The cost of pizza

[Fat Guy]

I made some pizza recently. I couldn't believe the cost of ingredients when making pizza from high-quality products. Is it now impossible to make good pizza cheaply, at home or in a restaurant? If so, it explains a lot.

[Joe Blowe]

On a related note, I don't know if I'll ever get around to building my dream brick oven in the backyard. That first pizza will cost a fortune!

[vloglady]

My friend is a pizza master. He loves the high gluten flour for pizzas. But he moved to florida, he used to buy it by the 50 pound sacks and give me a container. But how do I get it now? I can't buy 50 pound sacks.

Where in NY can I buy high gluten in 5 or 10 pound sacks?

[Norm Matthews]

Protein in flour is what makes gluten when it gets wet. Regular bread flour is high makes high gluten dough. You can increase the amount of protein in flour by adding Vital Wheat Gluten which many places carry, including health food store. Bob's Red Mill is probably one of the largest distributers and can be ordered on line if needed. Semolina flour is the highest in protein level and Red Mill has that too but it takes some extra time a patience to work with that kind of flour: It needs a long rest time to absorb the moisture and become workable. I have never tried to make pizza dough with it but it works well with as a pasta dough.

Edited August 22, 2011 by Norm Matthews (log)

[Norm Matthews]

Steven, what kind of products did you get that made it so expensive?

Edited August 22, 2011 by Norm Matthews (log)

[Lisa Shock]

You can cut the cost of the cheese by making mozzarella from scratch.

[Fat Guy]

The cheese, tomatoes and flour were all costly. Fresh mozzarella of good quality is a lot per pound, San Marzano tomatoes are expensive, and any flour other than all-purpose gets pricey. I needed like twenty bucks worth of stuff to make a couple of small pizzas.

[HungryC]

Wow--you need to find a less expensive market. Cento's San Marzano tomato passata is around $3.50 for a 24 oz glass bottle, and King Arthur flour is less than $5 for 5lbs (even higher-gluten bread flour, though if you want KA's 00 clone, you'll pay a bit more per pound). If it's the cheese that's breaking the bank, well, pizza marinara (with nothing more than sliced garlic and a sprinkle of oregano) is better than a chees'd up pie any day

[Lisa Shock]

If anything, Trader Joe's has less expensive flour, and if you can handle a big bag, there's always Costco.

[Kouign Aman]

Was that cost expended entirely on the two little pizzas, or are there leftover ingredients for next time?

I remember the first time I made a curry from the Time-Life books - I spent a fortune on spices. The next curry was nearly free tho.

[Panaderia Canadiense]

It must be related to where you're shopping. I can make a very nice 12" pizza for about $5 worth of ingredients...

Then again, I live in the produce capital of my country, I buy high-quality unbleached soft wheat and durum flours in 25 lb sacks and gluten in 30 lb sacks, olive oil by the case, and I know local cheesemakers from whom I source my (very fresh) mozza.

[Norm Matthews]

Queso quesadilla cheese is a fairly decent step up from run of the mill mozzarella. The tomato sauce I put on pizza is usually around three tablespoons or off all together, and this time of the year, fresh tomatoes are very good and oven dried tomatoes from fresh are amazing on pizza. It takes three tomatoes and maybe ten minutes to make sauce if you use it at all.

Edited August 22, 2011 by Norm Matthews (log)

[janeer]

Pizza--and lasagne--have always been relatively expensive to make, because fresh mozzarella and imported plum Italian tomatoes (all labeled "imported" are SM,those that specially say that are a marketing gimmick; look for "imported from Italy" on the cans) have always had a high price. Go to an Italian specialty store in an Italian neighborhood and buy your tomatoes by the case; they are amazingly cheap, and you will have many varieties to choose from.

[butterscotch]

I made some pizza recently. I couldn't believe the cost of ingredients when making pizza from high-quality products. Is it now impossible to make good pizza cheaply, at home or in a restaurant? If so, it explains a lot.

Can I ask if you're talking about the Pomi strained and midlevel mozzeralla you use for your quick and easy? Im just curious if you upgraded the recipe at all since you started that thread. That said everything is costing more and more, and it's going to get worse before it gets better. Still compared to a lot of things, pizza is still a good cheap meal. And your make it at home thread was awesome, meant to say that a long time ago, so thanks!

