14 inch deep dish holy grail bake and rest instructions (Malnatis)

Hey folks,

After baking 500 or so deep dish pizzas I’ve finally found the holy grail of the perfect process.  Lou Malnatis does a 500 degree bake for 15 mins and then they move up to a top oven for at 450 for additional 15 mins.  I’ve tried this numerous times but the bottom always comes out too crunchy and the cheese will start to brown.  I’ve also tried out 100s of stone and oven temps with different times.

The perfect bake for a 14 inch Chicago metallic pan I’ve found is the following:

Preheat stone at 500 for 45 mins.  Slide in your pie.  After 5 mins reduce heat to 450 and pull after additional 25 mins.  Let the pizza rest in pan for 5 mins and then remove and place on cardboard (I use old pizza box). Let rest additional 10 mins before you cut.  For me the crust texture is identical to a commercial oven.