If you’ve been reading the articles at Real Deep Dish for a while, you should already know this.
If you just got here, you may be in for a shocker:
But why is Gino’s East crust so yellow?
The secret to their “secret, golden crust”:
Food dye, aka food color, aka egg shade, aka Yolkoline,
aka FDC Yellow #5 and #6.
— update 8-20-2023: Gino’s has modified their frozen pizza recipe, and likely their in-restaurant recipe as well, to use beta carotene as a natural food coloring —
But I swear I can taste the corn!
There’s a reason and it’s not cornmeal.
Don’t believe me? Go to your grocery store freezer aisle and look at the ingredient label on a frozen Gino’s East pizza.
OR
Let me save you the trouble and show you a screenshot from the Gino’s East website:
First, you will notice in the “dough” section of the ingredients, there is NO CORNMEAL, just a combination of wheat and malted barley flours and a bunch of nutrients (aka PIZZA FLOUR or All-Purpose Flour).
Second, you will see that Gino’s uses two kinds of vegetable oil, Olive Oil and…
wait for it…
CORN OIL!
[UPDATE – It looks like Gino’s has modified their frozen pizza ingredients since I first wrote this article. They’ve changed their food coloring to Beta Carotene, amongst other changes – see below]
Screenshot of the ingredients from a Gino’s East Frozen Cheese Deep Dish Pizza – taken from their website on 8-20-2023
Just corn oil? Well, that can’t be all there is to it, can it?
The yellow food color could possibly be messing with your brain,
and some of the dough conditioners (sugar and cream of tartar)
could be messing with the crust texture and flavor a bit,
but yeah, that’s pretty much it.
So spread the word!
(with stylish merchandise!)
Deep Dish Pizza DOES NOT Have Cornmeal In It!
The Truth Will Set You Free!
This design is still up on the old CafePress Shop, but if you’re looking for newer items,
or links to deep dish equipment, head over to the RDD SHOP link for more places to go.
Actually the frozen stuff isn’t really Gino’s real crust! Just like frozen TGIFriday’s isn’t related to them at all! The company that makes it, just uses the name, but those potato skins aren’t Friday’s recipe. My husband has been running several Friday’s for 17 years. The company doesn’t make frozen food. Same with Gino’s crust. That’s not their recipe. The secret to their actual recipe is cream of tartar in the crust, and the golden color comes from beta carotene. A natural source of yellow. Do you really think that they’re standing in the back of a Gino’s making crust with all those filler ingredients? No! It’s a simple pizza dough recipe that does not include yellow #5 or any other artificial food dye!
Thanks for the comment. It’s been a while since I wrote this article, and you’re right about companies often using a modified recipe when making a version of their product for the frozen food aisle. That said, this article was mainly about the cornmeal, and that they’re using a food additive to get that yellow color in the dough.
Interesting update: Gino’s East has modified their frozen pizza ingredients since this article was written:
—
Dough: Wheat Flour, Water, Corn Oil, Yeast, Dough Conditioner (Sugar, Cream of Tartar, Beta-Carotene [Color]), Soybean Oil
Sauce: Tomato Puree (Fresh Vine-Ripened California Tomatoes, Citric Acid), Water, Sugar, Salt, Spices
Mozzarella Cheese: Pasteurized Part Skim Milk, Cheese Cultures, Salt, Enzymes
Topping: Romano Cheese: Pasteurized Cow’s Milk, Cheese Cultures, Salt, Enzymes, Oregano.
[ source: https://www.ginoseast.com/deluxe-cheese-deep-dish ]
—
and STILL NO CORNMEAL! 🙂
Thanks for visiting RealDeepDish.com
The taste is nowhere the same as it was in the ’70’s. It was totally different and a whole lot better when what they do even say in the ’20’s let alone today.
I come to you for the truth regarding the “corn meal issue” under the leadership of Steve Dolinsky I hold in high regard.
However -I simply CANNOT accept your thesis based on a frozen version of Gino’s East when it tastes NOTHING like their restaurant version- ESPECIALLY THE CRUST!
Have you even tried one?
Welcome to the wonder world of sell-outs.
Selling your name to a food manufacturer is becoming too popular of a means to make easy money – “Grocery pack” Fannie May “Pixies” anyone!
I have eaten both the frozen and restaurant versions of Gino’s.
No cornmeal. To be fair, it has been some time since I’ve been to a Gino’s, so if they’ve modified the recipe since then, all bets are off.