In a previous thread I laid down the law regarding Chicago Style Deep Dish.
This pizza breaks all of those rules, but it doesn't come from Chicago, it comes from Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, home of the University of Illinois. This pizza is thick, bready, dense, and the sauce is cooked. This is the pizza that causes alumni to come back (sure as heck isn't the sports). I was recently asked by the head of my former department if I'd be interested in serving on the alumni board. First words out of my mouth were, "Is Papa Del's involved?" I kid you not.
This pizza is legendary amongst alums, so it is with no small amount of trepidation that, after years of contemplation, I undertake a personal quest to replicate it. I'm starting with the Papa Del's Style recipe at pizzamaking.com. That recipe is a bit "casual" (Volume measurements for dough???, Improvisational cook's delight for sauce???? What the hey?), so I'm going to need to experiment a bit to get this right. This is Take #1.
Let's start with the dough. I start by scalding the milk, then adding butter, sugar and salt.
Next, I need let it cool to a proper "warm" temp before I add my yeast. Too high a temp will kill the yeast. 100F is what I'm after.
I let the yeast proof for 5 minutes and then proceeded to mix the dough. Here's where things get a bit weird in the original recipe. I converted the volume measurements to grams and baker's percent and found the dough hydration to be about 50%. That seems low, but Papa Del's *is* dense, so decided to roll with it. Bottom line is that I needed to add a few tablespoons of water to get the dough to come together. After 4 hours of rising (punching it down after 2), it inflated like a balloon and looks like this:
This dough is very dense and won't spread on it's own, so no wonder the instructions say to roll it out. I did so with a rolling pin and it looks like this. Look at how thick that is. That's like Papa Del's alright.
And into my 12" deep dish pan.
While the dough was rising I cooked my sauce. Going by memory, but I did spend a decade of my life there, so I ate a LOT of Papa Del's. The memory is strong with this one.
Start by sautéing a clove of crushed garlic in some EVOO.
Add a 28 oz. can of Hunt's tomato puree, and I started with 1 tsp of oregano, 1 tsp of dried basil, and 1/2 tsp of dried thyme.
I also added 1 tsp of freshly ground black pepper and "salt to taste." I also added another tsp of oregano after tasting. "Salt to taste" was probably around 2 tsp, but I'll measure next time to be sure. After simmering for 30 minutes, it looks like the Papa Del's consistency, and tastes pretty close too.
Let's build us a pie. Pop's is deeper than traditional Chicago Style. This is the first layer. About 5.5 oz of mozzarella and 3 oz of provolone, half the sauce, then half of the pepperoni and onion (I used a whole yellow onion sautéed slightly in this pie).
Then I put down another layer of cheese, pepperoni and onion, then top with the remaining sauce so that sauce covers everything.
Onto the KK 23 baking stone at 425 degrees for 45 minutes. Halfway through:
I added about 1 oz of freshly grated parmesan in the last 5 minutes.
Ain't she a beauty?
Plate shot. This is how you know it's Papa Del's -- you absolutely cannot get a clean slice.
My assessment:
Dough -- The thickness is correct for Papa Del's, but need to increase the hydration a bit. Was a tad too dense, even for Papa Del's
Sauce -- By cracky, I think I just about nailed it! Only thing I'll do different next time is double the garlic and thyme. Oregano is spot on.
Cheese -- Oh heck yeah.
Not quite there yet, but dang this was close.
This pizza breaks all of those rules, but it doesn't come from Chicago, it comes from Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, home of the University of Illinois. This pizza is thick, bready, dense, and the sauce is cooked. This is the pizza that causes alumni to come back (sure as heck isn't the sports). I was recently asked by the head of my former department if I'd be interested in serving on the alumni board. First words out of my mouth were, "Is Papa Del's involved?" I kid you not.
This pizza is legendary amongst alums, so it is with no small amount of trepidation that, after years of contemplation, I undertake a personal quest to replicate it. I'm starting with the Papa Del's Style recipe at pizzamaking.com. That recipe is a bit "casual" (Volume measurements for dough???, Improvisational cook's delight for sauce???? What the hey?), so I'm going to need to experiment a bit to get this right. This is Take #1.
Let's start with the dough. I start by scalding the milk, then adding butter, sugar and salt.
Next, I need let it cool to a proper "warm" temp before I add my yeast. Too high a temp will kill the yeast. 100F is what I'm after.
I let the yeast proof for 5 minutes and then proceeded to mix the dough. Here's where things get a bit weird in the original recipe. I converted the volume measurements to grams and baker's percent and found the dough hydration to be about 50%. That seems low, but Papa Del's *is* dense, so decided to roll with it. Bottom line is that I needed to add a few tablespoons of water to get the dough to come together. After 4 hours of rising (punching it down after 2), it inflated like a balloon and looks like this:
This dough is very dense and won't spread on it's own, so no wonder the instructions say to roll it out. I did so with a rolling pin and it looks like this. Look at how thick that is. That's like Papa Del's alright.
And into my 12" deep dish pan.
While the dough was rising I cooked my sauce. Going by memory, but I did spend a decade of my life there, so I ate a LOT of Papa Del's. The memory is strong with this one.
Start by sautéing a clove of crushed garlic in some EVOO.
Add a 28 oz. can of Hunt's tomato puree, and I started with 1 tsp of oregano, 1 tsp of dried basil, and 1/2 tsp of dried thyme.
I also added 1 tsp of freshly ground black pepper and "salt to taste." I also added another tsp of oregano after tasting. "Salt to taste" was probably around 2 tsp, but I'll measure next time to be sure. After simmering for 30 minutes, it looks like the Papa Del's consistency, and tastes pretty close too.
Let's build us a pie. Pop's is deeper than traditional Chicago Style. This is the first layer. About 5.5 oz of mozzarella and 3 oz of provolone, half the sauce, then half of the pepperoni and onion (I used a whole yellow onion sautéed slightly in this pie).
Then I put down another layer of cheese, pepperoni and onion, then top with the remaining sauce so that sauce covers everything.
Onto the KK 23 baking stone at 425 degrees for 45 minutes. Halfway through:
I added about 1 oz of freshly grated parmesan in the last 5 minutes.
Ain't she a beauty?
Plate shot. This is how you know it's Papa Del's -- you absolutely cannot get a clean slice.
My assessment:
Dough -- The thickness is correct for Papa Del's, but need to increase the hydration a bit. Was a tad too dense, even for Papa Del's
Sauce -- By cracky, I think I just about nailed it! Only thing I'll do different next time is double the garlic and thyme. Oregano is spot on.
Cheese -- Oh heck yeah.
Not quite there yet, but dang this was close.
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