Digging into Deep-Dish

I've made my peace with deep-dish.  It's not my favorite Chicago foodstuff (Chicago Dogs and Italian beefs are way ahead), nor does it come anywhere close to the odd ethereal perfection that New York pizza can occasionally attain (sorry!).  As Anthony Bourdain rightly pointed out on his recent Chicago episode, the two don't have much in common.  But that doesn't mean that deep-dish isn't delicious, as anyone who sets foot in Pequod's must come to realize.

I am completely astonished by how balanced this pizza is. The crust isn't an impenetrable barrier of rock hard dough, and instead fells more layered and flaky, almost like a biscuit. The sauce is bright and just slightly sweet. And then, the best part: the edge is lined with cheese turns caramelized, crispy, and nearly jet black in the oven. This crust is about the tastiest bite I've had in months.

I've been thinking a lot about this recently. Though I live a mile from Pequod's and could head over there any day of the week, I've been trying to stay in and save money.  I've been satisfying my pizza cravings by making pies under my broiler using the Pizza Hack method Blake and I wrote about long ago on Serious Eats.  The pies are great, and incredibly cheap, but never quite as good as New York pizza can be.  And that's fine.  New York pizzas generally cook at temperatures over 800 degrees, which is far hotter than my regular oven could reach.  I cheat a little, utilizing an upturned iron skillet and a broiler.  It does the job.  

But I got to wondering, what about deep-dish at home?  My mind started racing when I thought of this.  Deep-dish is cooked at a reasonable temperature that my ancient oven can attain.  The rest is just ingredients and technique.  Gasp...Not only could I make deep-dish at home, but could I make one that was better than what they serve at all of the restaurants?  

Or at least, that was my hunch.  I searched for a long time and finally settled on this recipe from pizzamaking.com.  Deep-dish dough is very different from its thin crust counterpart. The crust has a healthy dose of cornmeal, which gives it an interesting crunch and texture.  All the elements seemed to be here.  I tracked down some tomatoes, cheese, and even decided to add some spinach (an addition that has worked well in other deep-dishes I have had). 

As you can see, I think I was a little too cocky.  Obviously, my first pie was wet. I probably put way too much sauce on and the middle of the crust gave out.  The flavor was decent, but nothing approaching Pequod's. 

For my second pie, I used far less sauce and cheese, and removed the spinach all together.  It was much better.  The crust held up and the flavor was good.  But still, something was dearly missing.  For one thing, the crust was too blonde.  The best deep-dish pizzas tend to get some color on the crust from interacting with the pan.  Obviously I wasn't expecting Pequod's incredible crust because I didn't line the edges with cheese, but still.  I wanted some kind of color.   

I plunged further into message boards and online articles.  Information started morphing into myth.  My head got cloudy and clogged.  I nearly gave up.  My problems were seemingly endless. 

Perhaps I need one of those pizza pans, instead of my 10-inch iron skillet.  Everyone else was using them.  Or it could be the sauce. I just had a regular can of whole tomatoes. But I keep seeing the brand 6 in 1 mentioned.  Their flavor and texture might have been different. 

Though I haven't seen many recipes showcasing this, it could be that I didn't parbake the crust. I actually saw this mentioned on Wikipedia.  That would certainly help the crust set up and not disintegrate when toppings were dumped on top.  Some people also recommended letting the crust have a slow rise in the refrigerator overnight instead of the relatively quick one I had on the counter.

But I'm convinced it's the ingredients of the crust. Even the pie with less ingredients tasted too dense.  I keep coming back to that flaky crust, one that is layered and strong. What honestly comes to mind is not pizza pie, but baking pie. During the searching I came across this brief mention in Chowhound where someone mentions that nearly every place uses shortening in the crust. It's sounds like the perfect next step.  Now, all I need is a recipe...

The recipe listed below is fine.  Especially if you go light on the sauce.  It's a good first try.  But I'm moving on. 

Deep-Dish 1st Round

Dough:

• 3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 ounce active dry yeast
• 1/2 cup Canola oil

Sauce:

• 1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
• 2 tablespoon Parmesan cheese
• 1 tablespoon Italian herbs

Toppings:

• 1 ball of dried Mozzarella
• handful of frozen spinach
• Pamesan cheese

Toss the flour, water, cornmeal, sugar, salt, and yeast in a large mixing bowl.  Attach the dough hook to the Kitchen aid.  Mix on a low speed until roughly combined, about 2 minutes.  

Slowly drip in the canola oil.  Mix for 7 more minutes until it is a a shiny ball.  If you don't have a Kitchen Aid, it's okay.  Just mix all the ingredients in a large bowl and mix the ingredients around with your hands.  Then knead the ball until it becomes shiny and smooth. 

Pour a little bit of oil into a large bowl, and coat the sides and bottom.  Then dump in the ball of dough and cover with plastic.  Let sit on the counter for a few hours until it doubles in size.

Meanwhile, mix together the tomatoes, herbs and cheese.  It's pretty easy. 

Brush an iron skillet or pizza pan with about a tablespoon of Canola oil. 

Remove the dough from the bowl and gently pat it down.  Form it roughly into the of the pan.  Unlike regular pizza, it doesn't need to be tossed around stretched.  It's good to go. 

Drop it into the pan.  Crimp the edges around the sides. If any dough is sticking too far out, just remove it. 

First spread a layer of cheese.  Don't be shy.

Spread any toppings on next.  I used spinach.  Though you could use some of my freshly made Italian sausage. 

Ladle on some of the sauce, though I would use less than I did here.  Top with a sprinkling of Parmesan. 

Place in a preheated oven set at 450 degrees.  Cook for 25 or minutes or until the edges start to brown.  Let it rest for at least 5 minutes before digging in. 

Tagged as: Cheese, Chicago, Deep-Dish, Mozzarella, Pizza, Tomatoes