Pizza Wars – A Fun Family Pizza-Making Competition at Home!

Pizza is probably a favorite food of almost everyone – but the toppings, crust style, and sauce favorites vary by person. Deciding what was truly the best pizza became a challenge between this family of four to where we most enjoyed making pizzas at home. However, a few years ago we came up with a really fun idea that has continued and the most fun when we have family over to join in on the fun. 

Introducing, Pizza Wars!

How to Prepare for the Competition

Crust

You can make your own crust (which was a really fun competition between my husband and I).  Especially when ingredients differ and thickness too! Think of dough in the air right about now, finding the best hand tossed pizza crust.  To make things easier, you can buy already made crusts, naan, cracker bread, pita, tortillas or English muffins!  Up for the next competition at our home is cauliflower versus zucchini crusts!

Sauce

We like to keep the options open! My favorite pizza is barbecue chicken so I like to use barbecue sauce as my base.  Making your own pizza sauce can be its own competition (even if everyone is aiming for a traditional red sauce).  We had a pizza competition where the main challenge was to use a white sauce. Crust and toppings could vary but it was fun to see what everyone came up with to pair with white sauce.  With naan, we often use an olive oil as the sauce.  You can really do just about anything for a sauce, which is what keeps things fun.

Toppings

This is the fun part! During one competition, we really spiced things up when we made fruit and dessert pizzas!  This is why we have pizza wars. We can pretty much come up with anything and play with food to create something yummy.  With toppings, the options are endless.  You have seasonings, herbs, cheeses, meat, vegetables, fruit (pineapple makes its way on to several of our pizzas) and so much more.

 Pizza wars can be a fun event for both adults and kids. Our favorite events are when we get all the kids in the family together and they each make their own creation. Even the youngest can throw cheese on a crust and be excited about the pizza they made!  Please share your favorite pizza, so we can attempt to add it to our lineup.

Next up, the competition!

Think of making your favorite pizza. You pick the crust, the sauce and the toppings. Then add a panel of judges and taste test! Typically, everyone is a judge in our events, and we love to compare. On some occasions, we strive for a specific goal and all make the same type of pizza or we could have a theme, like attempting to make a smile pizza using toppings. Usually we aim for personal pan or small size pizzas, depending on the crust option and to take up less space in the oven.

When the pizzas are finished, we cut them into pieces and let the judging begin! Taste test notes and reviews are given to determine who did the best with their creation. Sometimes we do not have a clear winning pizza but we often find new flavor combinations we like.  Whatever the end result, everyone has a fun time in the process.

 

Jenna Marceau
Born and raised in Wichita, full of Shocker pride, Jenna is a boy mom to son's Aiden and Eli. She married her college sweetheart, Danny, and the two keep an active schedule that includes chasing their children and dogs around Northeast Wichita. Jenna is an executive for a local HR Outsourcing organization and a member of the Junior League of Wichita. She likes to spend her spare time helping others or volunteering around the community. You can catch her at local events, supporting entrepreneurs and participating in activities with friends and family. She is a total foodie, loves coffee and craft beer, is an avid podcast listener and is quite fond of a glass of Cabernet to end her day. Keep up with Jenna at @JenMarceau on Instagram!