What Is A Pizza Kit?
There has been a seismic change in how we buy our food in recent years and the pandemic has accelerated this even further, bringing forward several years of changes. Who would have predicted that we would be buying Michelin star meals through the post to heat at home? The good news is that these new and exciting ways to buy our food are here to stay and they have opened up a vast array of new ways to get exciting foods, flavours, and incredible quality products, delivered straight to your door.
Unsurprisingly, one of the most popular new food services to spring up was the home delivered pizza kit. Pizza is still the Uk’s number one choice in restaurants, second most purchased dinner in supermarkets, and fourth most bought meal in fast food. Pizza kits created new opportunities for consumers to enjoy their favourite restaurant meal and proved an incredibly popular way to create fabulous pizza whilst also providing enjoyable family activity time.
So, what is a pizza kit?
A pizza kit is a collection of the basic components of a pizza delivered in a kit format, normally including a pizza dough or base, mozzarella cheese, tomato sauce and sometimes extras such as pepperoni, basil or olive oil.
Pizza kits can offer a brilliant way to prepare your own pizza and lend themselves very well to having a pizza night that all the family can be involved in preparing. They also offer better control over fat levels and calories, including how much cheese/toppings you add to your pizza, whilst encouraging individual creativity to flourish, enabling anyone to create their own unique pizza combinations. Pizza is a fantastically versatile food and a great way to use up other ingredients in your cupboard or fridge. It is amazing how children will eat foods on a pizza that they would otherwise turn their noses up at. I’ve seen my children tuck into artichokes, olives and sundried tomatoes, foods that normally would trigger some form of hunger strike! Pizza has a magical way of making these foods appetising to younger palates and a pizza kit can be a super simple way to get them trying new flavours.
In some pizza kits the pizza base element can be supplied either as a dough ball that you roll out yourself before baking, or a freshly prepared part-bake base that you add your own cheese and toppings to before re-heating.
Both of these options have their pros and cons, so let’s look at them in turn.
Typically, in these kits the pizza base is supplied as a dough ball that then needs to be rolled out by you before topping. It is then baked either in a pizza oven (sales of these rocketed over lockdown!) or some kit providers recommend cooking it in a hot frying pan on the hob.
The advantages of these types of kit are as follows.
- They give you the opportunity to you roll out your own dough, something that some people enjoy
- They can give you an authentic looking pizza
- They can allow you to make different styles of pizza including thick/thin crust, calzone, Neopolitan and others
However, the disadvantages of these types of kits can be as follows.
- Dough can be temperamental and doesn’t always arrive in good condition due to it being a live product
- Dough requires quite a bit of flour to roll out which can be messy and rolling out your own dough to the right thickness can require practise to get right.
- Finally, pizza dough doesn’t generally cook well in a domestic oven. To cook a fresh dough pizza properly, you need much higher temperatures and some pizza ovens will reach temperatures of 500c, something most domestic ovens won't get anywhere near! The result can be a disappointingly dry and rubbery base in many cases.
Pizza Base Kits
These pizza kits take a lot of the hard work and mess away from you and are supplied with a pre-prepared, part-baked pizza base.
Typically, these are supplied already part-baked in a pizza oven before being chilled and sent to you. This gives a great way to prepare a quick authentic pizza treat without making a floury mess of your kitchen or risking getting so cross with temperamental fresh dough that you end up throwing it at the wall (or worse a member of your family!).
Here are the advantages of these types of kit
- They don’t require flour, oil or any other messy ingredients or require you to practise rolling your dough to the exact thickness you want.
- A good quality pizza base will always be consistent in taste, texture and thickness and in many cases the results will look and taste as good if not better than a dough ball.
- The pre-baked pizza base will cook far better in a domestic oven, but can also be cooked in a pizza oven, if desired.
- Prepared bases can be more suited to a family experience as they are far easier to prepare and serve but still offer little ones the chance to be involved in making their own pizza.
Here are the disadvantages of these types of kit
- You don’t get to roll out the dough
- A part-baked base doesn’t offer variability in thickness or the option to make other styles of pizza.
- You have to be more careful if you are cooking a pre-baked base in a pizza oven as the base will cook more quickly and may burn.
So, there are a few options for you to consider when choosing the best pizza kit for your needs. Do you have your own pizza oven? Are you happy making a mess and rolling out your own dough? Then maybe a dough ball kit is for you.
Do you want to be able to make a stress free, quick and delicious pizza that’s guaranteed to be consistent and that the family can make together with ease? Then you may want to consider a pizza base kit.
Dough Ball Pizza Kit Options
If you have decided that a dough ball is for you, we recommend the following dough pizza kits. We have tried them, and they are good option if you are keen on the dough ball route.
Pizza Express Pizza Kit
A firm favourite and established brand, Pizza Express have recently launched a cook at home option using their signature dough ball. Having tried it we can say it is a good product that compares pretty well to their restaurant experience.
Pizza Pilgrims Pizza Kit.
Pizza Pilgrims have dedicated themselves to Neopolitan style Pizza and have a chain of restaurants that have become a firm favourite in London. They launched their own dough pizza kit over lockdown which they recommend cooking in a frying pan. It’s a great option if you have a pizza oven, are happy working with dough balls and are looking to create a Neopolitan style pizza.
Pizza Base Pizza Kit Options
If you have decided you would prefer a less messy kitchen and more family friendly option that gives you a great tasting authentic pizza, then please do check out our own range of pizza kits made fresh daily with our sourdough pizza dough recipe.
At Homemade Pizza Club, we offer pizza base kits made with a 48 fermented sourdough pizza base that is then cooked daily in our pizza ovens before being chilled down and sent straight to your door. Fermenting the dough for 48 hours allows the dough to fully break down the gluten structure which makes it far easier to digest than quick raised commercial doughs. We then offer you full control over your portions and calorie intake by providing you with individual portions of mozzarella and a range of stunning Italian toppings to create truly spectacular pizzas within a few minutes. The perfect way to have family pizza night!
To order or for more information, please visit our website.
Whatever pizza kit you choose, remember the golden rules. Have fun and be creative!
