I recently purchased a Wilton 4-cup, dark, coated mini-loaf pan designed to bake 4 mini-loaves of bread or cake. I bought it with the thought that it might be useful to make individual-size deep-dish pies. So, I decided to see if that was so.
For this experiment, I decided to use DKM’s recently posted Uno/Malnati style deep-dish dough recipe at
http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,2403.0.html. For my purposes, I modified DKM’s recipe to include salt. Before using the recipe, however, I had to first determine the thickness factor of DKM’s dough. This was so that I could use that number to determine the amount of dough I would need for my application and also the ingredients I would need. Complicating the matter further was the fact that the four individual mini-pan cavities have trapezoidal sides, whereas DKM’s recipe is for dough for a 13-inch round deep-dish pan. Using my deep-dish spreadsheet, I was able to determine that DKM’s dough had a thickness factor of 0.132. I then applied that thickness factor to the total surface area of the four mini-pie cavities to determine how much dough would be necessary and then, using the baker’s percents I arrived at for DKM’s dough, to calculate the amounts of the individual ingredients that would be required. For those who are interested and are familiar with the use of baker’s percents, I arrived at the following formulation:
100%, Flour (all-purpose)
59.6%, Water (warm)
0.97%, Active dry yeast (ADY)
14.36%, Corn oil
1.5%, Salt
Thickness factor = 0.132
The dough was made exactly as DKM instructed, except that I cold fermented the dough for 24 hours after the dough was made. During that time, the dough rose hardly at all. After removing the dough from the refrigerator, I divided it into four equal pieces, flattened them a bit, dusted them with a bit of bench flour, and the covered them with a sheet of plastic wrap. The four dough pieces were left at room temperature for about 2 1/2 hours, during which time the doughs softened and rose slightly. They were then pressed into the four (lightly oiled) pan cavities in the Wilton pan. Apparently my dough calculations were correct because the dough fit the four cavities perfectly without any dough left over. The dough did shrink in the mini-pans, however, but as I discovered later the dough did expand and rise upwardly during baking.
The four individual doughs were dressed using several different ingredients. One of the nice features of the individual mini-pie approach is that each pie can be dressed to order, using different combinations of ingredients. In my case, I used various combinations of sautéed mushrooms, red and green peppers and red onions, pepperoni slices and Italian sausage (uncooked). The sauce was simply 6-in-1 ground tomatoes (drained) and dried oregano. The cheese was slices of Dragone low-moisture, whole-milk mozzarella cheese. The tops of the unbaked pies were dusted with a combination of freshly-grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese and Parmesan cheese.
The mini-pies were baked on the middle oven rack position of a 450-degree F preheated oven. The total bake time was around 18 minutes. Part way through the baking of the pies, I found it necessary to cover the pan with a sheet of aluminum foil to prevent the exposed top crusts from browning too much. The photos below show the finished pies. Although the pies are trapezoidal shaped, they are roughly 5” x 3” x 2”.
I decided to sample only one of the pies. It was very good, and just about right for one person. The crust was soft and tender and flavorful, with good coloration. It was not biscuit-like, in the sense that buzz’s crusts are biscuit-like. Overall, I was very satisfied. The DKM recipe is a good one. It’s uncomplicated and simple to make. Next time, I plan to try one of buzz’s deep-dish dough recipes.
Peter
