Generic Chicago Thin Crust

[CDNpielover]

mrmojo1,

wow, looks exactly like the pies i used to eat growing up in the twin cities!  way to go!!!

that sausage looks most excellent.  do you mind sharing where you got it, or how you made it?

many thanks!

[loowaters]

sorry loo! one more ? if you dont mind. re: milk.  do you warm the milk, or do you proof the yeast in the warm water.  i always proofed the yeast in your recipe in the hot water and salt.  does it matter.  i know adding cold milk may cool the water down and not be optimal for activating?  thanks again! YOU ROCK!

I haven't warmed up the milk at all but I suppose it's something you could do based on when you want the dough ready for use.  Depending on how soon after making the dough I want to make the pizzas, I'll adjust how much warm water I use to activate the yeast.  If I'm making an emergency dough I'll make the entire amount of the water warm, if not, I'll just use a small amount of water to activate...maybe 4-5 times the weight of the yeast, then use cool water for the remainder.  I've found that this water temp adjustment is a quick and easy way to adapt recipes to either quick or slow rise times without having to change the amount of yeast or add or subtract sugar.  Not a lot of science behind it but the results still work. 

Loo

[mrmojo1]

mrmojo1,

wow, looks exactly like the pies i used to eat growing up in the twin cities!  way to go!!!

that sausage looks most excellent.  do you mind sharing where you got it, or how you made it?

many thanks!

Hey Pie lover!! thanks for the nice words! the sausage was just johnsonville sweet italian sausage. i've lived in boise idaho now for the last 15yrs, but grew up in chicago.  i can say there is not a butcher or deli out here that makes what i would want, or could get at butcher back in the chicago burbs.  but i tried all brands out here, Al's, choice cuts, fred meyer, local coop, and a couple other places.  mild, hot, sweet.  and johnsonville sweet italians are the best so far.  most of the time i get the sausages and cut the casing off and use a teaspoon with a little oil on it and cut it off and form it just a little and let it fall on the pie.  i am still working on the best size.   good luck! let us know how it goes!

[madjack]

The photos in post #21 by mrmojo1 is what I have been striving for. Thanks to the original poster for posting the recipe and method, I am giving this a go later today. If it turns out well, I'll post my notes as I converted the recipe to volume measurements for a single pizza, and I believe someone requested that info.

[madjack]

I gave the recipe a try and it turned out really good, the best thin crust I've made so far. I used the following measurements based on the percentages in the original post. I used a thickness of .09 and sized the dough for a 14" pizza.

Flour 9.03oz (2 cups + 1 Tbs + .295 tsp)
Water 4.51oz (1/2 cup + 1 Tbs)
ADY .68 tsp
Salt .53 tsp
Oil 1.71Tsp

I didn't copy down the ball size but I know it was very close to mrmojo1's 392.77 g as we both sized for a 14" pan. Hope that helps anyone looking for the info.

As you can see in the photos, the crust could have been a bit more "done". I am using a new oven and was a bit wary to go to the bottom rack not having made a pizza in it yet. I think that may solve the problem. I also am going to try milk as mentioned in another post next time, just to see if it makes a difference. Hopefully this isn't just beginner's luck. Any comments or suggestions for improvement are appreciated. BTW it's 1/2 cheese, 1/2 mild Italian sausage & onion.

[mrmojo1]

Looks delicious!!!!  great job!!!!

[loowaters]

That does look good!  If you're looking for a little more color on the crust ring, a nice cheat method is to brush the outer edges of the skin with some olive oil before topping. If you make pepperoni pies, the oil from that cooks off onto and into the edge to help deepen and darken the crust.

Loo

[Mad_Ernie]

Looks plenty good to me! 

Nice going, Madjack! 

[soflnoles]

yes Pete!!  this is loos recipe from page1 that i entered into the calculator.  i wanted 6 dough balls for 14" pizzas.  i think because of loss in the bowl, each ball at the end of the mixing was 377grams instead of 392g. so i suppose that changes the TF a little?  thanks!

Flour (100%):    1520.41 g  |  53.63 oz | 3.35 lbs
Water (50%):    760.21 g  |  26.82 oz | 1.68 lbs
ADY (1%):    15.2 g | 0.54 oz | 0.03 lbs | 4.02 tsp | 1.34 tbsp
Salt (1%):    15.2 g | 0.54 oz | 0.03 lbs | 2.72 tsp | 0.91 tbsp
Corn Oil (3%):    45.61 g | 1.61 oz | 0.1 lbs | 10.14 tsp | 3.38 tbsp
Total (155%):   2356.64 g | 83.13 oz | 5.2 lbs | TF = 0.09
Single Ball:   392.77 g | 13.85 oz | 0.87 lbs

Can you answer something about the salt and ady measurements? Both start off as teh same weights but are different as far as tsp and tbsp.  Is this accurate?  Should I just weigh each out to 15.2 grams?

Thanks

[Pete-zza]

solfnoles,

The numbers are correct. A teaspoon of salt weighs quite a bit more than a teaspoon of ADY. You can use either a scale or use the volume measurements. If you scale back the amount of dough, for example, to a single dough ball, you might find it easier to use the volume measurements for the ingredients other than the flour and water.

