Gino's East Pizza Recipe

I thought I should post my copycat of Gino's East Pizza. This is a recipe that I have been working on for years. Over the last couple years I have learned a lot about bread and what adding different ingredients does to the texture and taste. Consequently I started adding a lot more oil to the dough. The other thing I added just recently was cream of tartar, an idea I got from someone who was on a website discussing my copycat recipe and what it was missing. I can't imagine that my recipe will change that much from this point forward, although I said that last time.

Gino's East Pizza Recipe

For the dough:

Mix the following ingredients in your mixer bowl and let sit until it starts to bubble:

1 cup warm water
1 package yeast
1 T sugar

When bubbles have formed (about 15 minutes later) add:

1/2 t yellow food coloring
1/4 cup corn meal
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/3 cup corn oil
1 tablespoon olive oil

Stir everything up and then add:

1 pound flour (about 3 1/2 cups if you don't have a scale)

Kneed the dough for 10 minutes in your Kitchenaid mixer. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise on the counter. You can make this up in the morning for pizza later that night. Just set it on the counter and let it rise on its own all day.



When you are about an hour from wanting to eat your pizza, start the oven at 375 to preheat. A half hour later roll the dough out to about 1/4 inch thick. Butter your pizza pan very well. Put the rolled out dough in the bottom of a deep dish pizza pan and form the dough up the sides of the pan.



Here is a picture of my pizza pan and server. I bribed a waiter at Gino's East when it was on Superior Street in Chicago to get the pan and he threw in the server.



When you have your crust formed in the pan add 1 pound or so of mozarella cheese and top with pepperoni or whatever toppings you want. Then put the sauce (see below) on top.



Bake in the oven for 20 to 30 minutes or until the crust is browning and the cheese is bubbling.



Gino's Pizza Sauce

1 36 oz can of whole tomatoes
1/2 t basil
1 tablespoon salt

Pour about half of the juice from the tomatoes off. Then put the tomatoes in a bowl along with the rest of the ingredients. Mash up with a potato masher and refrigerate until ready.



When the pizza is done baking you want to let it sit for 8 to 10 minutes before cutting and serving.