General

nonamesleft wrote:

Broccoli rabe has a bitter, almost metallic flavor. The first few times I tried it, I thought it was disgusting, but then I strangely started to crave it. Now, it's my favorite vegetable.

It's an awesome contrast to a rich, creamy pizza, especially white pizza, but it's not for everyone. It doesn't have much in common with broccoli other than how it looks; it's technically part of the turnip family.

Bacon, Chicken, Red Onion, Pineapple, BBQ sauce.

Deep dish like Lou’s and Giordanos- doesn’t have a thick crust. It’s actually cracker thin. It’s just got a ton of cheese packed between the layers- definitely my favorite kind. I enjoy the floppy “NY” style as well.

KCPenguins wrote:


I would not call that "cracker thin". They may press it in the pan cracker thin, but it raises while baking.

On a side note, anyone try getting Lou's through the mail? I wonder how close it is to the real thing.

Edit: and what is recommended? I heard their sausage is tops.

KCPenguins wrote:

Giordanos crusts literally are cracker thin under and in the pizza. The edges are pretty thin too. They also don’t fully bake it so it’s gooey / dough inside. There is very little bread in there. Lou’s shipped is very fresh. We get one every Valentine’s Day.

So I watched a few videos on making "the greats" Chicago Style deep dish pizzas. Learned a lot. My first attempt was restaurant quality imo, and unhealthy as heck. Used my favorite dough, raised it to an almost air like quality, smashed it into a cast iron pan thin, like less than an 1/8 of an inch, and up the walls. Piled cheese, smashed a thin layer of uncooked Italian sausage, covered in sauce and more cheese. The cook was a bit tricky (not much), but everything was amazing. Not pre-cooking and draining the grease from the sausage adds so much flavor (and fat and calories). Honestly one of the best pizzas I've eaten.

KCPenguins wrote:
That's amazing! How does pizza dough work? It's like regular yeast dough that rises?

More details please about the whole process :)

@nonamesleft there are more than a handful of ways to make it depending on the style you’re going for. I don’t have a recipe for a traditional round pie kind of pizza dough but when I lived in the farm we experimented with home made pizzas and came up with a pretty bangin’ focaccia style dough that’s crispy on the top and bottom but fluffy and pillowy in the middle. I’m sure I have it in my notes in my phone if I look. Even a homemade pizza sauce is relatively easy to make with a few basic ingredients like Whole Plum tomatoes, fresh garlic and some basil (salt, pepper and a little olive oil of course too. I have like an elaborate Sunday Gravy recipe (I only call it gravy because that’s what my grandma called it, idc if people call it sauce or gravy) that’s the whole works- sausage, home made meatballs, sweet pork neck bones, and a lot more but that’s not for pizza. Let me know if you want my pizza crust recipe. Like the sauce it requires very few ingredients, not a ton of prep and basically just a greased heavy duty baking sheet or cast iron baking sheet.

@Prime It's 4:30 am and pizza making is being discussed... 😆

Definitely interested in the pizza crust recipe.

A focaccia style crust sounds very good.

KCPenguins wrote:
Thanks. Will give this a read later.

Pizza Dough

21 ounces bread flour
Teaspoon seasalt
3/4 teaspoon yeast
2.5 cups cold water

Combine well but don’t over mix. Ideally in a glass bowl.

Cover with saranwrap and cover with a dark towel and let sit 24 hours

use hot water instead of cold let sit an hour

Uncover. Knead lightly into greased pan. Drizzle with olive oil, herbs of choice, lightly roasted whole garlic cloves or a light dusting of granulated garlic and salt.

Bake 375 until top looks golden.

Prime wrote:
Thanks.

Any reason to not use hot water vs cold? Sounds convenient to lessen the waiting time to an hour.

@KCPenguins

Took a look at the recipe. Seems pretty straightforward. Was it good enough that you'd make it again?

I've made it plenty of times. Just be careful on how much you use and how thin you spread it. The first time I made it the crust was over an inch and a half thick in the middle.

@nonamesleft the cold and the 12 hour rest allows the yeast to do its thing I think. It’s my buddies recipe who’s a chef. Idk the actually reasons to be honest and it’s been so long since I made it I can’t tell if there was a taste difference.

