Chicago Style questions

[cayenneman]

Hi all.  I'll apologize in advance as Im sure this thread has been posted a million times and I didnt take the time to read all the threads on the topic page.  I posted this for the dough doctor but wanted to get some advice from forum members as well.  I have recently began to experiment with baking Chicago Style pizza at home.  They have all turned out well but the dough seems to have me confused.  I dont think I used the same recipe all 3 times Ive made CS so this could be part of my problem.  Seems as if the first time I made the dough it had the consistency of play-dough (for lack of a better example) which could be pressed into the fan and kept its form when pressed up the sides of the pan.  The next two times Ive made it the dough has a lot of elasticity and I can seem to get it to hold against the sides of the pan very well.  The recipe I used is as follows;

3 1/4 cups flour
1/2 cup corn meal
1 cup plus two tbsp water
1/2 cup corn oil
2 tsp Active Dry Yeast
1 tsp Salt (optional)

I mixed it in a Kitchen Aid mixer with the dough hook and  let the dough proof for about 6 hours.  I also made sure not to overwork it in the mixer.  Just enough to bring it together, formed it into a ball then into an oiled bowl to proof.    I am just wondering what authentic Chicago style pizza dough is supposed to be like texture wise, like in the case of Malnati's, Uno, and Geno's?  Should it be dense or kind of elastic?  Does anyone have a better ricipe than the one above?  Im attaching links to a couple of pix I took of it.

Thanks

http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh212/dwdrummer08/IMG_3645.jpg
http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh212/dwdrummer08/IMG_3649.jpg

[AmsterdamPizza]

Hi,

You should really only mix the dough until it forms into a ball, just a few minutes. There's no need to mix with a stand mixer for this kind of crust.. -You are looking for something in between pizza and pie crust actually.

I would also stop using corn meal, I suggest you try Semolina instead. ...I personally only use cornmeal on the bottom of the pan after it's been oiled.

Here is a link to a great thread that should get you started:
http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,6480.0.html

In reply 507 (http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,6480.msg159547.html#msg159547), member "BTB" shared a dough formulation that I think could fit what you are going for:

For a 10 incher:
Flour Blend*(100%):  245.94 g  |  8.68 oz | 0.54 lbs
Water (45%):  110.67 g  |  3.9 oz | 0.24 lbs
ADY (.8%):  1.97 g | 0.07 oz | 0 lbs | 0.52 tsp | 0.17 tbsp
Salt (1%):  2.46 g | 0.09 oz | 0.01 lbs | 0.44 tsp | 0.15 tbsp
Olive Oil (6%):  14.76 g | 0.52 oz | 0.03 lbs | 3.28 tsp | 1.09 tbsp
Corn Oil (12%):  29.51 g | 1.04 oz | 0.07 lbs | 6.56 tsp | 2.19 tbsp
Butter/Margarine (6%):  14.76 g | 0.52 oz | 0.03 lbs | 3.12 tsp | 1.04 tbsp
Sugar (1.5%):  3.69 g | 0.13 oz | 0.01 lbs | 0.93 tsp | 0.31 tbsp
Total (172.3%): 423.75 g | 14.95 oz | 0.93 lbs | TF = 0.126875

*The flour blend consists of 80% KAAP (approx. 197 g) and 20% semolina (49 g).  The proportions here can easily be increased or decreased depending upon one's personal likes and dislikes.

--------------------------------

KAAP is a type of flour people like top use here. But you can probably get away with any old flour, preferably though "Bread Flour" or high gluten flour.

Study that thread carefully and pay special attention to the way they pinch the dough to the sides of the pan, a deep dish doesn't really need to be super thick and I think that a lot of people don't realize that when they first begin.