Chicago-style deep-dish pizza at home?

[Robert Lauriston]

Following up on a thread on the Food Media & News board about Saveur's "Chicago" issue:

Track down a copy of Evelyne Slomon's "The Pizza Book: Everything There Is To Know About the World's Greatest Pie" (1984, Times Books, ISBN 081291113X; my local library has it). She interviewed Ike Sewell and spent time in the original Pizzeria Uno kitchen watching how the pies were made, then adapted that into a recipe intended for home cooks.

[HomeCookKirsten]

The Eduardo's, Malnatis (went to school with their kids) and other Chicago-style type spinach that I am specifically seeking is mixed in with massive amounts of cheese, on a flaky pie-crust type dough that covers the bottom and up the sides, but no crust on top - just a thick layer of tomato sauce and a light sprinkling of parmesan. Inside is the gooey, melty spinach-flecked cheese - could be 1-2 inches thick.

[HomeCookKirsten]

THANK YOU SO MUCH for starting this topic. Do hope someone can shed some light on at-home deep-dish pizza.

Spinach is my personal favorite - any recipes?

[jfood]

It's not that hard, jfood has been making for 20+ years. In a nutshell.

Make a pizza dough, cut in half and stretch one for the bottom crust. Place in a buttered straight sided baking dish. fill with cheeses and "toppings". stretch the second dough and place on top. now place your tomato sauce on top of that and some grated cheese. Into a 400 degree oven until done, about 25-40 minutes depending on size.

[Robert Lauriston]

That's Chicago-style stuffed pizza, adapted by Rocco Palese of Nancy's in 1971 from his mother's recipe for scarciedda.

Chicago-style deep-dish pizza was invented by Ike Sewell at Uno in 1941. It has no top crust, and the dough is very different from regular pizza dough--low-gluten flour and a fair amount of shortening or oil make it more like a pie crust.

[jfood]

oh yeah, jfood should have read his own definitional post from a few days ago. Never ate at Uno's (he's a Giordano's fan) so when he saw chicago, he jumped.

But what the heck, the recipe above for stuffed pizza is still great and easy.

thanks RL

[Robert Lauriston]

Constructing a stuffed pizza is easy, but making one where the top crust doesn't get soggy and gooey is an art.

[jfood]

nah, if you find it is soggy on the first try, make sure on the second try that the dough is taunt. then if you are real concerned don't put all the sauce on it right away, just a little to keep it from rising and place in the oven. look through the glass and when needed "baste" the top crust with a little more sauce.

When you serve it have a bowl of sauce for each slice so people can add as desired.

It may not be a Picasso method, but that cheese brick is heaven.

[Robert Lauriston]

Sounds easy, but Zachary's doesn't manage to do that. The top crust is usually so soggy that I think a lot of customers mistake it for cheese.

[jfood]

Huh? Who's Zachary? And if jfood is not eating the unknown Z, why does he care?

[Robert Lauriston]

Zachary's is a Berkeley-based chain of three pizzerias in the San Francisco Bay Area.

[Glencora]

Ha! Your post made me laugh. There is, after all, a world outside of the Bay Area. I think Robert meant that a lot of people around here think of Zachary's when they think of deep dish pizza. It's the only kind I've ever had and I think it's icky. I'll give your version a try, though. (Or actually, I'll ask my SO to make it for me.) It sounds interesting, if rather unhealthy. Don't have a glass-fronted oven, but I guess he can figure it out.

[Robert Lauriston]

Somehow I had the misapprenension that jfood lived in the SF area, otherwise I would have specified. Must be somebody with a similar username.

If you've had only Zachary's, try Little Star. They make deep-dish.

[jfood]

no prob, that explains the soggy crust though. if you ship a pie from SF to CT it is bound to get soggy.

[steve h.]

love the sweet crust on a chicago pie. corn meal should be included. i use a cast iron pan to bake the pie in the oven. one ingredient hard to replicate outside of chicago is the correct sausage. i can get close here in connecticut but it's not the same. also, let the record show that the sauce is sweeter with a chicago pie. this is a work of love so take your time and have too much fun.

[jfood]

two sausage places in FFD county

1 - A&S, norwalk and stm
2 - Zeytinia on route 7 in norwalk

a&s has a nice fennel sausage (chicken not bad either) and zeytinia has hot/sweet, a nice mix for pizza and lasagne

[steve h.]

same as chicago sausage?

[jfood]

couldn;t reallytell you but its pretty good stuff. best jfood hasfound here.

[steve h.]

thanks. i'll give it a shot.