Deep-dish pizza
I took a crack at making deep dish pizza last night. Most of the pizza here in NZ is Neapolitan-style thin-crust pizza, Wholly Pizza has dead-on New York crust pizza, and Hell has a fairly normal medium crust, but I haven't found any place (except Pizza Hut) that has deep-dish pizza. So rather than ordering from Pizza Hut, I decided to try making one myself.
There are a bazillion recipes for deep-dish, pan, and/or Chicago style pizza out there. Having never been to Chicago, I was amazed to discover via Wikipedia that traditional "Chicago-style" deep dish pizza has the sauce on top of the cheese. I guess what I'm really trying to recreate is the pizza at the South Bay Area chain, Pizz'a Chicago. That's deep-dished, but with the sauce and toppings in the normal order.
Anyway, a bazillion recipes, many of which are quite involved, asking you to have a stand mixer, making enough dough for 5 pies, and needing to let the yeast ferment in the fridge for a day or two. I was impatient, so I sought one out that only asked you to let the dough sit for two hours: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/chicago-style-deep-dish-pizzas-recipe/index.html
I was too impatient to follow the accompanying sauce recipe (which asked me to simmer the sauce for an hour) so I whipped up something with tomatoes and basil, loosely based on this recipe: http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2010/10/new-york-style-pizza-sauce.html
The end result, well, the dough was indeed pretty deep, rising up to about an inch in the end. It was not as buttery as Pizz'a Chicago's, though, so not quite what I was looking for. And my sauce wasn't great, no surprise since it was quickly whipped up and the only appropriate spice I had on hand was basil (I was completely out of oregano and thyme). I've seen some references to a type of "pan pizza" where the dough is sort of fried in the pan, so maybe that's the route I need to go.
This was the first time I tried to bake something with yeast, and it was again a learning experience for me. Specifically, I learned that I do not know how to knead dough. After kneading it as best I could I googled up some dough kneading instructions and found out that I was doing it completely wrong. So, that's something to improve on in the next attempt.
There are a bazillion recipes for deep-dish, pan, and/or Chicago style pizza out there. Having never been to Chicago, I was amazed to discover via Wikipedia that traditional "Chicago-style" deep dish pizza has the sauce on top of the cheese. I guess what I'm really trying to recreate is the pizza at the South Bay Area chain, Pizz'a Chicago. That's deep-dished, but with the sauce and toppings in the normal order.
Anyway, a bazillion recipes, many of which are quite involved, asking you to have a stand mixer, making enough dough for 5 pies, and needing to let the yeast ferment in the fridge for a day or two. I was impatient, so I sought one out that only asked you to let the dough sit for two hours: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/chicago-style-deep-dish-pizzas-recipe/index.html
I was too impatient to follow the accompanying sauce recipe (which asked me to simmer the sauce for an hour) so I whipped up something with tomatoes and basil, loosely based on this recipe: http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2010/10/new-york-style-pizza-sauce.html
The end result, well, the dough was indeed pretty deep, rising up to about an inch in the end. It was not as buttery as Pizz'a Chicago's, though, so not quite what I was looking for. And my sauce wasn't great, no surprise since it was quickly whipped up and the only appropriate spice I had on hand was basil (I was completely out of oregano and thyme). I've seen some references to a type of "pan pizza" where the dough is sort of fried in the pan, so maybe that's the route I need to go.
This was the first time I tried to bake something with yeast, and it was again a learning experience for me. Specifically, I learned that I do not know how to knead dough. After kneading it as best I could I googled up some dough kneading instructions and found out that I was doing it completely wrong. So, that's something to improve on in the next attempt.