Another try at Deep Dish Chicago Style

Photo Egg · May 2020

Photo Egg · May 2020

gmanrva · May 2020

Looks pretty damn good to me!

Carolina Q · May 2020

Nice work, Darian!

JohnInCarolina · May 2020

I’d hit it.

Photo Egg · May 2020

Thanks, was darn good.
I used sweet Italian sausage this time and some Greek seasoning.
Had way more moisture this time.
I used double the cheese but I think it was the Kroger grocery store sausage. Tasted great but I think it was watery. I pulled some off with 2 paper towels.

StillH2OEgger · May 2020

That looks exceptional!

Photo Egg · May 2020

Carolina Q said:

Nice work, Darian!

Thanks buddy.
I also used Extra Light Olive Oil this time instead of corn oil.
Cooked on my XL last time. This time in my gas oven. Think that increased the moisture level?

Carolina Q · May 2020

Photo Egg said:

Carolina Q said:

Nice work, Darian!

Thanks buddy.
I also used Extra Light Olive Oil this time instead of corn oil.
Cooked on my XL last time. This time in my gas oven. Think that increased the moisture level?

Sorry, bud, I have no idea. Where's stikeman when you need him? Sounds like his sort of question.

Carolina Q · May 2020

Hey, maybe Zip has an idea on the liquid problem. Marc, see above pie wedge photos. @Zippylip

Photo Egg · May 2020

Carolina Q said:

Hey, maybe Zip has an idea on the liquid problem. Marc, see above pie wedge photos. @Zippylip

Thanks.
Reminds me of browning up a pound of hamburger. Every once in awhile you get a pack that seems to cook out a bunch of liquid, not just fat.

I’m not sure why it would be bad to at least par cook the sausage first. Covered in sauce, it’s not going to dry out?
Im going to cook up a slice of the cheese and see how much water it renders.
I know last time I only used 1 layer of cheese and it’s sliced pretty thin. This time I doubled it up. The sauce was about the same consistency but much better quality.
Sauce was excellent this time. Good tomatoes made a big difference.

SaltySam · May 2020

This looks great! I’ve never done a true Chicago style like yours. Ive always put cheese all the way to the edge, so it gets crispy and brown. I also put ghee on the pan before I drop the dough in. The dough ends up buttery and the consistency is a bit more like Pizza Hut pan pizza circa 1987. The fat kid in me will always love it.

San Marzano tomatoes are the good standard, as far as I’m concerned. Smash those with a little garlic and oregano, and that’s better than any store bought sauce.

paqman · May 2020

👍👍👍

fishlessman · May 2020

looks good from here. i buy that cento product as well, seems more pureed than whole peeled, theres another thats hard to find for me called cento chef cut that atleast is more chunky. that could be some of the watery issue and i do part cook the sausage as tiny meatball pieces

abtaylor260 · May 2020

That looks delicious! I may try to give a go at making that one of these days. Thanks for the pics.

Carolina Q · May 2020

abtaylor260 said:

That looks delicious! I may try to give a go at making that one of these days. Thanks for the pics.

@abtaylor260, for the complete recipe/method, go here...
https://eggheadforum.com/discussion/1167656/how-to-make-authentic-chicago-deep-dish-pizza-in-two-hours-or-less/p1

caliking · May 2020

Nice, Darian!!

Don't know about the excess water issue, but the Serious Eats Foolproof Pan Pizza recipe calls for a short spell on the stove, after you pull the pie from the oven... would that help here? Although that's sort of fixing the problem, instead of addressing the cause.

Zippylip · May 2020

Carolina Q said:

Hey, maybe Zip has an idea on the liquid problem. Marc, see above pie wedge photos. @Zippylip

I'm not sure either. The only time I've ever had liquid problems on pizza is when using raw veggies for toppings, particularly tomatoes/peppers or home crushed tomatoes for the sauce, all those things tend to leach water when sitting on a pie so I've taken to straining the crushed tomatoes until really thick, and either slicing the veggies paper thin or cooking them a bit before hand. With tomatoes I slice them thin then lay them sandwiched between paper towels to leach the water out before putting on the pie. In Darian's case I can't imagine it would be the sausage or cheese, they'd make it a grease puddle if anything rather than a water issue. Cooking it in the oven does add moisture though, over the egg anyway, as gas ovens are a more humid environment but that shouldn't account for any puddling.

It probably leached out of the tomato sauce but that stuff looks pretty thick.

Photo Egg · May 2020

Zippylip said:

Carolina Q said:

Hey, maybe Zip has an idea on the liquid problem. Marc, see above pie wedge photos. @Zippylip

I'm not sure either. The only time I've ever had liquid problems on pizza is when using raw veggies for toppings, particularly tomatoes/peppers or home crushed tomatoes for the sauce, all those things tend to leach water when sitting on a pie so I've taken to straining the crushed tomatoes until really thick, and either slicing the veggies paper thin or cooking them a bit before hand. With tomatoes I slice them thin then lay them sandwiched between paper towels to leach the water out before putting on the pie. In Darian's case I can't imagine it would be the sausage or cheese, they'd make it a grease puddle if anything rather than a water issue. Cooking it in the oven does add moisture though, over the egg anyway, as gas ovens are a more humid environment but that shouldn't account for any puddling.

It probably leached out of the tomato sauce but that stuff looks pretty thick.