Peter

[madjack]

That does look good!  If you're looking for a little more color on the crust ring, a nice cheat method is to brush the outer edges of the skin with some olive oil before topping. If you make pepperoni pies, the oil from that cooks off onto and into the edge to help deepen and darken the crust.

Loo

Thanks, I'll try that. The crust was done enough as far as texture I think, I'd just like a bit more color. I actually planned on pepperoni next time, I just picked up a bunch from the deli. I'll post any results but I am actually about to mix up a dough using your Home Run Inn recipe in this forum, so it will have to be next week or so.

[soflnoles]

solfnoles,

The numbers are correct. A teaspoon of salt weighs quite a bit more than a teaspoon of ADY. You can use either a scale or use the volume measurements. If you scale back the amount of dough, for example, to a single dough ball, you might find it easier to use the volume measurements for the ingredients other than the flour and water.

Peter

Thanks Pete. 

[soflnoles]

I made two pies today using Loo's instructions and Mojo's measurements.  These were perfect pies.  Love the crunch.  Next I have to start taking photos to upload.  Thanks Loo and Mojo.

[Jackitup]

mrmojo1,

wow, looks exactly like the pies i used to eat growing up in the twin cities!  way to go!!!

that sausage looks most excellent.  do you mind sharing where you got it, or how you made it?

many thanks!

CDNpielover,
Are you speaking of the best pie joint around up here. I was there last nite at Red's Savoy Pizza. 9 of us split 3 pies with leftovers to spare for my brides 59th birthday.
Jon

[CDNpielover]

CDNpielover,
Are you speaking of the best pie joint around up here. I was there last nite at Red's Savoy Pizza. 9 of us split 3 pies with leftovers to spare for my brides 59th birthday.
Jon

mmm, yes Red's Savoy Inn is some of the best pie in the twin cities.  i grew up in the burbs, though, and mostly ate Carbone's so I guess that's my favorite old standby...  our neighbor also has a couple of Carbone's franchises, so i'm a bit biased because of that too haha.

[mrmojo1]

I've been using 2% milk because that's what we always have on hand here and, yes, I just replaced 33% of the water by weight with milk.

Loo

Hi Loo!  tried your 33% milk suggestion.  i really liked it.  i think it added a bit of crunch to the outside of the crust. with some more air pockets?  makes that excellent recipe of yours i think even better!  thank you!!  what do you find it does for your crust? am i on the right path?  thanks again!

[loowaters]

Hi Loo!  tried your 33% milk suggestion.  i really liked it.  i think it added a bit of crunch to the outside of the crust. with some more air pockets?  makes that excellent recipe of yours i think even better!  thank you!!  what do you find it does for your crust? am i on the right path?  thanks again!

To be really honest, and this isn't at all what you are looking for, I don't know what it does versus water alone, but I also like the results.  For me to really get a gauge on it I'd probably have to do a side by side where cheese, toppings, and sauce for both pies all come from the same batch. 

Loo

[zspec1]

I finally took some pictures of this recipe and I was finally able to get the crust cooked fully before the cheese started to burn.  I've tried everything from putting the pan directly on top of the burner to preheating the oven at a lower temp than cooking and I always ended up with the cheese almost burnt and the dough just starting to cook.  I just ended up par-baking the crust for 5 minutes prior to applying the toppings and then cooking at 450 deg.  This seemed to work the best out of the previous 12 attempts without par-baking.

Here are pics from the most recent one.  The only thing was that it was too thick because I think my electronic scale is off, which caused the dough to be way to wet and caused me to add a lot more flour to get it back to normal.  Even with that problem this was the best one yet.  Thanks Loo for a great recipe.

[FLAVORMAN]

Loowaters,

Made our first generic thin crust today...worked out wonderful and Chicago Style is really my bag...I did let the dough rise 2 times and was easy to roll out...I used a stone, corn meal on the pizza paddle, 450 degree about 18 minutes middle rack...Great   Thanks

[mrmojo1]

I finally took some pictures of this recipe and I was finally able to get the crust cooked fully before the cheese started to burn.  I've tried everything from putting the pan directly on top of the burner to preheating the oven at a lower temp than cooking and I always ended up with the cheese almost burnt and the dough just starting to cook.  I just ended up par-baking the crust for 5 minutes prior to applying the toppings and then cooking at 450 deg.  This seemed to work the best out of the previous 12 attempts without par-baking.

Here are pics from the most recent one.  The only thing was that it was too thick because I think my electronic scale is off, which caused the dough to be way to wet and caused me to add a lot more flour to get it back to normal.  Even with that problem this was the best one yet.  Thanks Loo for a great recipe.

Makes me hungry just lookiing at it!!!  Great job!!  i too had probs with the crust not getting crispy enough.  i would say if you can get a stone( i like the big square one sold at williams sonoma i  think it was reasonable 30 bucks?).  and then you also have to go hotter i cook at 550. and the stone heats for an hour or more at this temp.  Loo helped me with this.   i found it cooks in almost exactly 10min. stone on the bottom rack.  sometimes i open the oven door for the last min or 2, if i think the cheese is getting too brown,  u will need to master the cornmeal and pizza peel slide off onto the stone....but thats part of the fun.  and a great burnt cheesy mess if you screw up..trust me i know!!!  Also once i went to Loos recipe with the dough calculator  and used the scale when makign the dough, the crust was much crisper as opposed to my volume estimation trials prior.