Papa Gino's clone pizza attempt with Pete-zza's help

The Papa Gino’s clone dough ball was left at room temperature to warm-up for about 3 hrs. By my estimates and the poppy seed trick the dough ball didn’t triple in volume over the 3 day fermentation and the 3 hr. warm-up. There were a few speckles on the dough ball, but not as many as last week.


8.7 grams of the three cheese blend (Foremost Farms part-skim mozzarella, AMPI mild cheddar and Romano cheese) were used on the Papa Gino’s pizza along with 6 oz. of sauce (my regular sauce at market, because I didn’t bring a can of 6-in-1s to market) and a sprinkling of Greek oregano in the cheese blend. I got so tied up in weighing the cheese blend and weighing the sauce out with Steve, that I forgot to use the 5.5 grams of corn meal to incorporate into the Papa Gino’s clone dough ball when opening the dough ball. I only remembered that after I slide the pie into the oven. As soon as the pizza was set in the oven I tried to gently sprinkle some corn meal on the rim and also sprinkled corn meal on the hearth. Darn, I would have to have forgotten the corn meal. Sorry, I messed-up on the cornmeal. The Papa Gino’s pizza attempt weighed 1 lb. 12.7 ounces right out of the oven. The edge bottom rim crust got a little too dark, but it sure didn’t taste that way when eating the pizza.

The Papa Gino’s attempt was very good though, even without my remembering to add the cornmeal at the right time. The amount of cheese and the blend of cheeses really gave this pie a good taste and the crumb texture was very good with using the Kyrol and KAAP blend. The crumb texture was much better than my other attempts. The crumb texture was much more tender than my other attempts. Steve also agreed that the crumb texture was better than my other attempts. I think I am beginning to really enjoy a Papa Gino’s clone pizza, even if it is a little thicker. The skin was stretched out a little over 14” to compensate incase the pizza skin did shrink back a little when sliding it into the oven. I also want to post again that I never really tasted a Papa Gino’s pizza though, so I really don’t know if I was anywhere close to a real Papa Gino’s pizza. The crust also had a very good taste even if the crumb wasn’t airy. This Papa Gino’s clone pizza almost reminded me of a thin Greek style pizza.

Norma