I hand crushed the tomatoes and cooked them down to thicken for almost 2 hours. But they certainly could have been the issue.
I understand the sausage should have been more of a grease issue than watery issue but I have had this issue with ground beef in the past.

I will go back to a better brand of sausage and cook down the sauce a little more.

Zippylip · May 2020

Photo Egg said:

Zippylip said:

Carolina Q said:

Hey, maybe Zip has an idea on the liquid problem. Marc, see above pie wedge photos. @Zippylip

I'm not sure either. The only time I've ever had liquid problems on pizza is when using raw veggies for toppings, particularly tomatoes/peppers or home crushed tomatoes for the sauce, all those things tend to leach water when sitting on a pie so I've taken to straining the crushed tomatoes until really thick, and either slicing the veggies paper thin or cooking them a bit before hand. With tomatoes I slice them thin then lay them sandwiched between paper towels to leach the water out before putting on the pie. In Darian's case I can't imagine it would be the sausage or cheese, they'd make it a grease puddle if anything rather than a water issue. Cooking it in the oven does add moisture though, over the egg anyway, as gas ovens are a more humid environment but that shouldn't account for any puddling.

It probably leached out of the tomato sauce but that stuff looks pretty thick.

I hand crushed the tomatoes and cooked them down to thicken for almost 2 hours. But they certainly could have been the issue.
I understand the sausage should have been more of a grease issue than watery issue but I have had this issue with ground beef in the past.
I will go back to a better brand of sausage and cook down the sauce a little more.

I never understood the idea of putting raw sausage into these pies. I mean I know it's done & it works, but I've always precooked it & drained it well before putting in/on the pie to make sure it's cooked and to get rid of the massive amount of grease yielded (and maybe unwittingly even some moisture if that is what happened here), and maybe most of all to be able to pull the pie when I want rather than when I'm sure that the pork buried somewhere in the middle is properly cooked. I'd rather pull the pie when it looks done to my liking rather that some predetermined time as related to a food safety issue. Generally I lean towards cooking sausage on the long side anyway & I think the dough would be too well done by then, & it's not the kind of meat that can really be over cooked, pretty durable stuff that doesn't change much if you go longer than necessary

Edit: the more I think about it I can't see it being the tomatoes, Cento is an excellent product & if you cooked it down even further it's practically sludge, & being on top of the pie it's going to evaporate up rather than puddling... I've never made sausage but I'm led to understand they often add ice in the process so there could be a lot of added water to what you used, & if it's trapped between the dough on the bottom & cheese/sauce on top it could certainly end up on your plate like it did. Makes sense

Carolina Q · May 2020

Mark Malnati making pies. RAW sausage, uncooked sauce...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKbMd3_dQDE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cH_ymnmarRU

Photo Egg · May 2020

Zippylip said:

Photo Egg said:

Zippylip said:

Carolina Q said:

Hey, maybe Zip has an idea on the liquid problem. Marc, see above pie wedge photos. @Zippylip

I'm not sure either. The only time I've ever had liquid problems on pizza is when using raw veggies for toppings, particularly tomatoes/peppers or home crushed tomatoes for the sauce, all those things tend to leach water when sitting on a pie so I've taken to straining the crushed tomatoes until really thick, and either slicing the veggies paper thin or cooking them a bit before hand. With tomatoes I slice them thin then lay them sandwiched between paper towels to leach the water out before putting on the pie. In Darian's case I can't imagine it would be the sausage or cheese, they'd make it a grease puddle if anything rather than a water issue. Cooking it in the oven does add moisture though, over the egg anyway, as gas ovens are a more humid environment but that shouldn't account for any puddling.

It probably leached out of the tomato sauce but that stuff looks pretty thick.

I hand crushed the tomatoes and cooked them down to thicken for almost 2 hours. But they certainly could have been the issue.
I understand the sausage should have been more of a grease issue than watery issue but I have had this issue with ground beef in the past.
I will go back to a better brand of sausage and cook down the sauce a little more.

I never understood the idea of putting raw sausage into these pies. I mean I know it's done & it works, but I've always precooked it & drained it well before putting in/on the pie to make sure it's cooked and to get rid of the massive amount of grease yielded (and maybe unwittingly even some moisture if that is what happened here), and maybe most of all to be able to pull the pie when I want rather than when I'm sure that the pork buried somewhere in the middle is properly cooked. I'd rather pull the pie when it looks done to my liking rather that some predetermined time as related to a food safety issue. Generally I lean towards cooking sausage on the long side anyway & I think the dough would be too well done by then, & it's not the kind of meat that can really be over cooked, pretty durable stuff that doesn't change much if you go longer than necessary

Edit: the more I think about it I can't see it being the tomatoes, Cento is an excellent product & if you cooked it down even further it's practically sludge, & being on top of the pie it's going to evaporate up rather than puddling... I've never made sausage but I'm led to understand they often add ice in the process so there could be a lot of added water to what you used, & if it's trapped between the dough on the bottom & cheese/sauce on top it could certainly end up on your plate like it did. Makes sense

Appreciate your insight and information.
This has been helpful.

20stone · May 2020

OH...MY...GAWD!

FB thought it was important for me to see an add for Lou Malnatti’s mail order pies, and you do THIS to me. Great cook, and thanks for posting. I trust that Version 2.0 will have the liquid issue resolved.

Monty77 · May 2020

oh boy, that looks perfect! Well done

Another try at Deep Dish Chicago Style

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