Long Rise time?

[MrA]

I am curious of why chicago style has a long rise time. I have had trouble getting my crust crispy. My last pizza had  a 12 hour rest on the counter. I had used sourdough starter for leavening.  The yeasts had gone a bit dormant in the dough as they had eaten most of the starch in the dough ball. The result was a more crispy crust than I have had before.  I'm thinking maybe this is how it supposed to be? Less active yeast produced the crispy crusts? Seems to work, and although maybe not authentic, the sourdough crust is delicious.

[David Deas]

Chicago style pizza does not generally call for a sourdough.  The dough usually has a more yeasty, buttery flavor with a laminated texture that sort of naturally arises from rapidly sheeting (two or so quick passes) such a low hydration dough.  Your rise time will vary, but just about all pizza is better off using a small amount of yeast and a long rise time pretty much no matter what the style.

Chicago style dough isn't leavened very much to start with.  And what leavening there is gets hammered by the sheeter.  The last thing you want is for your pizza to spring like a loaf of bread during baking.  That's a disaster.

The other thing a sourdough will do is destroy gluten, so you might be seeing some sort of an effect from that as well.  I dont know.  All of this is hard to tell through the computer screen.

[vcb]

To the best of my knowledge, unless you are talking about STUFFED pizza, which is a totally different thing ,
traditional Chicago Style Deep Dish dough is never run through a sheeter.

The dough method is a very short knead time, and proofing time can be as little as 1 to 2 hours,
or longer if you choose to do an additional overnight refrigerated proof.
The ball of dough is pressed out directly in the pan.

Which dough recipe are you following?
Are you oiling the bottom of your pan?
What temp are you baking at?
Are you using a baking stone?
How long are you baking your pizza?
Are you over-kneading your dough and getting a bready crust
or is the center just not crisping up?

[David Deas]

Yeah.  Totally different.  How could I have been so oblivious?

[Garvey]

Chicago thin is run through a sheeter.

I guess since Chicago has at least three indigenous styles, we ought to be more specific when saying "Chicago style."  ;-)

[MrA]

I used this recipe:
1 cup sourdough starter
3 cups flour
1/2 cup+2tbsp canola oil
tsp salt
 Mixed 5 min, knead 5 min, rest 12 hours, press into pan.
 Sourdough starter is just homemade yeast, leavening agent. S

[Bill/SFNM]

Sourdough starter is just homemade yeast, leavening agent. S

Could you please elaborate? Thanks!

[MrA]

Yeast is swirling all around you, wherever you are, it is in the air. It is attracted to certain things, Like moist wheat flour, grape skins. In my opinion wild yeasts taste better. Here in Sacramento, we get the winds that just blew through San Francisco  a few hours before. I don't see the big deal about San Francisco sourdough myself. Sourdough being readily available anywhere on the planet, and the particular yeast in SF given it's own Latin name, I guess it has a distinct taste, I don't know, I have only cultivated yeast here in my kitchen in Sac.