Fresh Mozzarella on Chicago Style Pizza

[albionmoonlight]

My mother in law found us a nice cast iron skillet at a yard sale for cheap. Having gotten the rust off and seasoned it well, I figured that I would re-welcome it to the world by cooking a Chicago style deep dish pizza in it.

I've never cooked one before, but I have found enough recipes online that I am pretty covered when it comes to that.

I am thinking, though, of using fresh mozzarella (i.e. the balls that come packaged in water) instead of the typical stuff. Has anyone ever done that? Or, more to the point, has anyone ever melted fresh mozzarella at all? I would hate to outthink myself here.

I'm pretty new to the pizza cooking business (and very new to the Chicago style pizza cooking business), so any and all tips are welcome.

[3ric]

You can't go wrong with mozzarella on a deep pan pizza - excellent choice.

[Logan]

I've used the fresh mozz that doesn't come in water, but is usually a much bigger ball if you will that comes in plastic or a netting of some kind. I find that much "fresher" than the one in water, with a much better taste. It doesn't melt like the shredded kind, but it will definitely become a bit gooey.

[Eaglesfan27]

My wife, a trained chef, has cooked with fresh mozzarella before and I don't remember her taking any special precautions. I do remember the pizza being delicious! I'll ask her during my lunch break if she did anything special with it. Good luck. :)

[Dr. Sak]

Dammit I want a pizza now!

[Logan]

This reminded me that there's a pizza place a few blocks from my apartment that makes a whole wheat/fresh mozzarella pie and I haven't had a slice in months.

[Dr. Sak]

This reminded me that there's a pizza place a few blocks from my apartment that makes a whole wheat/fresh mozzarella pie and I haven't had a slice in months.

Way to rub it in...you have an Irish Bitch name so there! ;)

[Logan]

This Irish-Bitch-named asshole will knock back a few of those slices after about a bunch of $1 beers at happy hour today.

[DanGarion]

This reminds me I have a couple Jeno's Pizzas in the freezer...

[NoSkillz]

Damn! My mouth is watering thinking of the Giordano's Pizza we went to two days in a row when in Chicago a couple years back.

Best pizza I've ever had.

[Cringer]

This reminds me I still need to crap out the pizza that still has me clogged up from the other night.

[stevew]

I prefer the taste of provalone to fresh moz.

[Crim]

I've heard of "seasoning" an iron skillet before, but I don't really understand what this means. Anybody?

[thesloppy]

I've heard of "seasoning" an iron skillet before, but I don't really understand what this means. Anybody?

You're not supposed to wash an iron skillet (or a wok) with soap or scrub it too heavily, so after time and with cooking the oils build up in layers and carbonize, filling the cracks and crags of the uneven surface of your skillet until it becomes relatively flat and even surface that cooks more evenly, adds flavor, and is less prone to sticking. A well seasoned pan can be a real treasure in the kitchen, but also something that the casual cook can pretty much ignore without any real problems...depending on what and how you're cooking a non-stick pan'll usually be able to get you nearly the same results.

[Crim]

Thanks slopmeister. I'm not much of a cook, but that's interesting.

[thesloppy]

No prob! I did some time in front of the grill & burners in my misspent youth, and still have a few cook friends.

A well-seasoned skillet seems to be a pretty rare thing to find these days, as non-stick are easier to cook with and to handle for the home cook and generally cheaper and easier to clean for restaurant work. As a result some folks treat can treat 'em like heirlooms and artifacts, which is funny to see.

In the case of a recipe that calls for 'seasoning' a pan, that usually means to add some oil to a pan and work it into the pan in some way, like rubbing with a paper towel or brush....which is for much the same effect, 'cause if you just poor oil into a rough iron skillet and shake it around a bit it'll pool up in the crags, and food will stick and burn in the dry spots.

[albionmoonlight]

I went with the fresh mozzarella. Made a fresh and chunky tomato sauce and got some sausage from a local grocery store that makes their own. People seemed pleased

http://www.fof-ihof.com/upload/albionmoonlight/img_1275.jpg


http://www.fof-ihof.com/upload/albionmoonlight/img_1276.jpg

[CamEdwards]

damn that looks good.

