Papa Del's Deep Dish Recipe

[Crusty]

Has anyone made a Papa Del's ?  The picture looks great.  Did you follow the recipe?  Is there a better deep dish sausage/pepperoni pie recipe out there ?


Regards,

Crusty

[Crusty]

OK...no reponse on Papa Del's....any other great Chicago Deep Dish recipes/techniques that could be shared?

Has anyone tried the recipes on this site?

Thanks,

Crusty

[Randy]

I like DKM's listed on the front of this web site and my own.  Here is my recipe I made last night.
Cheese on bottom then other topping then a good thick coating of sauce.
Makes 2  10-inch Chicago deep dish.
You can use 9" also but 10 is better
1 teaspoon bread machine yeast or instant like SAF Perfect Rise
1 teaspoon raw sugar
8 oz  water + 1 Tablespoon (70deg)
3 tablespoons Crisco zero trans fat
1 tablespoons Clasico Olive Oil
16 oz KA Bread flour or unbleached AP flour but not White-Lily
2 tablespoons yellow corn meal
1 ½  Teaspoon salt

 
KitchenAid instructions
Put everything in the bowl except for the Cornmeal, Crisco and oil mix on stir speed until it pulls away from the sides then another  2 minutes.  Add Cornmeal, Crisco and  oil change to speed 2 to knead the dough for 12 minutes.  Stay with the mixer, this stiff dough will pop out the bowl on the lifting bowl machines.  Leave in mixer bowl for 5 hours in a kitchen or until it doubles, then divide and roll into 2 balls.  Place in cooler for 24 hours. 

Remove and flatten the dough into fat disk 3 hours in advance of panning

When ready to cook flatten one dough in a 10 “pan with olive oil in the bottom until the dough covers the bottom. Use fingers from the top to pinch up the sides about ½ way up the pan and about 1/8” thick.  Bake on middle rack in oven preheated to 425F for 20 minutes for a dark pan and 25 min for a light colored pan.

[Crusty]

That looks great !  All the Chicago recipes call for sliced mozz on the bottom.  Can shredded mozz be used ?

Thanks Randy.

[DKM]

I've used shredded in a pinch.  I just prefer the control that sliced gives.  Just try it and see how you like it.  Then report back.

DKM

[Randy]

Crusty, sorry for the delay, we had to make an unexpected trip to Atlanta this weekend.
Like DKM said, on Chicago I use hand slices of moz about 1/8-3/16" thick of Poly-O Part Skim covering the bottom without overlapping. 

[Steve]

Has anyone made a Papa Del's ?  The picture looks great.  Did you follow the recipe?  Is there a better deep dish sausage/pepperoni pie recipe out there ?

Well, I have made the Papa Dels recipe several times and it's very good. Unlike a classic Chicago style pizza with its biscuit-like crust, Papa Dels deep dish crust is more dense and bread-like. The recipe on this site produces a crust very similar to that of Papa Dels restaurant in Champaign/Urbana.

[Crusty]

Steve, can you provide some insight regarding the layering process.  Is this right -  cheeses, sausage, pepperoni, sauce, cheese, etc...  I am using a 12 inch deep dish pan to make the Papa Del's recipe.

I tried making it this weekend and it looked like I did not have enough sauce going on the pie so I added more.  Turns out I  put too much on.

Any tips would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Crusty

[tomfoolery_79]

I tried this my first time last night (following clone recipe on main page).  My results were for the most part fantastic, but I plan to make some minor changes.  First off, my baking times were WAY off from what was directed in the recipe.  My pizza "looked" done after 15 minutes, far shy of the 45 minutes.  Even with baking times "varying" I thought that was a big discrepancy.  I was worried that it would be still doughy in the center since it was so thick though, so I forced myself to keep it in for 20 more minutes.  I should have trusted my instincts as this was the only downfall of the pizza.  The crust was over done and ruined the flavor (it was dark dark brown).  However, I still think I need to keep it in longer than 15 minutes due to the thickness.  Probably 25 minutes would have been appropriate at 400 degrees.

Anyway, it was also my first time using 6 in 1 tomato sauce and WOW, very very good!
I did a layer of provolone slices, then a small amount of sauce, then I did a layer of mozzarella, then I topped it with a heavy amount of sauce.  Then grated with parmasean and romano cheese.