One of the most popular pizzas in England is a Roman-style pizza with toppings like ‘nduja, roasted peppers and served at a recently opened pizza joint in south London.
Mike’s Peckham, which opened in April 2021, got the top gong at the National Pizza Awards last nigh after impressing industry judges at the UK-wide event with its Roman-style Dondini pizza, featuring in-house ‘nduja, roasted corno peppers dressed with white balsamic vinegar, house-pickled jalapeños, sheep’s milk ricotta and finocchiona salami.
The Dondini dough, made up of Tipo 2 Buratto, stoneground spelt and emmer flour, is cold-proofed for 24 hours, shaped and then cold-proofed for a further 24 hours, topped with Mike’s in-house tomato sauce – and costs just £4.50 a slice.
The best pizza in Britain was a Roman-style pizza with “nduja” and roasted peppers, which is what the new South London pizza joint has opened.
Francesco Canzani cooked the pizza, beating 14 other entries from UK restaurants.
Francesco Canzani (pictured) cooked the pizza. It beat 14 other pizzas in the final competition from UK restaurants.
Speaking about the win, Mike Davies, co-owner of Mike’s Peckham and sister site The Camberwell Arms, told FEMAIL: ‘Francesco has worked so hard to make a dough as special as it is,’ ‘It’s a little bit different from the other kinds of pizzas that were in the final, so it’s nice to have that kind of representation.
‘Roman-style pizza – especially pizza Italia, which is the kind of pizza that we make – is really not an old tradition; it’s probably about 40 years old.
Neapolitan pizza is evidently made much more than that.
Roman is a Roman tradition, which means there are fewer rules. This allows us to be more creative with toppings.
“You will find things you won’t find on a classic pizza.
‘I love all kinds of pizza to be honest, but I’m quite excited by the idea of something a bit less traditional getting the credit it deserves.’
Laurence Tottingham from Revolution Bars Group was named the National Pizza Awards’ Pizza Chef Of The Year. His stunning Technical Pizza was created using ingredients donated by event sponsors.
Nigel Barden was the host of the National Pizza Awards 2021. Sponsored by TABASCO.