ann_t, nice try but it's the same one found on Food Network, and it's wrong. If you go to Malnati's website, they don't beat the dough to death. It's a very soft dough and they barely handle it. It's probably pretty wet. It may take me a lot of experimenting to get it right, but I'm willing to try. Thanks so much!

My quest as been answered on chowhound. Off to the store to buy ingredients!

It took me forever to find cheese that was very melty and strechy, but I did. Cacique is the brand. I had to make my own sausage because Lou does, and there is no fennel in theirs. Mine was incredibly tasty! Now I will forever make my own. Hubs loved the pizza. I can improve it. I will not make it with my starter. It was a little dense, but still delish.

Oooh! Great report Suzi! My post, which had Chowhound and some other links got lost, but you did so well without it, you didn't need anything I found. :)

Will you share your sausage recipe? I haven't yet found a good recipe for Italian sausage...

I've had Lou Malnati's butter crust many times and it's definitely not just thick regular pizza dough, it's more pastry like. I have no idea how they make it but I would seriously doubt there is any kind of starter in it.

I was going to read the Chowhound page but they didn't like my ad blocker...

@pillog, here is the recipe I found on Chowhound.

·
3 lbs. Ground Pork Shoulder (90/10)
2 1/2 T Morton's Kosher Salt
1 T Fresh Ground Black Pepper
1/2 T Sugar
about 1/2 t Garlic Powder

(quote from poster)I combined everything by hand except the garlic powder then sprinkled what I
did use of the garlic over the entire mass of seasoned pork and worked that in
with my hands.

Because I am so clueless and feared making sausage, I simply got one pound of coarse ground high fat from the butcher. What comes in the Farmer John prepack grownd pork is way too lean. I could tell that there was too much fat when I opened the butcher paper, so after I seasoned it all, I pre-cooked half of it to get the fat out. I didn't brown it. Just rendered the fat. We are having the rest for breakfast!

I don't know if that is the BEST Italian sausage you can find, but remember Lous doesn't use fennel or anise. I'm sure you could kick it up anyway you want by adding other herbs and a little heat for HOT sausage.

I

@Mike_kaiser_gw. I tried to copy the best of the dude's chowhound info here:

Ingredients:
Ceresota AP - 95% - 175g
Semolina - 5% - 10g
Water - 46% - 85g
Corn Oil - 19% - 35g
Olive Oil- 4% - 7g
Salt - less than 1/8 tsp
Sugar - 1/4 tsp
IDY - 1/4 tsp (Instant Dry Yeast)

Tomatoes:
I have 3 components to my tomatoes (sauce, crushed, and bigger chunks). The move has been ground breaking. You want to make sure all the water is out before applying to your deep dish though. This will probably require removing the excess "water" liquid 2-3 times. I also lightly season with salt and oregano.

The buttery taste comes from corn oil.

The correct recipe for authentic Chicago deep dish pizza depends on two factors: lots of Corn oil (3 Tablespoons:1 cup all-purpose flour) and a very short knead (mix 1 minute, knead 2 minutes). Then a long rise (4-6 hours at rom temperature). Use butter flavored Crisco in the pan.

Here is the process. I use a bowl, whisk for dry ingredients and a spoon. Mix all dry ingredients minus the yeast. Add oil and mix in halfway with spoon then add in the water. (Helps to achieve flaking in the crust. The flour absorbs the oil instead of all the water and the water steams off in hot oven creating those flakes/layers.) Mix half way again and next sprinkle in the yeast. Mix again with your spoon until it all comes together. Then you need to hand mix it gently for about 1.5-2 mins (I use one hand for this). You want to make sure you get most of the clumps of oil incorporated into the dough. After your done cover and put into oven with the light on for 5 hrs.

Add butter flavored crisco to pan. I went all the way up the sides. Place stone on 2nd rack and preheat to 425. Preheat stone for additional 45 mins.

Place dough in pan and press it out. I only went 1 inch up side of my 2 inch pan. This is important because the thinner you make it the harder it gets. I believe mine to be the sweet spot as for thickness.

Increase temp to 450F and bake for 28 mins. I put foil on top with about 10 to go to prevent cheese burning and removed foil for final 3 mins.

Hint: The crust gets better as it cools down. I remove from pan after 5 mins and then wait another 10 mins before I cut it.

Thanks, Suzi! I didn't realize it was also from Chowhound. I have no issues with putting in my own herbs. I think my problem has been with recipes that have herbs but are still underflavored. Probably, I just need some moxie. :)

So beyond my abilities but Yum! Yum! Yum! Thanks for sharing so generously of your experience.

Did you find the recipe on Chowhound or the Pizza Making Forum? I use the Pizza making forum when I have questions or need help with Pizza, and they helped me with developing the recipe that I use now, but it is for thin crust.

I think it was the Pizza Making Forum, but I was referred by someone on Chowhound. Really hard because they seem linked. I did finally join the Pizza Making Forum, but I got zip to say. Just reading and learning. I read every page, bought the kitchen scale someone recommended on Amazon for measuring grams. I am serious! I even bought the tomato seeds to grow the tomatoes that are used in these commercial cans I can't buy, but I can grow them and nobody can stop me. Getting that 100% whole milk Mozzarella is my next issue. I live in California. We do have cows! Lots of Dairies. Cheese. Just need to find the right one. It's a challenge and a fun one. My neighbors will love my experiments! Their big job is to bring wine!

Lars, re thin crust, I use my Sour dough starter. That stuff is pretty old, and I keep it in the fridge, but I bring it out now and then, feed it for a couple days, and make pizza with it. Equal parts starter and flour. My starter is kinda loose and jiggly. Some olive oil, salt. Mix it all. Let it rest for 30 minutes. It's ready to roll and stretch. We grill ours, what do you do? Once we grill one side, we flip, oil the cooked side and put the toppings on. Goes back on the grill with the top down. Tastes amazing. That's the thin stuff, but my mission, as you know is the Chicago Deep Dish. I just ordered their specific pan today. It comes with the spatula, which I can use in the garden... :-)