Lou Malnati's Deep Dish Pizza Recipe - "The Lou"

[Garvey]

"The Lou"

The Lou is a spinach, mushroom, and roma tomato pizza that is one of Malnati's signature pies.  It was discussed a little bit in a recent thread, where you can watch a video of its assembly in the restaurant by Marc Malnati himself.  No hyperbole: this is the best deep dish I've ever made, and maybe the best I've ever eaten.  The family went crazy over it.


I. DOUGH - 36 hrs ahead

For each 12" deep dish pie, you'll need a 580 g dough ball.  If you want to sub in your own favorite dough recipe, feel free.  I'm just going to post what I did, and you can decide what you take away from it. 

Flour Mix* (100%): 330 g  *(66g semolina + 264 AP)
Water (50%): 165 g 
IDY (1%):    3 g 
Salt (1%): 3 g 
Sugar (1%): 3 g
Olive Oil (8.5%): 28 g
Corn Oil (8.5%): 28 g
Butter(6.25%): 20 g
Total (176.25%): 580 g

Stir together dry ingredients in mixing bowl.  Pour in the oils, but don't mix yet.  Add butter, which has been cut into little pieces.  Now mix the oil, butter, and dry ingredients for just a few seconds, but do not incorporate all of it together: it should be a conglomerate of wet and dry together and this point.  Add the cool water, not warm at all: this is a cold ferment we're going for.  Mix the dough just long enough to bring together uniformly, 30-60 seconds.

Cover or bag it up and stash in fridge for a 36-hr cold ferment.  Remove from fridge and let come to room temperature a few hours before baking.


II. PREP THE VEGGIES - 24 hrs ahead

This pizza takes some prep work beforehand, ideally the day before baking.  I was concerned that I'd be adding a lot of moisture with fresh vegetables, and my home oven might not bake up such a seemingly wet pie the same way the commercial ovens at Malnati's would, so I thought I'd do a few things to reduce moisture.

- 4-5 oz of fresh, pre-washed spinach leaves, stems removed
- 5 oz sliced fresh mushrooms, left on a plate in the fridge overnight to dry a little bit
- 7 oz sliced roma tomatoes, seeded and left on a plate in the fridge overnight to dry a little bit

The spinach came pre-washed, so I hand selected the smaller leaves and ripped off any stems I saw.  Then I took 5 oz of mushrooms and sliced them and put them on a paper plate in the fridge to lose some moisture.  By the next morning, they were down to 4 oz.  Same deal with the romas.  I seeded them before slicing and then left them on a plate in the fridge, and they lost almost an oz of water weight, too.


III.  ASSEMBLY - day of baking

Ingredients needed:
- the room temperature dough
- the prepped fresh spinach leaves
- handful of shredded mozzarella
- 6 oz sliced provolone (not smoked)
- 8 oz sliced mozzarella
- the prepped mushrooms
- the prepped roma tomatoes
- 1/2 c - 1 c. crushed tomatoes, drained
- few handfuls of shredded cheddar
- romano/parmesan cheese
- dried basil

Press out the dough into your ungreased deep dish pan.  Pinch up those sides high and tight.  To be honest, 580g is a lot of dough, so this step should be really easy.  At this point, I cut some of the provolone into strips and push them into the inside of the dough sidewall, to add structure, working my way all around the pan.  This cheese skeleton will hold the sides up from falling as you assemble the pizza, and it makes the end crust more interesting to eat.  Now, working up from the crust, you are ready to add seven (!!!) more layers.  It's casserole time, baby!

First layer: spread out the spinach leaves mixed with a little handful of shredded mozz.  (Lou's actually uses shredded provolone here, but I don't keep any of that on hand.  Sub at will.)

Second layer: put down the sliced mozz, covering everything.  Layer on the remaining provolone, too, ripping it up as needed to make it equitable over the whole surface. 

Third layer: add the mushrooms.  I actually put down maybe 3/4 or more of what I had, but I'll just add them all next time. 

Fourth layer: go super, super light with the crushed tomatoes.  If you watch any videos of Lou's assembly, they go light here.  You should see lots of the previous layers peeking through.  Dab here, dab there of sauce.  This isn't painting it on like a thin crust or a regular DD.

Fifth layer: lay down the sliced romas.  I had three slices left over from my original amount.  Look at the pictures for the amount of coverage needed.

Sixth layer: sprinkle a couple of handfuls of shredded cheddar.  Don't be afraid to be generous here (not like half lb or anything, but don't go too light, either; if I had to guess, I'd say 2-4 oz).  Sprinkle it around, letting it fall into the spaces, the romas, etc.

Seventh layer: sprinkle with grated romano and some dried basil.


IV. BAKING

Preheat two baking stones at 450° for one hour, one stone low in the oven and one high.

Place the pizza pan onto the low stone and bake for 20 mins.  Move it to the top stone for 10 more minutes.  Check for doneness.  Every oven is different, so YMMV.  Know thine oven.

Remove from oven and let sit in pan for 5-10 mins before removing from pan and cutting to serve.

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[Garvey]

I wish I had taken pictures of all the steps along the way, but I wasn't sure how it'd turn out.  Next time, perhaps.

[pythonic]

Looks good.  Looks like a lot of dough.  Would you use less next time?