Edited August 23, 2011 by butterscotch (log)

[weinoo]

(all labeled "imported" are SM,those that specially say that are a marketing gimmick; look for "imported from Italy" on the cans)

What?

[ScoopKW]

The cheese, tomatoes and flour were all costly. Fresh mozzarella of good quality is a lot per pound, San Marzano tomatoes are expensive, and any flour other than all-purpose gets pricey. I needed like twenty bucks worth of stuff to make a couple of small pizzas.

Ah, the joys of living in NYC.

Here in Las Vegas, the San Marzano DOC tomatoes and high-gluten flour are cheap. Enough buffalo mozz to make a pizza is a few bucks. So, we're looking at $5-7 to make a couple quality pizzas. Depends how much cheese you need, mostly.

[Fat Guy]

Can I ask if you're talking about the Pomi strained and midlevel mozzeralla you use for your quick and easy?

No, that winds up being cheaper than what I was doing with a friend recently.

[ScoopKW]

To put it in perspective, my wife and I just ate at Tony's Pizza Napoletana in San Francisco. They won "pizza of the year" in 2007 and are one of the handful of Vera Pizza Napoletanas in America. The 12" pizza margherita was $19. Worth every penny. But food cost was likely in the $2-3 range.

[Fat Guy]

The 12" pizza margherita was $19. ... But food cost was likely in the $2-3 range.

Why do you say that? Doesn't food cost run in the 25-30% range at most restaurants? And that's based on bulk purchasing of ingredients, so one's food cost at home can be expected to be higher for equivalent products.

[ScoopKW]

The 12" pizza margherita was $19. ... But food cost was likely in the $2-3 range.

Why do you say that? Doesn't food cost run in the 25-30% range at most restaurants? And that's based on bulk purchasing of ingredients, so one's food cost at home can be expected to be higher for equivalent products.

For the price you're saying it costs you to source two small pizzas, they're selling with restaurant mark up. I'm just saying there's got to be better sources in your area.

Arthur Ave. in the Bronx? That's where I'd try first. I've never been, but the Italian markets look like the places I go to in here in Vegas and in San Francisco.

[Broken English]

I should probably say that the only real difference I noticed between good pizza in Italy and in other places was the cost of the ingredients. They used ingredients like buffalo mozzarella and prosciutto di parma which are relatively cheap in Italy, they're far more costly in places like Australia.

[Katie Meadow]

We make pizza using KA flour (mostly AP, sometimes a mix of AP and bread flour), a little corn meal, mid-level mozz (not buffalo) and sauce we make at home using San Marzano canned tomatoes. Agreed, those tomatoes are pricey, and the sauce gets cooked down, but I'm guessing that I make enough sauce to do about seven or eight 13-inch pizzas with two 28oz cans. I can't say I figure in the cost of the flour, since flour is just a part of life and we always have it, but a bag of KA flour can make a lot of pizzas. Toppings range from caramelized onions, fresh tomatoes, artichokes, chard, radicchio and yes (go ahead, snicker) pineapple. No meat, we just prefer vegetarian pizza. I'm thinking one large pizza costs us between $6 and $8, depending on toppings. And with only two of us, we end up with a couple of slices left over for lunch the next day.

[Broken English]

No snickering at pineapple people. Pineapple, garlic base and cheese is one of my favourite pizzas.

[threestars]

Ah that explains why pizzas on restaurants are bit expensive. How I wish I can make my own pizza.

[Fat Guy]

I'm thinking one large pizza costs us between $6 and $8

That's probably close to the result I got. I wish I'd paid more attention to the exact costs and quantities. What I remember is spending about $20 and not having quite enough raw materials for a third pie. I'm thinking we were doing about 14" per pie with actual San Marzano tomatoes, fresh cow's milk mozzarella and Italian "00" flour, with the sauce and cheese applied more heavily than a purist would tolerate. Some other ingredients -- olive oil, basil, yeast, salt -- came from the pantry. If I'd had to buy those too we'd have gone off the charts.