Dr Oetker Pizza Review

I've mentioned before that in the dim & distant past of my student days, I used to work in an Italian restaurant, and spent three years of my life when I was supposed to be learning serving pizza to the great and good of Ilkley. Seriously, I served pizza to Richard Whiteley, and assorted people off Emmerdale & Heartbeat.

Despite spending three years around more pizza than is really healthy, nothing's put me off.  That would be impossible.  If anything, I like pizza even more, and I never thought that was possible.  So when those kind people at Dr Oetker asked me to review their Ristorante pizzas, well, I was almost as fast as Usain Bolt!  Nothing was going to get in my way.

I actually sent SqueakyDaddy to the supermarket to pick my pizza up, we've just moved house and I was in the middle of some very important rearranging of the kitchen cupboards.  Back he came with the pizza you can see over there to the right.  Out of the whole Dr Oetker range, this is my number 2 favourite, only beaten by the sheer level of garlic in the Funghi.  This one though, has garlic, mushrooms, ham & at least 2 different sorts of pepperoni.  That's a list that makes me, and Squeaky, very happy indeed.

I cracked open the box, popped the pizza into the oven from frozen, went away for a few minutes, and came back to a beautiful sight (and smell).  I'm still getting used to our new oven, so it was more of a miracle than you'd expect that I didn't burn it.  Straight onto the shelf, so the pizza cooks from top & bottom, and it came out beautifully crisp, with the most intense pepperoni smell imaginable.

I tucked in, and if the smell was good, the taste was better.  Some pepperoni pizzas can be kind of bland, the pepperoni just greasy discs not tasting of much.  That's definitely not the case with this one!  Not overwhelmingly hot, but enough of a kick to know it's there, a nice little tingle on the lips, and a smoky peppery flavour.  The mushrooms & ham add some balance, and there's plenty of cheese and tomato as well.  A really generously topped pizza, and as you can see, pretty evenly distributed topping, it wasn't all over the one side leaving big bald patches.

Pepperoni pizza was one of my biggest cravings while I was pregnant with Squeaky, and I think something must have crossed the placenta, because pizza, and pepperoni pizza in particular, is pretty much her favourite food.  Sadly that means I have to share.  But as you can see, she loved it just as much as me.  It's not the greatest photo in the world, but just look at that cheese!  If nothing else, you know there's a generous cheese topping!

I've never met a Dr Oetker pizza I didn't like, and at around £2.70, depending on your supermarket, they seem good value for money.  The Ristorante range are thin & crispy bases, and the newer Casa Di Mama have dough that rises from frozen for a deeper base.

Dr Oetker pizzas are available in the frozen food section of most major supermarkets.  And right now they're on special offer in at least 2 of the big supermarkets.

Disclosure: I was provided with a voucher to purchase a pizza for the purposes of this review.  I was not told what to write and all opinions are my own.  Links are provided for your convenience, I am not a member of any affiliate scheme and will not receive payment for their use.