Nate

[Garvey]

That's an interesting question.  I wondered the same thing.  I mean, it seemed like a lot when I was making it, but it didn't seem like a lot when I was eating it.  It's by far the most dough I've ever used in a deep dish, but given the nature of the toppings and how soft and juicy they are, it actually seemed to balance well.  That said, I might try dialing it back a little, but I can't see this working with my preferred weight of 400g for a 12" DD.  I made a sausage/mushroom/pepper/onion one after this, with 520g of dough, and *that* one seemed to have too much dough, even though it's 10% less than I used in "the Lou."  So it's a matter of balance.  I think I'll play around with it, but I can't imagine dropping it below 500-ish.  I'll try 520 next time and report back, but it'll probably be a while before I get to this.  (I made 10+ Pizza Factories and 3 DD last weekend and 10 Pizza Factories and 2 DD this weekend, so I'm not pizza'ed out in terms of *eating* pizza but in terms of *making* pizza.)  If anyone else wants to try this and report back, that would be awesome.

[Garvey]

I should also mention, Nate, that I should have used your dough recipe--and I'd like to do so next time.  This was a formulation I've used many times before, and I was obsessing over the assembly, the wetness of the vegetables, etc.--the dao of the Lou, as it were.  So I used a crust that was well known to me that would act as a "control" for all the other variables.  Now that I know this pie will assemble and bake up well at home, I'd like to use your DD dough and take this thing to new heights.

Cheers,
Garvey

[pythonic]

Your dough is a lot wetter than mine (46% water, 20% oil) and you have 15% more semolina.  I just mixed up a new batch of dough tonight after seeing your thread and I went with 47% water, 19% oil, 20% semolina) and am doing a 48hr rise on this one.  I will also attempt "The Lou".  The dough felt so much denser than my norm from all that semolina.

Nate

[pythonic]

I want to try a wetter dough.  I think VCB is on the right track.  I just need to change my mixing process so the dough turns out ok.  He uses 14% more water than me.  That is a huge difference.  Also I asked my local Malnatis if they sell their dough and they do for 5.99lb.  I'm gonna buy some so I can see how it feels and smells raw.

Nate

[Garvey]

Wow--getting ahold of some raw dough from them would be cool.  You'll learn something about it that you can't easily discern from the cooked product.

I don't know how VCB does a 60% hydration.  I've tried thin crust that wet, and it was hard to work with. Maybe the high oil makes it easier.

Fwiw, I freely admit that my dough is (or could be) the weak element here in "the Lou."  i mean, i liked it fine, but I completely defer to your expertise on this one--and the expertise of others here.  Afaik, the only thing I brought to the table in this thread is the willingness to try making "the Lou" and writing it out.

Cheers,
Garvey

[vcb]

I want to try a wetter dough.  I think VCB is on the right track.  I just need to change my mixing process so the dough turns out ok.  He uses 14% more water than me.  That is a huge difference.  Also I asked my local Malnatis if they sell their dough and they do for 5.99lb.  I'm gonna buy some so I can see how it feels and smells raw.

Nate

I'm actually starting to dial back my hydration a little, because I'm noticing in the rainy months my dough is getting a little stickier, but I'm gonna keep it above 50%. The wetter doughs are easier to handle with the nitrile food gloves, FYI.

[pythonic]

I'm actually starting to dial back my hydration a little, because I'm noticing in the rainy months my dough is getting a little stickier, but I'm gonna keep it above 50%. The wetter doughs are easier to handle with the nitrile food gloves, FYI.

Do you have any vids posted online of you making the 60% hydration dough and pressing into a pan?  I'd like to see if you do.  I also need to a better pan to use other than Chicago Metallic.  Any idea what Malnatis is using?  I noticed they appear to be using 1-1/2 inch deep pans too and not 2in.

Nate

[vcb]

Do you have any vids posted online of you making the 60% hydration dough and pressing into a pan?  I'd like to see if you do.  I also need to a better pan to use other than Chicago Metallic.  Any idea what Malnatis is using?  I noticed they appear to be using 1-1/2 inch deep pans too and not 2in.

Nate

I'm actually overdue for some new videos.
When I make a new dough vid, it will probably be closer to 55% hydration, or about 2/3 cup water for a 12" deep dish dough.
If you see that youtube video where Marc Malnati drops his pizza on the scale, you can see him press out dough. The 60% hydrated version of my deep dish dough looks like that. The 55 might also do that, but proofing variables (same day vs overnight, etc.) could make the dough texture vary.

I like my AMCO (american metalcraft) pans. They're pretty durable and they bake well.

[Garvey]

Nate--how'd that "Lou" turn out?

[pythonic]

Nate--how'd that "Lou" turn out?

Dough still in the fridge.  Making tomorrow hopefully.

[PIC 1]

My version with both whole milk mozzarella and provolone cheese.

[zwarbles]

Your pies look amazing PIC! I saw the other one you posted too and I don't know which looks more appetizing!!   

[PIC 1]

@zwarbles......thanks man....after checking through most of the threads on this forum, I can see there's a ton of talented pizza makers. It's very encouraging to view other folks work.

[pythonic]

Excellent pizza PIC.  Did you use the same dough recipe as Garvey?

Nate

[Garvey]

PIC, that thing looks tasty!!!  BTW, why did you go cheese on top of the dough first instead of spinach?  Just curious. 

And Nate, where's yours, man?  120-hr cold ferment?   

[pythonic]

PIC, that thing looks tasty!!!  BTW, why did you go cheese on top of the dough first instead of spinach?  Just curious. 

And Nate, where's yours, man?  120-hr cold ferment?   

I think it supposed to be cheese first isn't it?  Ended up making something else but I'm glad I did because I didn't care for the 20% semolina dough.  Hopefully this week.

[Garvey]

No, it's spinach first (mixed with the shredded mozz or prov).  I thought it was written out pretty clearly.

First layer: spread out the spinach leaves mixed with a little handful of shredded mozz.  (Lou's actually uses shredded provolone here, but I don't keep any of that on hand.  Sub at will.)

Second layer: put down the sliced mozz...