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[foodblogger]

Yeah pete I saw that calculator and it is awesome.  It has been in my bookmarks for a while and I use it now and again if I am making a new size pizza.  I never really left the site, I've been lurking but I've been incredibly busy in real life -- too busy to post about pizza.  Sadly I only have enough time to make pizza now.  Things should get a little better for me next July. 

I'm going to try a stuffed tonight with cake flour and a colorless, flavorless and cheap oil.  I'll use the calculator to be sure.

Edit:
PS - I love that the calculator includes a little box for yellow food coloring!  So hawt!

[Pete-zza]

I love that the calculator includes a little box for yellow food coloring!  So hawt!

foodblogger,

You were the one responsible for that addition. I came across that ingredient from one of your recipes when I was scouring deep-dish dough recipes to see what ingredients were being used. I also saw it (and, I believe, a second food coloring) in the ingredients list for the Gino's East dough recipe.

Peter

[foodblogger]

Figuring out that yellow food coloring was the reason Gino's dough was yellow is really the only real thing I have contributed to the home pizza world.  Once I found this board my pizza making improved by leaps and bounds.  The internet is such a great tool. 

I made my version of Gino's last night using cake flour.  I can describe the results with one word - aweful.  Oh well, it wasn't the first bad pizza I've made and it won't be the last.  Thank goodness I didn't have company over.  At least I've learned not to try anything new in public. 

[BTB]

Buzz has always said that Uno uses cake flour.  Try it and see what differences you find when you replace the AP with cake flour in your favorite Malnati's recipe.  Let us know how it turns out.

OK, a couple of weeks ago, I tried a loowaters-like Malnati's recipe in an attempt to more closely match the original Uno/Due crust with 47% hydration, soybean oil instead of corn oil, and cake flour instead of AP.  I cooked the pizza for 24 minutes on a pizza stone at 450 and while the pizza looked fairly good, it was not done enough.  Except for the outer crust, it was not crisp at all and probably could have been cooked for at least another 5 or 10 minutes.  The dough was very soft and pliable and was very easy to form and put into the pan, but very difficult to get out of the pan.  The cooked dough was so soft it actually fell apart as I was taking it out of the pan, which with other recipes had never been a problem for me.  Pictures below of the pizza.

This pizza in no way tasted like the original Pizzeria Uno/Due by the Medina Temple in Chicago.  It was not anywhere as good.  Actually it tasted remarkably similar to the disreputed "franchise" Uno's that have popped up across the country as well as the Uno's pizzas that are now available in many grocery stores.  Those franchise Uno's restaurant and grocery pizzas bear NO resemblance to the original Pizzeria Uno/Due pizza (except maybe that they are round!).  What a shame that their name is allowed to be associated with such a product.

My take away from this experiment . . . . . . . . . . . forget the cake flour! ! !

[foodblogger]

BTB - mine looked identical to that.  I had very similarly aweful results with cake flour. 

[BDoggPizza]

Loowaters:

Do you bake this one at 475* on the middle rack on top of a pizza stone or just on the rack no stone?  I see foodblogger does his on bottom rack at 450* right on the rack. 

I have a standard electric home kitchen oven and a stone.  I am dying to try my first GINO'S Clone and want to get it right.  I also have a non-stick PSTK pan from pizzatools.com, not a real seasoned pan from a pizza joint like some of you use.  That can make a difference I suppose.

Thanks for the help!
BDogg

[loowaters]

For this I use middle rack, no stone at 475. 

Unless you have a reflective pan, I'm thinkin' the stone isn't necessary for deep dish cooking.  My efforts show that direct contact with the stone helps it crisp up in those shiny pans.

[BDoggPizza]

Thanks for the reply Loo!

[bennychuck]

I made the recipe at the beginning of this thread a couple weeks ago, and it turned out fantastic.  Super close to the gino's crust (I ate there last week, more about that later).  the only thing I did differently was not use food coloring, and I used the 50% hydration level to be on the safe side (baking at high altitude).  i used a little over 2 T of olive oil in the bottom of my 12" deep dish pan and baked at 450 for a little over 20 minutes.  Sorry, no pics, as this pizza did not last long. 

I then ate at gino's (Superior location) in Chicago last week, and I've drawn two conclusions as a result of this visit.  First, based on the texture of the crust on the bottom, I'm almost 100% convinced now that they press the dough into the pan, rather than rolling it out first.  Second, based on the crunch you get in the crust, coupled with the texture, I'm almost 100% convinced that there's at least a little bit of semolina flour in the crust.  I could be wrong, but I plan on trying out this recipe with about 10% semolina next time to see what happens. 

[bennychuck]

Tried this again over the weekend, and, as usual, it turned out quite well.  It's been a while since I made this, and I did make a couple mistakes.  First, I didn't add quite enough salt to my sauce.  For sauce I used a 28 oz can of Delallo plum tomatoes, which I pull out individually and crush with a potato masher, then season appropriately with salt, pepper, oregano, basil, and a little sugar.  I sometimes add a little of the puree they come in if I feel I don't have quite enough sauce.  Second mistake, I think, was leaving the pie in the oven a couple minutes too long, which, from my experience, makes the cheese get a little rubbery and it doesn't have that nice gooey, melty quality.  Anyone else experience this ever?  I've had it happen a few times. 

As for the crust, though, it was magnificent as always with this recipe, and this was my first time concocting this with a scale and not with converted volume measurements.  I also did not use the yellow food coloring, as it does nothing for the actual taste of the crust.  My girlfriend is a vegetarian, so I topped it with cheese and roasted garlic.  I baked at 450* for a little over 20 minutes.  Here's some pictures: