Contemporary pizza presentation takes a ‘less is more’ approach

Pizza has long been a mainstay of the foodservice menu, but in recent times we’ve seen a move away from the old days of piled-on toppings of every conceivable ‘super supreme’ ingredient, to a ‘less is more’ approach focusing on balance flavours with lighter, tastier bases and artisan-style presentation.

It’s an approach that is definitely on trend right now, according to Mark Normoyle, an expert pizzamaker and Executive Chef at Anchor Food Professionals which champions Italian style cuisine and is the proud custodian of the Perfect Italiano cheese brand. “The focus is on using simple ingredients but going for high quality,” Mark affirms, “and that’s where our Perfect Italiano Mozzarella fits in. Customers aren’t looking for pizzas stacked with 10 different ingredients – your basic margarita is still one of the highest selling pizzas in most venues, and it’s only got four ingredients. But every single one has to be high quality and taste amazing.”

Mark says the smart chefs are “going back to basics, focusing on great pizza bases, great sauce and great cheese, as opposed to overloading the pizza. The cheese is a big part of it because it’s what binds all your toppings together so it needs to complement the other flavours without ever overwhelming them. Mozzarella is the perfect choice in this regard because it has a subtle flavour.

“You also need to make sure you’re using the right Mozzarella for your cooking environment. If you’re using a traditional woodfired oven they can reach heats of up to 400ºC, whereas modern conveyor ovens provide a more consistent, even temperature. This is why we produce Perfect Italiano Traditional Mozzarella as well as Perfect Mozzarella Ultra Mozzarella, which is designed to withstand even the most demanding cooking heat.”

Mark emphasises that the artisan pizza approach has gained much ground in recent years with consumers. “It’s a perfect fit for the more upmarket venues,” he argues, “which are not just a pizza shop but are serving Italian style or Modern Australian entrees and mains. For example you may have a braised lamb shank or shoulder on the main course – you can also use that protein as a pizza topping, perhaps marinated to enhance its flavour.

“Or you might have some char siu lamb and add that to the pizza menu – pizza makes it easy to expand the menu by giving yourself extra dishes without having to buy in additional ingredients, you can simply repurpose what you already have in the kitchen. This is particularly important in the current climate labour shortages and food cost increases – you can make great profit margins on pizza if you’re smart in how you go about your builds.

While pizza may have originated in Italy, today it’s very much an international dish and creative chefs are unafraid to experiment with toppings and flavours. “We’re now seeing Indian style spices and flavours on pizza, even Asian inspired flavours. We’re lucky in Australia because we have such a strong multicultural mix that we don’t have to follow any particular rules – as long as everything’s good quality, we can play with flavours, secure in the knowledge that a lot of our customers are very open to trying new combinations.”

More education emerging around how to build pizzas

Chef Adam Moore says pizza’s menu resurgence is built on its innate appeal: “it’s comfort food, it’s easy to share and especially when you’re cooking it in a traditional woodfired oven you have an enticing aroma which is a strong drawcard for customers. In fact pizza is becoming so popular that next year there’s an Australian pizza expo scheduled, which is the first in many years.

“I think we’re also seeing more education around pizzas and how to build them – there are lots of cookbooks coming out, and one of my favourites is from Nathan Myrhvold, who has produced a book called Modernist Pizza which explores new pizza perspectives. It covers everything from your choice of yeast to dough raising to oven temperature and it’s really comprehensive. Johnny Di Francesco, who owns 400 Gradi in Melbourne, is running masterclasses both virtually and online, teaching how to make the best and freshest Neapolitan pizza. He showcases techniques like cutting mozzarella into thick strips to layer on your pizza and how different approaches to cheese can yield different textures.

“We are seeing more and more knowledge in this space as more and more pizza places open up. There are now amazing premade pizza bases which look like they’ve been woodfired and others that are gluten free. You can even buy frozen dough balls which offer greater base consistency and there’s a lot of market education out there around that, as well as your pizza builds through customisation and personalisation of ingredients. Even QSR chains like Domino’s and Crust are heavily promoting their bases and choice of ingredients, and I think that’s driving an evolution of the market.”

Pizza brings the chef’s creativity into play

Chef Peter Wright says pizza’s popularity is built around its aesthetic appeal: “Especially when you are talking about an artisan woodfired pizza, it’s the bubbling of the dough, the pockets of caramelisation, the authentic Napoli sauce, fresh Mozzarella and herbs, minimalistic toppings. I think there’s a place for pizza on most menus, from bistros to pubs to clubs to cafes, even room service – wherever you go it seems to be there, and what’s driving that is that it’s simple to make.

“You don’t even need to make your own dough anymore because there are so many high quality readymade options. That makes it easy for any chef to produce a really good quality pizza, just add some complementary toppings and you can charge $25 to $30 so it’s a pretty easy thing to do.”

Pizza also provides opportunity for the chef’s creativity to come into play: “Especially if you don’t have to worry about making the dough, you can focus on the toppings - I’ve judged pizza competitions all over Australia as well as in Vietnam, Thailand and South Africa and some chefs will do the wackiest things! One of the most interesting pizzas I’ve eaten was in Thailand and the topping was like a fairy floss made out of fish, mixed with starches and flavours and deep-fried – the pizza was garnished with that, along with sauce, cheese and a mango fruit chutney. That is really out there and you might even ask, is it really a pizza? But if it’s on a pizza base and cooked in a pizza oven, I guess it is.”

When developing a new pizza recipe, Peter says a sound approach is to build it up in layers.

“Obviously you start with the base, sauce and cheese and then build the other ingredients atop that. Where we’re seeing some real innovation is in post-cooking garnishings – that’s where you add your rocket, salad, balsamic vinegar glaze and so on. You might make a barbecued chicken pizza and post-cook glaze it with some spicy barbecue sauce and fresh herbs to give it that extra dimension.

“I think the trend in pizza toppings is definitely going towards less is more – you don’t want your pizza piled too high, because the customer wants to be able to pick up a slice and it doesn’t all flop or slide off. It’s quite a skill to get the engineering right – a family size pizza is quite substantial and it has to have a certain sturdiness to it. So when you’re creating your recipe, you need to build those layers one at a time.

“And remember each successful recipe is an opportunity to add your own signature touches. You might be in a pub that mostly serves steak and schnitzels, but you can easily create a section on the menu for pizza and utilise all the ingredients you already have to hand. And considering the price of protein is going through the roof, pizza’s a great opportunity to reduce your serving sizes while still offering something that’s going to satisfy your customers – because the protein is not the predominant ingredient.

“At the end of the day you don’t even have to invent a new pizza - you can do an authentic margerita and its delicious every time, so you don’t have to touch it  - but chefs are all a bit innovative and creative, and if we have a modern Australian menu we’re going to have  influences from India, Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, so all those flavours and ingredients are in our kitchens already. So there’s no end to what you can put on a pizza. Dessert pizzas are booming, I recently saw one which used marshallows and Biscoff spread – the marshallows puffed up like souffle and they were drizzled with some berry coulis accompanied by a couple of scoops of ice cream.

“The other thing to keep in mind is that while pizza’s quite an indulgent food, it’s relatively allergen friendly. Now we have gluten free bases it’s relatively easy to make a gluten free pizza and there’s also vegan cheese on the market which performs beautifully. So you can make pizzas for multiple dietary requirements.”