[Schmidty]

Looks like round lasagna.

[Lorena]

Oh man, I want some now :(

[Celeval]

Recipe? :-D

[albionmoonlight]

Recipe? Let's see. That was an 8 inch pan, and I made too much of everything. I am pretty sure that the recipies I used considered a 10 inch pan.

DOUGH:

1 cup warm water
6 tsp olive oil
1/3 cup canola oil
2 packages quick rise yeast
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
3 cups all purpose flour
1 cup corn meal

Sauce:

2 small cans tomato paste
3 fresh tomatoes
sugar, salt, pepper, and Itallian spices to taste

Filling:

I used about two pounds of sausage from a local market, a packet of pepperoni, and one bell pepper cut up, and had some left over. But it is a pizza. You can fill it with whatever you want.

Fresh Mozzerella
Grated Parmesan

Making the dough:

Mix the yeast in the warm water to dissolve it. The water cannot be too hot or too cold because that will kill the yeast.

Put all of the other ingredients into a mixing bowl.

Pour in the yeast water, and use an electric mixer to get them all mixed up.

Knead the dough for about 15 minutes.

Form the dough into a ball and put the bowl covered into a warm place to let the yeast rise it. I like to use an oven that has been warmed up to about 200 and then allowed to cool off a bit with the door open. You want it warm enough to encourage the yeast to be active, but certainly not warm enough to start baking the dough.

After the dough ball about doubles in size (about an hour to an hour and a half), punch it down and let it rise again (maybe another half hour).

Then, coat your pan with shortning so the dough will not stick to it. Be careful not to use too light of an oil to coat the pan (i.e. extra virgin olive oil). Any light oil might burn/reach a smoke point before the pizza is done.

Then, with fingers that are probably already greased from preparing the pan, spread the dough all along the bottom and sides of the pan, pulling it over the lip of the pan. About 1/8" thick.

Then, take the fresh mozarella and coat the bottom of the pan with it.
Then, add your fillings (see below)
Then, pour your sauce over it (see below)
Then, coat lightly with the parmesan cheese (see below).
Then bake at 450 for about 35 minutes. If the top starts to brown too quickly, cover it with foil while the rest of the pizza cooks.

Filling Addendum:

If your fillings contain a lot of water (i.e. mushrooms) or a lot of fat (i.e. sausage), then cook them down first and drain off the moisture. Otherwise, your pizza will be way over juiced.

Sauce Addendum:

To make the sauce, cut up the tomatoes and put them along with the two cans of sauce in a food processor. Run it for a few seconds until the whole thing is nice and chunky. Then, add some sugar (about 1.5 tsp) and other spices and have it simmering on the stove while you are working with the dough. The longer it simmers, the better it tastes, IMO. If you are not confident in your sauce making ability, there are lots of hints online, as well as crushed tomatoes you can buy in a can.

Cheese hint:

As you can see from the picture, I had a lot of cheese on the top of my pizza (an itallian bled from the store). That turned out to not be the best idea. The cheese crust was too thick and did not allow moisture to steam out while the pizza was cooking. It was a bit wet as a result. Next time, I will put on less cheese on top and hopefully it will dry out a bit more.

Also, I used these two recipes as my guide, you might want to check them out to see my bases and where I differed and where you might differ:

http://members.cox.net/jjschnebel/ddishpiz.html

http://www.pizzamaking.com/dkm_chicago.php

[MrIllini]

Damn! My mouth is watering thinking of the Giordano's Pizza we went to two days in a row when in Chicago a couple years back.

Best pizza I've ever had.

Feel sad for you...Giordano's is good, but not the best. :)

[WSUCougar]

I prefer the taste of provalone to fresh moz.

Ack! Heathen!

[Warhammer]

This actually inspired me to try my own hand at one of these the other day. By request, I'm making another one tonight. My wife and I got into an argument yesterday over who was going to get the last of the first pizza I made.