornmeal
5 1/2 c. flour
I let the dough rise, punched it down, rise again and lined the pan with the dough. I built the pizza in a round cake pan with 1/8"-1/4" dough. Layered it with bulk Italian Sausage, pizza sauce, mozz cheese, and mushrooms, more sauce, mozz cheese and sprinkled the top with parm cheese. I put the pie in a Medium Egg, on plate sitter @ 475 degrees for 25-30 minutes as the directions instructed. The outcome was less than desirable. The exposed crust was rock hard the crust in the pan around the ingredients was not bad but slightly raw and doughy and the sausage was not cooked thoroughly. I cooked the second pie 5 additional minutes and burnt the bottom of the pie.
Not the outcome I expected... I have cooked regular thin crust pizza on the egg (on a pizza stone) with great results. But would really like to be able to cook a good Chicago Style Pizze. Has anyone mastered this unique pizza?? If so any help is greatly appriciated!!,[p]Thx
T-Que

Jose' · September 2006

T-Que,
http://www.pizzamaking.com/

gman · September 2006

My gut instinct is that you would have better luck if you:[p]1) cook raw meat ingredients in a pan first,
2) cook the dough half-way in the BGE,
3) add all ingredients at the half-way point[p]...it sounds like cheating, but when you dump ingredients on top of your pie, you're essentially adding a layer of insulation to the top portion of your dough. So you either end up with an over-cooked bottom or and under-cooked top. There's really an optimal point where you can just throw everything in the oven at once and turn out right.

fishlessman · September 2006

<p />T-Que,
Deep-Dish Pizza similar to uno's
Prepare the topping while the dough is rising so it will be ready at the same time the dough is ready. Baking the pizza in a deep-dish pan on a hot pizza stone or quarry tiles will help produce a crisp, well-browned bottom crust. Otherwise, a heavy rimless cookie sheet (do not use an insulated cookie sheet) will work almost as well. If you've only got a rimmed cookie sheet, turn it upside down and bake the pizza on the flat rimless side. The amount of oil used to grease the pan may seem excessive, but in addition to preventing sticking, the oil helps the crust brown nicely. [p]Makes one 14-inch pizza, serving 4 to 6 1 medium baking potato (about 9 ounces), peeled and quartered
1 1/2 teaspoons rapid-rise yeast
3 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup water (warm, 105 to 115 degrees)
6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil plus more for oiling bowl
1 3/4 teaspoons table salt [p]1 recipe topping (see related recipes)[p][p]1. Bring 1 quart water and potato to boil in a small saucepan over medium-high heat; cook until tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Drain and cool until potato can be handled comfortably; press through fine disk on potato ricer or grate through large holes on box grater. Measure 1 1/3 cups lightly packed potato; discard remaining potato. [p]2. Adjust one oven rack to highest position, other rack to lowest position; heat oven to 200 degrees. Once temperature reaches 200 degrees, maintain heat 10 minutes, then turn off heat. [p]3. In bowl of standing mixer or in workbowl of food processor fitted with steel blade, mix or pulse yeast, 1/2 cup flour, and 1/2 cup warm water until combined. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside until bubbly, about 20 minutes. Add 2 tablespoons olive oil, remaining 1/2 cup water, 3 cups flour, salt, and potato. If using mixer, fit with paddle attachment and mix on low speed until dough comes together. Switch to dough hook attachment and increase speed to medium; continue kneading until dough comes together and is slightly tacky, about 5 minutes. If using food processor, process until dough comes together in a ball, about 40 seconds. Dough should be slightly sticky. Transfer dough to lightly oiled medium bowl, turn to coat with oil and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Place in warm oven until dough is soft and spongy and doubled in size, 30 to 35 minutes. [p]4. Oil bottom of 14-inch deep-dish pizza pan with remaining 4 tablespoons olive oil. Remove dough from oven; turn onto clean, dry work surface and pat into 12-inch round. Transfer round to pan, cover with plastic wrap, and let rest until dough no longer resists shaping, about 10 minutes. [p]5. Line low oven rack with unglazed baking tiles or place pizza stone or rimless cookie sheet on rack (do not use insulated cookie sheet; see note above) and heat oven to 425 degrees. Uncover dough and pull up into edges and up sides of pan to form 1-inch-high lip. Cover with plastic wrap; let rise in warm draft-free spot until double in size, about 30 minutes. Uncover dough and prick generously with fork. Bake on preheated tiles, stone, or cookie sheet until dry and lightly browned, about 15 minutes. Add desired toppings; bake on tiles, stone, or cookie sheet until cheese melts, 10 to 15 minutes. Move pizza to top rack and bake until cheese is spotty golden brown, about 5 minutes longer. Let cool 5 minutes, then, holding pizza pan at angle with one hand, use wide spatula to slide pizza from pan to cutting board. Cut into wedges and serve. [p]
you want to put a layer of cheese under the sauce and precook the meat. i think this was mozzerella, strained stewed tomatoes, italian sausage, and maybe some parm, its been a while since i cooked one. recipe came from JSTRAUS from the forum, easy to do in the egg

J Straus · September 2006

The link you got above is an excellent resource.

http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,2403.40.html

This is the sectoin that I got the most help. Two things that I think are most important are:

Use whatever dough recipe that you like, but try not to work it too much. I just try to get my dough together and don't knead other than to get all ingredients combined. This will deliver a more biscuit like crust that is very much like Malnatti's (and use corn oil only). I do not use cornmeal for this kind of crust, but that's a matter of opinion.

Second, is to layer SLICES of mozzarella on the dough BEFORE adding toppings. These shingles of mozzarella will create a vapor barrier from the toppings and sauce that will allow the dough to cook without having to par-bake first. A wire cheese cutter works perfectly for this.

Also, and you may know this already, but sauce goes on last, poured over the toppings. I do cook my sausage first, but do other toppings raw and they cook ok in the oven/egg.

Again, that Chicago Style link above is a great help.

Justin

J Straus · September 2006

Thanks for the cred Fishless! That's Cook's Illustrated for deep dish and it is good. I have been experimenting with the info on the forum in my other post, and have had real success with the tips I gave. A lot less time involved to me and closer results to my Chi-town favorite Lou Malnatti's. I think that working the dough as little as possible eliminates the need for the spud, and that's a big time/effort saver. Also, with the sliced cheese on the bottom, you can skip the par-bake, another time saver, and closer to what I was after. I don't know if you do these often enough, but I also got the tip to use 6 in 1 tomatoes, as I had been using Muir Glen crushed on top. Best of all, you can just open the can and pour over the top of your filled pizza and sprinkle a little Italian herb before it goes in. Boy is that easy! And I think the results are good enough to no longer have to spend $70 on four Lou's pizzas delivered. But to anyone out there who can't get to a Lou Malnattis, the $70 is worth it for four of their pizzas!

Justin

Chicago Style Pizza Recipe??

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