Pizza, the Italian classic loved by most and made popular by Italian Immigrants entering the United States. It’s estimated that 5 billion pizzas a year are served world-wide with 3 billion in the US alone – that’s 1 in 8 Americans eating pizza on any given day.
The pizza market has changed a lot in the past 5 years and massively from its invention as a topped flatbread from Naples in the 18th century. Starting out as a simple hand-held street snack it is now a massive business. It’s quick, easy and fun.
We now see food halls across the land with at least one pizza offering, often more artisan with a sour dough base and high end toppings. 49% of the UK population eat pizza at least once a week with the most popular flavour in both the UK and US being pepperoni. Taking a basic pizza dough – how can we be different and keep the customers engaged with flavour and innovation?
My favourite pizza of all would have to be a calzone which is somewhat similar to a Stromboli, a calzone being a folded pizza with a tomato sauce base whereas a Stromboli is rolled generally contain meat and cheese, a calzone works with a variety of fillings like:
Traditional Spinach – Ricotta- Sautéed onion & garlic, wilted spinach, mozzarella & ricotta
Pulled Pork – Pulled pork mixed with BBQ sauce, mozzarella
Pepperoni– Sliced pepperoni, mozzarella, spicy piquillo peppers
Nutella – Great dessert, a mini version stuffed with Nutella and ricotta and deep fried, then toss in cinnamon sugar and serve with vanilla ice cream
Then to pizza, take you pizza dough and create some exciting flavours, here or some of my favourites
Taco pizza – Refried beans, cheddar cheese, chopped tomatoes, Jalapenos, ranch sauce
Baked egg and pecorino– Free range egg, buffalo mozzarella and spring onions
Cumberland Sausage– Caramelised onions and chilli flakes
Nduja– Fiery nduja sausage, roquito pepper and basil
Pepperoni – by far the best pizza topping
Or, instead of a pizza you could make mini dough balls and serve with garlic butter or as a variation place the dough balls around a baby Camembert and bake until the dough ball & the cheese are cooked, a great starter sharer idea.
