Author Topic: Chicago Thin - a labor of love (Read 201323 times)

CDNpielover · « **Reply #60 on:** February 18, 2012, 01:17:20 PM »

^^i would really recommend using Garvey's tomato paste recipe. i used his recipes for the dough, the sauce, and the sausage, because there are dozens of good midwestern-thin recipes on the site, and I don't really see the advantage of using Garvey's dough over any of the other good ones unless you're gonna do the whole shebang.

Garvey · « **Reply #61 on:** February 18, 2012, 07:47:49 PM »

Of course, I'd agree with CDNpielover on this. The recipe is the recipe. The amount of herbs and selection of herbs is optimized for tomato paste. Even if you used puree or crushed tomatoes or whatever, they are not processed in the manor of paste, so the entire flavor profile would be off.

I guess that's one of the biggest weaknesses of this forum (IMO), that a vast majority of recipes here are dough recipes only...with a few, "meh, I took some crushed tomatoes and sprinkled the pizza with oregano" so-called sauce recipes. The exception is in the deep dish recipes, which aren't really sauce, per se, but at least directions are given. (One of the inherent strengths in this forum, OTOH, is that it is truly a crust forum full of real *bakers*. This is a dough forum first. I acknowledge it and actually dig it...although I wish someone could clone Aurelio's sauce, but now my digression has a digression...)

Anyway, this is a complete recipe, from start to finish. If you don't have paste and the other ingredients, go with one of your tried and true sauce recipes you like. It just isn't Pizza Factory.

CDNpielover · « **Reply #62 on:** February 18, 2012, 07:53:49 PM »

^^Hey Garvey, you might be interested in reading about Pete-zza's excellent Papa John's clone: http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,6633.msg56931.html#msg56931

Garvey · « **Reply #63 on:** February 18, 2012, 08:00:03 PM »

I'll assume you're joking. With all due respect to Pete-zza, there ain't gonna be no Papa John's under my roof, cloned or otherwise.

;-)

CDNpielover · « **Reply #64 on:** February 18, 2012, 08:02:23 PM »

no, I wasn't joking - Pete-zza did an excellent job reverse-engineering that sauce. I just thought you might be interested since you were kind of complaining that the forums don't care enough about sauce.

I've made Pete-zzas PJ clone dough on a few occasions, too, and while it's different than the midwestern-style thin crust I grew up eating, it's still good and i'm proud to make it!

buceriasdon · « **Reply #65 on:** February 18, 2012, 08:24:05 PM »

Seeing as how I'm one who doesn't believe that one size fits all, this recipe isn't one I would do again.
Don

Garvey · « **Reply #66 on:** February 18, 2012, 08:41:26 PM »

You never actually did try this recipe, Don. You changed the dough completely and the sauce completely.

vr6Dad · « **Reply #67 on:** February 18, 2012, 10:06:28 PM »

Quote from: Garvey on February 18, 2012, 07:47:49 PM

Of course, I'd agree with CDNpielover on this. The recipe is the recipe. The amount of herbs and selection of herbs is optimized for tomato paste. Even if you used puree or crushed tomatoes or whatever, they are not processed in the manor of paste, so the entire flavor profile would be off.

I guess that's one of the biggest weaknesses of this forum (IMO), that a vast majority of recipes here are dough recipes only...with a few, "meh, I took some crushed tomatoes and sprinkled the pizza with oregano" so-called sauce recipes. The exception is in the deep dish recipes, which aren't really sauce, per se, but at least directions are given.

Garvey, you and CDN are correct.

I will pick up a can of Contadina paste and go from there.

I also made the sausage per the recipe with ground sausage tonight, and will do the "kneading" with my Kitchen Aid tomorrow night or Monday morning.

I wholeheartedly agree with you about the lack of sauce "recipes," with the exception of the Aurelio's thread. I've tried several of the formulations, and tinkered with them until I find one that pleases my family. I'll start with the true recreation of your sauce recipe, and either keep it or tinker.

IMO, that is the great thing about this forum. We share our triumphs and failures, and find things that we like and that suit our families' palettes.

pythonic · « **Reply #68 on:** February 19, 2012, 09:41:20 PM »

Cha Ching! Used 6-1 tomatoes for sauce though. I'll be giving Garvey's sauce a run next time.

vr6Dad · « **Reply #69 on:** February 24, 2012, 07:49:58 PM »

I made this pizza the other night after about a 72 hour rise on the dough. It had a great 'beer' smell to it when I pulled it out of the fridge to use. It rolled out easily and had a great bite. I am about to make another 3 pizzas' worth for Sunday dinner, and it will probably become my new go-to dough recipe.

I'll be honest - I didn't care for the sauce. I used Contadina 12oz can paste and followed the directions to a tee. IMHO the sauce is very fennel-heavy, to the point of being overpowering for my tastes. That's not to say that other people will like it. There's a lot of complexity in the sauce and a lot of competing flavors in the profile. Maybe (for me) severely cutting down the fennel, or cutting it out completely, will work (for me).

I also made the sausage, and it was pretty darn good. Thanks for the recipe and the link to Slice, because I'd never made any type of sausage before. Now I can tinker with the recipe, or leave it as is.

Garvey - Thanks for the thread on this pizza, as people like you recreating their favorites is great for those of us who can't make it to the big cities very often, so we get a little taste of what we're missing.

