Author Topic: Squish. (Read 2920 times)

Mick.Chicago · « **on:** October 05, 2010, 09:53:22 PM »

Square Deep Dish.

I went the square route just for fun and it's one of my oldest pans, well seasoned and nice and dark, obviously it's not intended for Deep Dish but it works well...

Just a basic Pepperoni and Cheese with "san marzano region" tomatoes from Nina, which are currently on sale at Costco for $3.69 for the 106oz tin. Next to my basic DelMonte Organics they stand up well on both taste and value.

Pete-zza · « **Reply #1 on:** October 05, 2010, 10:03:16 PM »

Mick.Chicago,

When Boy Hits Car (Mike) and I were designing the deep-dish dough calculating tool at http://www.pizzamaking.com/dd_calculator.html, we added a "Rectangular" option to the tool even though we were not aware of a rectangular Chicago-style deep-dish pizza. I suspect that you didn't use the tool but I think you are maybe the first one on the forum to make a rectangular Chicago-style deep-dish pizza and post your results.

In any event, you did a nice job. Your pizza looks very tasty.

Peter

Mick.Chicago · « **Reply #2 on:** October 05, 2010, 10:15:50 PM »

Thanks

I actually DID use the tool but was not aware of the rectangular option.

It needs some refining as the corners were too bread like, even after pressing down hard!

Eating a cold corner now and these Nina tomatoes are as nice as some of the 'pdo' one's I've had..

loowaters · « **Reply #3 on:** October 06, 2010, 08:02:55 AM »

Nice, and now that you've made it your avatar, this pie will define you.

Be square or be...square? Nevermind that.

Loo

norma427 · « **Reply #4 on:** October 06, 2010, 08:33:09 AM »

Mick.Chicago,

I like the “Squish” name you gave to this pizza. The pictures of your square pizza looks tasty.

Norma

vcb · « **Reply #5 on:** October 06, 2010, 11:39:46 AM »

Nice lookin' pie there, Mick! :-)

Mick.Chicago · « **Reply #6 on:** October 06, 2010, 01:22:45 PM »

Thanks.

Some thing else I just realized this makes it easier for cheese placement when using square cut cheese.

I often use round cheese and fill in with shredded, makes it gooier as well but found some nice square mozz.

Maybe I was meant to be a square, but I've always been so rounded.

android · « **Reply #7 on:** October 07, 2010, 08:18:47 PM »

say, that looks like a great pie. nice work.

BTB · « **Reply #8 on:** October 08, 2010, 10:12:11 AM »

Mick,

"Be Fair and Be Square!"

I think this would be a novel idea for a new Chicago deep dish pizza. Deep dish really doesn't have to be round. But just make sure the dough in the square corners are pinched, pressed or crimped tightly to the edge of the pan to assure a nice texture and crispness to the crust. Nice job. Let me know when you open your square pizzeria. Hey, that's a good name for it . . . Square Pizza. When you make your first million $$$, please give me a small honorarium.

--BTB

Mick.Chicago · « **Reply #9 on:** October 26, 2010, 10:39:02 PM »

Getting back to this, this week.

I've made a few since posting last and Have the corner issue squared away, pardon the pun!

Going to make a sausage and cheese as I've got a few kinds of sliced mozz in the house so it's time for some experimenting.

Mick.Chicago · « **Reply #10 on:** October 27, 2010, 09:02:20 PM »

The first three pictures are for the benefit of anyone struggling with layering.

Minimal Cheese, fairly low budget sausage and San-Marzano region tomatoes, they taste very similar to the ones sold by Lou's to which I can only assume that they are of a good quality.

A little too many seeds for my liking, I have no excuse other than being rushed.

Very thin on the sausage also as it's very high in fat which can mess with the overall hydration of the topping as well as increase the chances of a soggy crust.

The dough is a freestyle dough a mix of about

25% 50/50 KAAP/Semolina (Which was actually my bench flour but I am OUT of flour and it had to be donated to the cause. the rest is KAOAP with a tiny pinch of Flake Sea Salt and Corn Oil only no Olive Oil a quarter cup of warm water with the tiniest smidgen of yeast, minimal kneading and 24hr refrigerator rise and then 4 hours out at room temp.

Mick.Chicago · « **Reply #11 on:** October 27, 2010, 09:05:25 PM »

Sorry the pics are so crappy. I saved them at too low a resolution.

Finished product;

The side on shot, I'd lifted the layer of sausage up to take a peek at the cheese.

BTB · « **Reply #12 on:** October 29, 2010, 07:49:30 AM »

Mick Chicago, great pictures and nice job. I love reading and seeing the stories about your square pizzamaking exploits. I really think this square deep dish pizza is a novel idea of sorts. I don't necessarily know how they tasted, but the pictures made them look very mouthwatering in any event. I, too, hate the seeds in the tomato products and have learned to tolerate them somewhat, even with my favorite Escalon 6 in 1's. (I hesitate to express my reluctance or dislike with Del Monte products . . . but hell, I guess I did already.)

