I must have done something . . . er . . . right.

[BTB]

I've only been introduced to this website a few days ago and became really intrigued at possibility of cooking up a pizza similar to one of my all time favorite types of pizzas from Pizzeria Due and Lou Malnati's.  I read and I read and I read a large number of the threads and viewed many of the pictures and as my head spun around and around from all the information overload, my mouth salivated about the prospects of possibly tasting some of that great, great pizza that I used to enjoy on almost a weekly basis when I lived up north in Illinois before I retired south to the sunshine state.  Florida is a wonderful place, but it is almost devoid of good pizza of the kind that many of you lucky ones get to enjoy back in Chicago.  Appreciate it, caused once you are out of Chicago, there is nothing like it.

So I went to the store yesterday (Mazzaro's Italian Market in St. Pete, FL) and picked up some King Arthur AP flour, a package of sliced mozzarella and another of provolone, some of their premium bulk mild Italian sausage (1/2 lb not in casing), a little bag of their house Italian seasonings, yeast, and a can of Ferraro crushed tomatoes (couldn't find 6 in 1, altho they had dozens of different types of Cento brand tomatoes).  I already had corn and olive oil, Crisco and a 9" cake pan.  So yesterday in making the dough, I followed one of Loowater's latest recipe's which is one built on one of DKM's earlier recipes, I think. 

I was surprised on how dry the doughball got as I mixed all the ingredients together with my hands, as well as a wooden spoon, and heeded the warnings carefully not to over knead the dough.  I was uncertain about how to use the yeast as I didn't know whether to proof in advance or not (I did for about 5 minutes only).  I mixed it all together for 30 to 90 seconds, put it into a plastic bowl and greased it up a bit with olive oil, covered with clear plastic and a kitchen towel, and placed in the refrigerator for around 20 hours.

Today I made the pizza and the results were fantastic.  My wife and I goobled up every morsel of the pizza and really enjoyed it immensely.  It was crispy and crunchy and very tasty.  I found that I had to cook it longer than was suggested (about 30 minutes at 450).  If I can figure out how to post some of the pictures, I will hereafter try to show some of the stages of the pizza's development.  --   BTB

P.S.  I tried to post some pictures but it constantly tells me that the size is too large (even 1 M picture) and I cannot find anyway to resize it as was described elsewheres.  If I can figure it out, I will later post some the pictures.

[canadianbacon]

Hi there and welcome to the forum ! 

I'm glad you got the pizza bug !

Ok for your images, you need to resize 'em, each photo must be under 128kb.

If you don't know how to resize images ( you need a program to do that )

you can do this, if you are using Windows XP or another Windows operating system.

Open up your folder where your images are located,
Go and select a few images you wish to upload to the forum here.
now on the left hand column, click on "email selected items "
a window will then pop up and say "make images smaller" or keep them at their original size.

Just click ok, as the default will resize the images for you, and auto-attach them to a new
email.

Now... go to the file menu, and click on "save attachments"
And now save the images in a new folder so that you don't overwrite your original images.

Bingo, you have now auto resized your images, and they are auto-saved for you in a new folder.

You may now just attach them to your post.

( Note: This proceedure is for Outlook Express only ..... Outlook Express is the default email program that comes with
all versions of Windows, including Windows98, Windows ME, Windows XP etc )

It's an easy fast and dirty way to resize images, if you don't have any software to do it.

[BTB]

I used my MS Digital Image Suite Editor Program and found something called Resize, so let's see if this works.  These pictures show the dough in the pan with the cheese added, then I added the sausage patty, which turned out very good.  Then a picture of the finished product along with the finished product being cut for consumption.  A very good experience and I'm looking forward to my next try.  Thanks to everyone for the great help on this website.     --BTB

[BTB]

Opp . . . maybe only one at a time.  I'm learning.

[BTB]

This is with the sasuage patty put in.

[BTB]

 . . .  and the finished product!

[chiguy]

 BTB,
 The pizza looks really good especially for a newbie. You may consider ordering a deep dish pan from www.pizzatools.com.
 It should be a blackened hard coat anodized with pstk not stick coating. I would not order bigger than 12 inch pan if its just you and the Misses.
                                         Chiguy

[canadianbacon]

Hi Chiguy,

what is PSTK ? I see it listed on this item here, but don't have a clue what it is ....
http://www.pizzatools.com/productdisplay.aspx?catid=53&sm=c53

BTB,
 The pizza looks really good especially for a newbie. You may consider ordering a deep dish pan from www.pizzatools.com.
 It should be a blackened hard coat anodized with pstk not stick coating. I would not order bigger than 12 inch pan if its just you and the Misses.
                                         Chiguy

[Bryan S]

Hi Chiguy,

what is PSTK ? I see it listed on this item here, but don't have a clue what it is ....
http://www.pizzatools.com/productdisplay.aspx?catid=53&sm=c53

On that link you posted click on what is PSTK tell me more. 

