Text 23774, 124 rader
Skriven 2009-05-03 16:10:00 av JIM WELLER (1:123/140)
     Kommentar till en text av BURTON FORD
Ärende: Re: McD's
=================
-=> Quoting Burton Ford to Lee Lofaso <=-

 LL> 13

 BF> [I'm never afraid to be the straight man]


None of us are, except for perhaps Kevin.

(And I don't know the answer for 13 either.)

MMMMM-----Meal-Master - formatted by MMCONV  2.10

     Title: Digging Into Deep-Dish Pizza  Pt1
Categories: pizza
  Servings: 4

           DOUGH:
  3 1/2 c  all purpose flour 
  1 1/2 c  water
    1/2 c  yellow cornmeal
      1 ts sugar
      1 ts salt 
    1/4 oz active dry yeast
    1/2 c  Canola oil
           SAUCE:
     28 oz can crushed tomatoes
      2 TB Parmesan cheese
      1 TB Italian herbs
           TOPPINGS:
      1    ball of dried Mozzarella 
           handful of frozen spinach
           Pamesan cheese

I've made my peace with deep-dish Chicago pizza; it's not New York
pizza. 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 feels
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 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).  

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 below is fine.  Especially if you go light on the sauce.
                 
  From: The Paupered Chef               
 
MMMMM-------------------------------------------------

Cheers

YK Jim


... It is in its own little corner of the pizza universe.

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