I am a little confused with your crust formulation: "The dough is a freestyle dough a mix of about 25% 50/50 KAAP/Semolina (Which was actually my bench flour but I am OUT of flour and it had to be donated to the cause. the rest is KAOAP with a tiny pinch of Flake Sea Salt and Corn Oil only no Olive Oil a quarter cup of warm water with the tiniest smidgen of yeast" Could you clarify? I have and know about the flake sea salt and assume KAOAP is the organic version of their AP flour, which I don't really think is significantly different from their regular AP, but am uncertain of the total crust formulation.

Again, an A +, + job on the photos which us crazy pizzamaking enthusiasts love to see. It gives "life" to what the writer is talking about. And the pizza looked deeeeeeelicous.

--BTB

Mick.Chicago · « **Reply #13 on:** October 29, 2010, 09:29:30 AM »

KA Organic AP Is slightly coarser than the regular AP, the regular feels very silky to the touch but the OAP feels coarser in my opinion. I had a bit of both left in my flour bin and just chucked it in.

The dough was eyeballed. I'm only sure that I used around a 1/4 cup of water, sorry that this is not helpful to others but it wasn't the ultimate clone crust. It was close but no Bananananana

My bench flour is a 50/50 mix of semolina and KAAP, I'd say over all there was around 20 to 25% semolina in the final dough. It felt right but it lacked a bit of grease, tasted fine, had that little Lou's squeak too it but needed the Olive Oil or maybe butter to get it there. I used the bench flour as I was out of straight Semolina.

As for Del Monte, the organics taste OK, they are cheap from costco, I use them for making sauce, only once used them straight on a deep dish, never again. I prefer the larger whole pieces of tomato hand shaped. I've never used any other of their products, feel free to tell me why you don't like them, I'm all for consumer information, be it on taste or working practices

These San Marzano 'Region' from Whole Foods are nailing it for me right now, the taste is very similar to Lou's with no extra seasoning added. It has almost the same taste, but not quite, it's just 'A good tomato'

The Nina were also good but required a little salt to bring out the flavor, I need to get back to costco and pick up a few tins, as they were under $3 for 106.oz

Thanks for the compliments, they sure do taste good, I can vouch for that, my waist line also

Mick.Chicago · « **Reply #14 on:** November 05, 2010, 09:17:00 PM »

I made two pies tonight.

The Squish was Loowaters emergency dough, turned out OK, it was your basic Cheese with, That Pickle Guy's Muffalata baked in to it. I wish Lou's would use his products rather than the Giardiniera they do use. But that's another story.

The regular round is a 4 day old dough, I can't remember the formula I used but it tasted OK, it had a bit more squeak than the other dough, it maybe had more corn oil.

I also tried some DOP San Marzano and felt very cheated, the tin felt almost empty, I let this slip, wish I hadn't, when I got home and opened them it seemed to be 50/50 juice to flesh ratio, and they tasted no better than some of the other 'San Marzano region' tomatoes I've had in the past.

Mick.Chicago · « **Reply #15 on:** November 19, 2010, 10:10:05 PM »

So I went to Linconlwood tonight and when the waitress brought the check over I asked her if people ever ask for the pans, she said once someone put one in a handbag, I said, and what did you do. She said, "If they are ballsy enough to do it I'm not going to say a thing" on this note I pointed out I didn't have a hand bag, to which she pointed out we had a few diaper bags in our party.

loowaters · « **Reply #16 on:** November 19, 2010, 10:20:13 PM »

I hope you left a substantial tip.

Loo

Mick.Chicago · « **Reply #17 on:** November 21, 2010, 06:03:30 PM »

Quote from: loowaters on November 19, 2010, 10:20:13 PM

I hope you left a substantial tip.

Loo

Haha, yes, always.

I'm cooking a pie in it right now and maybe I'm imagining it but the kitchen smells a lot more like Lou's. Now there may be some truth to it as the pan does have a smell of it's own, we'll see if it makes a difference to the taste of the dough on the finished product.

Mick.Chicago · « **Reply #18 on:** November 21, 2010, 08:25:53 PM »

I flunked on the crumb shot.

Oh well, better make another

I got one of the outer crust though.

Looks like I kept it in a few minutes too long, I need to put it up a rack with this pan I think as the topping was a bit too liquid. I also omitted to salt from the recipe and really noticed the lack of it. I do believe the pan added to the taste of the pie also. I can see some pock marks on the crust as well.

Mick.Chicago · « **Reply #19 on:** October 15, 2011, 08:47:54 PM »

It's been a while since I made DD!

Here's a pizza from tonight with my Lou's pan

I also made a thin crust with some extra dough I had left over. Tasted great. every piece was crispy from the edge in.