Hello, all! This is my first post on pizzamaking.com, but I have been reading about deep dish pizza on here for weeks.
Loo! Thank you for posting that amazing dough recipe and for the additional info about seasoning the pans, and thanks to everyone on this forum for providing a treasure trove of research and information about deep dish pizza.
I've managed to hit the nail on the head on the first try, and am thrilled with the results!
I've posted photos of my first deep dish pizza on my blog, virtualcheeseburgerDOTblogspotDOTcom/2009/04/chicago-style-deep-dish-pizza-successDOThtml, and will be posting additional information about my experience in the next week or so.
The basics about my first pie:
I used Loo's - Lou Malnati's Dough recipe, only did 1 rise instead of 2 before tossing into the fridge overnight. Next day, I greased up only the bottom of the pan with oil and butter flavor crisco.
I took out the dough and pressed it into the pan 10 minutes after I took it out of the fridge. I figured that since the dough is more biscuit-like and doesn't have the gluten of regular pizza dough due to the short knead time, it wouldn't have much spring-back. I was right.
Sliced mozz on the bottom, sweet italian sausage pressed out to a patty on top of that, then covered with drained Muir Glen crushed tomatoes (28 oz can with basil); sprinkled a bit of salt on top of that; topped half of the pie with Boar's Head pepperoni, pressed slightly into the sauce to minimize burning, sprinkle with parmesan and bake.
Preheated the oven to 500F.
I used an AMCO silicone-coated aluminized steel 14"x2" cake pan (bought on amazon.com), baked the pizza directly on pizza stone on bottom rack of gas oven turned down to 475F for 30-35 minutes, rotating the pie halfway thru the baking.
Although nearly perfect taste-wise, I think next time I will drain the tomatoes a little bit longer, as they left a slight watery puddle in the pan after I pulled out the first slice.
I've compiled a step-by-step recipe based on my experience (and Loo's dough recipe from "Possibly my prettiest...with pics!" and information acquired from you all) and it is available for download here: wwwDOTedhellerDOTcom/DeepDishPizza-holy-grail-2009.pdf
If the links don't work, let me know and I will post the links on my blog.