I was raised on Old World pizza. Real Italian pizza; not Americanized pizza. My family has owned a pizza place for 75 years. They brought it to my hometown. People didn't even know what pizza was. My father was still in high school when his parents started the business. He said that they had to explain that what they were selling were "hot pies" because no one in the area knew what pizza was. Up until that point pizza had only been a delicacy. A special treat for a snack after dinner. People from the area either love my family's pizza or they hate it. There's no in between. It isn't an Americanized pizza and a lot of people can't deal with that. The crust is slightly sweet, rectangular, thin and with a bit of flop. I love it. I do eat Americanized pizza. There are some that are okay. I've been in the Midwest for 30 years and I haven't had a really good pizza since I've been out here. I don't like Chicago style; never did and they just don't do pizza like they do back east.I miss it. When I was in Minnesota I ordered and the pizza arrived cut as though it were a square pizza. What the hell? I'd never seen that before. My favorite was always pepperoni and then sausage and pepperoni. I quit eating meat again a while back so now I just do cheese & onions I rarely rarely eat pizza anymore because I can't get pizza I like. I did try pineapple on pizza ones. I was very surprised it was pretty good. I was put off by it when they told me there was pineapple on it. I had never heard of that either. It was pretty good. My friend made it homemade it wasn't from a restaurant so I don't know if that made a difference.

I am a fan of Ham and Pineapple Pizza (Hawaiian) My wife LOVES it but she is also a fan of Margarita thin crust.

I love deep dish but there is no place close to me that makes it, in fact one of the best deep dish pizza's I have had is from a shady little hotel out in the middle of no where. It's amazing lol Pizza from Chicago Deep Dish is another fave of mine.

Miranda wrote:
Your family has a pizza place? That's really cool. Did you work there?

Your pizza sounds great. A slightly sweet crust? Interesting. What gives the sweetness? Sugar? Apple juice?

I had pineapple on pizza once. I liked it. I don't understand the anger some people have when they talk about pineapple on pizza.

Finn wrote:
I think 🍍🍕 is decent. Had it once.

I'm not such a fan of deep dish though. Just too much crust going on to my liking.

nonamesleft wrote:
|.

Nope. Never officially. When I was little I did stuff like stock the cooler, price products, make boxes etc..


I honestly don't know. The only ones who know the dough recipe are my Dad & my brother who is now the VP. When my Nonie died my Dad moved up from VP & my brother moved up.


I was freaked out at first. It sounded gross, but I'm a very picky eater. Wasn't mad though. People have strong feelings about what things should & should not change or deviate from the norm.

benstylus wrote:


I go the opposite. Decent amount cheese... but there better be a good sauce ratio. Shove some hamburger or grilled chicken on that son of a dog.

theJaw wrote:
Very much agree with this. It's important to have a good sauce to cheese ratio. If you're going to increase the cheese, you should increase the sauce too.

Increase the ratio by adding cheese sauce.

KCPenguins wrote:
{imgt}https://giordanos.com/locations/img/gio-default.jp... 1000 750{imgt}

Planning on this for lunch this weekend!

KCPenguins wrote:
🤤🤤🤤😋 Looks incredible.

Decided to try a pizza place that's been in town since long before I moved out here 15 years ago, and I passed regularly on the way to work or church.

They had a menu item called the Chicago Stuffed pizza, so I ordered it, not really knowing what to expect.

I knew it would be something though because when they handed me the pizza box it was about four times heavier than I expected.

Got it home and opened the box...

image

Looks kinda like a deep dish, so I cut into it.

Simply too much cheese. I couldn't do it personally, but kudos.

theJaw wrote:

If such a thing exists, this would certainly qualify

benstylus wrote:
How was it?

nonamesleft wrote:

The post had a "nsfw" Spoiler tag. You can click it to find out

The first pic looked saucy, then the 2nd pic.... actually looked disgusting to me and I'd be afraid to eat that.

bill wrote:

Doing the right thing can often be frightening.

benstylus wrote:
Oh, right. Shirts flying off. 😅

Was it good enough that you'd buy it again?

nonamesleft wrote:


It wouldn't be my go-to every time I want pizza - having tried it now, I would say it's more of a special occasion food.

Thankfully I don't have to worry about it yet because it was so filling I still have about 2/3 of it left

benstylus wrote:


Just FYI stuffed pizza has a second crust on the top (super thin) to make it "sealed".

Only pointing out for those who don't know the difference, it's similar to a "double decker", although that usually has a thicker crust on top, stuffed is thinner on top like the one pictured here.

One of the hallmarks of Chicago pizza -according to certain snobs I’ve talked with -is how thin can you make the bottom and top crust. It’s there but you can’t tell if it’s done well. This is one of the biggest factors of the Lou’s vs Giordanos debate. Some say lous is not true chicago style because it’s just deep dish with heavier crust. I’ll take either any day.

SublimeFan wrote:

Yep, I learned this last night LOL

Feeb wrote:


Where is the second crust? Above the cheese and below the sauce? I've never noticed a second crust while eating Giordano's.

I assume it’s under the sauce above the cheese. You can kinda see layers when it sets overnight. I always thought it was just a giant mass of cheese and toppings.

Looks like my call it middle crust. Very tolkienesque.

https://giordanos.com/how-to-make-the-perfect-chic...