Gumby's Pokey Stix Copycat Recipe

When I was in college, Gumby's Pizza was an integral part of a fun evening out. We would call (from our land lines of course) to order Pokey (or "Hokie" at my school) Stix, drown them in ranch dressing and have a great time recapping our evening. This was a tradition that sadly only continued as alumni whenever my friends and I returned to campus for a game. To my amusement when I first started going to Penn State with my now husband and his group of friends, I quickly discovered that they too had a Gumby's and ordered Pokey Stix many times themselves. This love for "Pokeys" developed into calling the State College location whenever we traveled to a football game, picking up the delicacies as we pulled into town and carrying them out to our tailgates. I don't know anyone who loves them more than my friend Laura, so of course it was only a matter of time until we tried a copycat recipe. Enter Pinterest. I was able to find several copycat recipes but in the end went with the one who took it to the detail of mentioning that margarine tasted "more authentic" than butter in this recipe. I knew she meant business and I was sold. :) I partnered them with my now go-to pizza crust recipe and we were in business.


They passed Laura's test and her son C seemed happy with his first Pokey Stix experience too so of course I knew I needed to share the recipe with my fellow Hokies, Nittany Lions and other Gumby's Pizza fans. Enjoy!


Pokey Stix
Inspiration from Gumby’s Pizza

For the Topping:
(Note: I doubled this topping recipe as I used the entire pizza crust recipe below.)
2 Tbls Parmesan Cheese
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/4 cup margarine, melted
1 cup Mozzarella Cheese

For the Pizza Dough:
Ingredients:
½ cup warm water
1 envelope instant yeast
1 ¼ cups water, room temperature
2 tbsp. olive oil
4 cups bread flour, plus more for dusting
1 ½ tsp. salt
Olive oil or non-stick cooking spray for greasing the bowl

Directions for the Pizza Crust:
Measure the warm water into a 2-cup liquid measuring cup. Sprinkle in the yeast and let stand until the yeast dissolves and swells, about 5 minutes. Add the room temperature water and oil and stir to combine.

Place the flour and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Briefly combine the dry ingredients at low speed. Slowly add the liquid ingredients and continue to mix at low speed until a cohesive mass forms. Stop the mixer and replace the paddle with the dough hook. Knead until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Form the dough into a ball, put it in a deep oiled bowl, and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise until doubled in size, about 1 ½ to 2 hours. Press the dough to deflate it.

To bake, place a pizza stone in the lower third of the oven. Heat the oven to 500° for at least 30 minutes. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Let the dough relax for at least 10 minutes but no more than 30 minutes.

Working with one piece of dough and keeping the other covered, shape the dough and transfer to a pizza peel or round of parchment dusted with cornmeal. Top as desired. Slide the dough onto the pizza stone. Bake until the crust edges brown and cheese is golden brown in spots, about 8 to 12 minutes.

Directions for the topping:
Combine all ingredients except for mozzarella cheese. Spread mixture all over pizza dough. Top with cheese. See baking directions in pizza crust recipe above.

Sources: Annie's Eats Pizza Crust/Dinners Dishes and Desserts Topping