Garvey · « **Reply #70 on:** February 24, 2012, 08:51:11 PM »

Glad you liked the crust. Sorry to hear about the sauce. It is true to type, fwiw. I don't think of it as fennel heavy, but my wife does. Try cutting back on it. That's what I do for her.

pythonic · « **Reply #71 on:** February 26, 2012, 11:56:53 PM »

Quote from: CDNpielover on February 11, 2012, 11:43:22 AM

pythonic,

It was 50:30:20 mozza:white cheddar:provolone. I think Pete used it for a specific pizza clone (PJ perhaps?);but I use it on all of my pizzas. Since I started making pizzas, cheese was the main thing limiting the quality... I used many different brands of mozza from all different price points, and it always turned out really SUCKY. the blend is awesome though, and i find that it's still awesome regardless of what brand/price of cheese you use. I actually bought a giant brick of private label "pizza mozza" recently, and when it's blended it works just the same as the Saputo Mozzarellissima that costs 2x the price!!!

I finally got around in trying this cheese blend and it was excellent! Before I would just mix Mozz and white cheddar but the provolone really enhances it big time. This is my new go to cheese blend for sure.

Pete-zza · « **Reply #72 on:** February 27, 2012, 01:12:55 PM »

CDNpielover and pythonic,

I used the 50/30/20 cheese blend to make a Greek style pizza, as discussed in Reply 20 at http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,691.msg27482.html#msg27482.

Peter

CDNpielover · « **Reply #73 on:** March 03, 2012, 07:23:17 PM »

made this again last night. toppings were sausage (recipe given earlier in thread), onions, and canned mushrooms. (I have a soft spot in my heart for canned mushrooms on pizza hahah!). It was delicious, although I have a nasty head cold so I really couldn't taste it that well haha. Unfortunately I didn't get any pics. I changed up the bake method a bit this time, since last time the crust didn't turn out as browned/crispy as I would have wanted. So I put the stone on the bottom rack and preheated for 1 hour at 450, then I turned the oven to 500 just as I put the pizza in. Cooked for 10 or 12 minutes, and it turned out great. The bottom of the crust was quite crispy and had a noticeable crunch, and although i'm not sure if that's how Pizza Factory did it or not, I liked it much more than my last attempt!

Garvey · « **Reply #74 on:** March 03, 2012, 11:03:50 PM »

Sounds great. Yes, you definitely want that crunch. You nailed it. And your method is clever: I used to do the same thing but in reverse: preheat to 500 then turn it down to bake at 450. (Different stone position.) Now I am a firm believer in the two-stone method--one high, one low--and move the pies accordingly (bottom for more crust browning, top for more cheese browning). You may want to get a similar setup?

vr6Dad · « **Reply #75 on:** March 07, 2012, 09:06:20 PM »

Hi Garvey (and everyone else),

I made another 3 pizzas with the dough recipe last week. I accidentally left the dough out on the counter after kneading for about 30-45 minutes, before putting it in the fridge. I also used the dough within 48 hours instead of 72 hours. My results were that the crust was a little thicker than last time, and didn't have that "beer" smell or flavor that it did the first time. It browned and crisped just fine, but it was just a little thicker than we wanted.

I used a sweet sauce formulation that my family likes and grated some fresh mozz and non-smoked provolone. I also used the sausage recipe in this thread, and used Boar's Head brand pepperoni. I always use a cast iron pizza pan and used a stone above it.

The pizzas turned out fantastic; however, from now on I'll try to get that 72 hour fridge rise time and not let it sit on the counter prior to the fridge rise.

I really like the dough and will make it my go-to. For this weekend's pizzas I am going to add in a little white cheddar.

Thanks again for this thread.

Garvey · « **Reply #76 on:** March 07, 2012, 09:47:26 PM »

vr6Dad: sounds like you've experienced exactly what I've experienced with this dough. It makes a fine and good crust at 48 hrs but is too thick. Still has too much rise in it. It starts to really mature properly at 72 hrs and is still great at 96. I think that's the ideal window.

Sausage turn out ok? I had worked out four different formulations, and this was the one that nailed Pizza Factory's flavor profile. But all four were great. I can post those if you want some ideas for tinkering.

pythonic · « **Reply #77 on:** March 08, 2012, 11:17:53 AM »

Quote from: vr6Dad on March 07, 2012, 09:06:20 PM

Hi Garvey (and everyone else),

I made another 3 pizzas with the dough recipe last week. I accidentally left the dough out on the counter after kneading for about 30-45 minutes, before putting it in the fridge. I also used the dough within 48 hours instead of 72 hours. My results were that the crust was a little thicker than last time, and didn't have that "beer" smell or flavor that it did the first time. It browned and crisped just fine, but it was just a little thicker than we wanted.

I used a sweet sauce formulation that my family likes and grated some fresh mozz and non-smoked provolone. I also used the sausage recipe in this thread, and used Boar's Head brand pepperoni. I always use a cast iron pizza pan and used a stone above it.

The pizzas turned out fantastic; however, from now on I'll try to get that 72 hour fridge rise time and not let it sit on the counter prior to the fridge rise.

I really like the dough and will make it my go-to. For this weekend's pizzas I am going to add in a little white cheddar.

Thanks again for this thread.

Try to use the boars head white cheddar if you can. Ive had great success with it.

CDNpielover · « **Reply #78 on:** March 08, 2012, 11:22:17 AM »

vr6dad, it is ESSENTIAL that you post pics of the pies you make this weekend

CDNpielover · « **Reply #79 on:** March 17, 2012, 09:53:38 PM »

sausage, canned shrooms (yum), and some cooked ground hamburger left over from last night (I hate wasting food LOL). not a fan of the ground hamburger on this pie, it kinda "takes over" the taste. too bad I had to put it on there haha.

Author Topic: Chicago Thin - a labor of love (Read 201323 times)

buceriasdon