Lou Malnati's Style Deep Dish Pizza Recipe

There is a pizza chain in Chicago called Lou Malnati's. It is mostly a suberb thing, so I only ate there once with my friend when we went to Naperville to play golf. The pizza is good and very similar to Uno's. I have been searching through the site Pizzamaking.com and I have been trying some of the techniques and recipes on that site. I have put together a composite recipe based on several of the recipes on that site along with some experience of my own. I think it tastes a lot like Lou Malnati's.

With this recipe its all about the technique. It is very important to follow the directions, especially as they pertain to kneed time, rise time, and baking position in the oven.

Makes enough for 1 nine inch deep dish pizza.

Dough

Combine 1/2 cup warm water with 1/2 package yeast. Stir and let the mixture sit until it is foamy. then add:

1/4 cup corn oil
1 T olive oil
1 t salt (sea salt preferred)
2 cups (8 ounces) of all purpose flour

Stir the ingredients up with a spoon until just combined, then set a timer for 2 minutes. Kneed the dough by hand for exactly 2 minutes. Once this is done, place the dough in an oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Place in the fridge overnight. The next morning before you go to work put it out on the counter. It will slowly rise all day. 8-10 hours is ok or even 12. When you get home preheat the oven to 450 with the rack on the lowest rung.

Assembling pizza

Take a 12 ounce block of mozzarella cheese and cut it into slices. Next take a large can of crushed tomatoes (32 oz) and strain it for 10-15 seconds to get rid of excess juice. I prefer 6 in 1 brand tomatoes.



After straining the tomatoes, add 1 tablespoon of salt. Next take 2 T olive oil and put into the bottom of a 9 inch deep dish pizza pan. A 9 inch straight sided cake pan will work as well. Take your dough and push it into the bottom of the pan, drawing it out with your hands until flat and riding up the sides by 1 and 1/2 inch. If there is excess dough you can trim it and throw out the excess. You want the dough to be only about 1/8th to 1/4 inch thick. Some of the oil from the bottom will inevitably spill onto the top of the dough. That is just fine. Next place the slices of mozzarella in the bottom of the dough. If you have some, sprinkle a little Romano cheese over the top. Next put some pepperoni down over the cheese. Next put a little bit of cooked italian sausage over the pepperoni. Finally put a layer of sauce over the top of everything, and sprinkle with parmesan and oregano. Immediately put the pizza in the oven on the bottom rack. Cook for 15 minutes and turn. Depending on your oven you will need to cook and additional 10 to 15 minutes until done. I know mine is done when the cheese bubbles up and starts to brown. The crust will be nice and golden brown as well. Let sit for 5 minutes before slicing.