Saturday, July 21, 2001


my husband surprised me by reading this blog and beating me to bridge kitchenware. that's right -- i came home from yoga last night and found he had sweetly bought me a black steel deep dish pizza pan! i think this a show of support!

unfortunately, he did not know that i needed a 12-in. pan, and so bought a 10-in. pan. so i'll be going up to bridge myself this afternoon to exchange the pan. still, mr. right gets a gold star. and a spinach deep dish pizza.

some chicago pizzas have cornmeal crusts, although the more famous places tend to use regular pizza crust. the recipe for pizza dough i posted here previously is a new york style crust, that calls for no sugar or oil. the chicago pizza crust would normally have a tablespoon of both olive oil and sugar, which makes for a moister crust.

mr. right has asked for a cornmeal crust, so forwith, here's my recipe:

2-1/4 c. (10 oz by weight) Sir Lancelot high gluten flour
1 c. yellow cornmeal
1c. (8 oz) water
1/4 c. extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon SAF yeast

attach the paddle beater to your stand mixer. in the mixer bowl, add the cornmeal, flour, salt, and sugar. mix at speed 3 for 30 seconds to blend evenly. gradually add the oil. replace the paddle beater with the dough hook and mix at speed 2. gradually add the water until the dough comes together. knead with the dough hook for 10 mins. the dough should be smooth and elastic. if not, knead for another 5-10 mins. check to make sure you see the "baker's windowpane" when you pinch off a piece of dough and hold it up to the light.

let rest for 5 mins. using a pastry or baker's bench knife, divide the dough in half. shape it into two balls, oil their surfaces, and place on a heavily floured sheet. sprinkle the tops with more flour. cover with plastic.

at this point you may let them rise for 4-6 hours until puffy or put in the refrigerator to rise overnight. if you chill them, take them out an hour before you want to roll them out so they can come up to room temperature.

this recipe should give you plenty of dough for two 12" crusts -- the top and the bottom crust of the chicago pizza. i usually let the dough rise overnight, myself. so you'll find the recipe for the spinach filling and light tomato sauce topping tomorrow, when we actually make the deep dish pizza!

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