[chiguy]

 Canadianbacon,
 I have a pan with PSTK(pre-stick-tuff-kote) and a pan without it. The PSTK works so much better that you could pinch the edge of the pizza and pull it straight out of the pan.
 The PSTK surface is not some cheap teflon that flakes off, its very durable. I would not use a scouring pad or cut a pizza in the pan but i have baked many pizzas in it and it looks almost new.                   
                                                   Chiguy

[BTB]

Chiguy,  do you suggest the deep-dish nesting pan or the traditional stacking type pan?  Don't know if it makes much of a difference in the end product.  I may order both a 10" and 12" pan (or larger) for when company is around.  Also, if I wanted to experiment with some good Chicago thin crust pizza, do you recommend use of a cutter pan and if so, perforated or not?  Don't recall seeing use of those at some of the great thin crust places (Vito & Nicks, Home Run Inn, Chesdan's, Ed & Joes, Fox's, et al) tho.  But they have special ovens.                       --BTB

[chiguy]

 Hi BTB,
 As far as type you could use either one, but the straight sided stacking pan seems more traditional. I would suggest that you get two (10 or 12inch) pans of the same size. This way you can double a recipe and just cut the dough in half.  using the same pan size will help if you don't have a scale to achieve the same thickness factor/dough ball weight.
I recommend Deep dish stacking pans with pstk.
 

Also, if I wanted to experiment with some good Chicago thin crust pizza, do you recommend use of a cutter pan and if so, perforated or not?  Don't recall seeing use of those at some of the great thin crust places (Vito & Nicks, Home Run Inn, Chesdan's, Ed & Joes, Fox's, et al) tho.  But they have special ovens.                       --BTB

Surley you must be an ex-south sider mentioning those establishments? and by the way I have tried everyone of them.
I believe many of these places cook directly on the deck/stone of the oven. If not the rotoflex oven. Some have sadly changed and converted to conveyor ovens with screens/pans.I believe Vito & Nicks and Chesdans still cook on the oven deck. You will need at minimum a pizza stone,  you could do without a peel by preping and baking on parchment paper at about 450F. You could use a perforated pan or screen but in my opinion the hot stone deck just makes for a better pizza.    Chiguy

[loowaters]

You've made a pretty good lookin' pie, BTB.  I love the sausage patty! 

I don't know where you live, but if you're close to a restaurant supply store see if you can place an order for a couple pans with them.  They won't hit you up for shipping as they'll just tack your pan on to one of their regular orders.  I bought a 14" x 2" deep, straight sided, hard coat anodized American Metalcraft doing this and it cost about $16, I think.  You can check out those pans here:  http://www.amnow.com/pizzaTrays/8000Series.html

Good luck!

Loo

[BTB]

Question for loo (or anyone in the know),

After my great success in making a deep dish pizza like Malnati's last weekend, I am anxious to try again.  It's too bad that you have to make the dough a day or two in advance, but that's the way it goes.  When I mixed it last weekend, I put the dough in a bowl and rubbed the olive oil all over, covered it with clear plastic wrap as well as a towel, and put it in the refrigerator for 20 hours plus.  I seem to recall that you indicated that you put the dough ball in a plastic ziplock-like bag instead (which would save a little refrigerator space).  Does that mean you forego the bowl?  Can you tell me a little about that and do you oil it up when you do that?  The pictures didn't seem to show any oil on the dough ball in the bag, but it may be hard to see that in a picture.

A little devil on my left shoulder is tempting me to (1) try the next dough creation with a tiny amount of sugar (which I didn't have in my first attempt) and (2) try olive oil on the bottom of the pan instead of the crisco that I used (I seemed to remember olive oil in the bottom of many a Malnati's pan).  The guy on my right shoulder says . . . . leave well enough alone, . . . it was great as is.  Any thoughts?

--BTB

[loowaters]

BTB, I remove the dough ball from the mixer bowl and wipe some oil in the bowl before returning the dough to the bowl, covering it with a towel, and place it in the oven with the light on along with a pan of hot water.  I let it double in size (1 1/2 - 2 hours) then do it again before I weigh out the dough balls (I usually make two pies), then I'll throw them in a ziplock back for a couple days.  I know most around here throw it in the fridge right away but old habits for me are hard to break.  I'm afraid (probably without reason) that it won't taste as good.

Loo

[BTB]

Thanks. 

"I let it double in size (1 1/2 - 2 hours) then do it again before I weigh out the dough ball"

What do you do again?  Knead it a tad more?                                     --BTB

[loowaters]

Thanks. 

What do you do again?  Knead it a tad more?                                     --BTB

LOL.  Sorry for being vague.  I let it rise again.  Punch it down and then let it double again.  Keep the kneading to a minimum.

Loo

[Randy]

The number of variations that you can use while making pizza is nearly endless so who is to say what is right other than the pizza eater.  I do remember a video clip where the balls were obviously made from a huge risen lump of dough that looked like it was dumped on a table from the mixer.  Loo, maybe you have something there.  I think my next one I will let it double in the mixer bowl then shape into a ball for a 24-48 cooler rest, then a 3 hour counter rise before shaping.

DKM's recipe does work on the same day if you are pressed for time.

[Bryan S]

 and (2) try olive oil on the bottom of the pan instead of the Crisco that I used (I seemed to remember olive oil in the bottom of many a Malnati's pan).  The guy on my right shoulder says . . . . leave well enough alone, . . . it was great as is.  Any thoughts?

--BTB

BTB, I'm pretty sure that Lou uses corn oil in the bottom of the pan. I got Lou pies from mail order not too long ago.  The first 2 i made, i used vegtable oil, they were OK. Second 2 i used corn oil and they rocked. 

[DKM]

BTB, I'm pretty sure that Lou uses corn oil in the bottom of the pan. I got Lou pies from mail order not too long ago.  The first 2 i made, i used vegtable oil, they were OK. Second 2 i used corn oil and they rocked. 

On various shows Marc Malnati claimed they use olive oil in the pans.

DKM