First Deep Dish Attempt, Third Pie Ever

[danjm16]

 In the initial conversations on Gino's East pizza somebody had pointed out that restaurants try to make their food as inexpensively as possible to maximize profit. This got me to thinking what the purpose of the food coloring is. My only guess is that they use it to tell the difference between the deep dish and thin crust dough.

[Garvey]

The golden color is appealing to the eye.  Seems enriched, etc.   

[danjm16]

That could very well be. I honestly don't know what the answer is. I realize we are off topic here but I remeber gino's had almost an orange tint to it and assumed it was the sausage patty grease seeping into the dough. I realized years later that I was incorrect.  I just have always found tinting the dough a very fascinating and odd concept.

[rcbaughn]

I can see the enrichment philosophy being a good reason to tint the dough, give it that super buttery-creamy look. And you know that we all eat first with our eyes. Makes me wonder if I need to dye my pie the next time I serve it to anyone.... LOL. -Cory

[The Dough Doctor]

Absolutely right, the yellow coloring makes the finished pizza look more appealing, and the yellow color infers richness, both desirable characteristics. Large wholesale manufacturers have stipulations governing the use of yellow coloring. For the most part, if the product contains eggs they cannot use the coloring, but if it does not contain eggs, they can use it. The reasoning? One egg in 2,000-pounds of dough and 1-gallon of egg shade coloring and it looks like the dough is made with buku whole egg. But if the formula doesn't contain any eggs, then eggs are not on the label, and they are free to use it. Truth of the matter is that it is all but impossible to get the color of egg shade in a dough through the use of whole eggs, whole eggs just don't contribute that much color to the dough.
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor

[danjm16]

I just watched Triple D on Food Network and they added egg shade to make challah look rich and tasty. So I have to say that Mr Garvey and Mr Lehmann are correct.

[jeffereynelson]

Research why cheddar is yellow/orange. Quite fascinating and kind of funny.