Frozen pizza has been a staple of household freezers for decades, and with good reason. Whether you’ve got hangry kids on your hands in the middle of the day, no time or energy to make dinner, or you’re in dire need of a fourth meal after a night of revelry, having a DiGiorno or Newman’s Own tucked away in the freezer comes in handy.
But even the top-tier frozen pizzas don’t come anywhere close to matching the quality of the freshly made pies from your favorite pizzeria. It’s strictly a ‘Meh, this’ll do’ meal. In this day and age, can’t someone do better than the bland frozen pies that have been clogging up supermarket frozen food aisles forever?
Enter Pizza Freak, a Montgomery County-based frozen pizza maker specializing in Detroit-style-inspired pies with light and airy crusts that don’t taste anything at all like something that was just sitting in your freezer beneath a family-sized bag of frozen peas.
Pizza Freak began as a pandemic experiment in the food lab at Philadelphia’s Drexel University between kitchen equipment entrepreneur Matt McKenney and chef Brad Daniels, who once made pasta at Philly restaurateur Marc Vetri’s James Beard Award-winning eatery Osteria and currently owns the Italian restaurant Tresini in Ambler. Miami-based chef Brad Kilgore is also a co-founder.
McKenney told me they spent two years of research and development on their pies, eventually arriving at a three-day fermentation process for their rectangular, focaccia-like crust, which they make using King Arthur flour and bake in sheet trays lined with extra virgin olive oil. Their sauce is made from Bianco DiNapoli Tomatoes, and the cheese—which is spread edge-to-edge to come out Frico-style (crispy and caramelized)—comes from the Grande Cheese Company, the mozzarella of choice among many pizzaiolo.
“We tested dough recipes, read a bunch of books, did a spreadsheet of recipes, then, when we got stuck, it was back to the drawing board,” McKenney said. “The dough fermentation delivers a light, crispy texture, and deeper, more satisfying flavors. It’s also more digestible that way.”
In addition to the slow dough fermentation and high-quality ingredients, what makes Pizza Freak unique in the frozen pizza market is the baking process. To achieve their crispy, flavorful crust and cheesy edges, they developed a bakeable paper tray with rectangular cutouts in the bottom called the Freak Frame. The design releases moisture from the frozen dough, allowing the pie to get crispy all the way around.
After making Pizza Freak pies in my home oven on two separate occasions, I can confirm that all that R&D on the crust, the ingredients, and the proprietary baking process was time well spent. It’s the best frozen pizza I’ve ever had.
I popped them in the oven each time for 25 minutes (they recommend 20-30) at 350 degrees. The chewy, flavorful crust had crisped up to a lovely golden brown, as did the cheesy edges (if you like a cheese-forward pie, you’ll love Pizza Freak, which has nearly two cups worth of cheese on its pies). The sauce was perfectly tangy—not too sweet, not too acidic. The 12” x 9” pie is about the size of most pizzerias’ Detroit-style pies, and was plenty enough pizza for two people, with a couple of slices leftover.
Others have been taking notice of Pizza Freaks pies too. Food & Wine ranked the frozen pizza among its 10 Best New Chef-Made Products. And Philadelphia Inquirer food critic Craig LaBan called it “one of the best frozen pies I’ve eaten.”
Pizza Freak is currently available in select locations in Philadelphia and the suburbs, including Riverwards Produce, South Philly Food Co-Op, Weaver’s Way, and Kimberton Whole Foods, and McKenney said they’re in talks with other retailers across the state. They also ship the frozen pies, though currently only east of the Mississippi.
McKenney acknowledged that Pizza Freak “is not the least expensive pizza on the shelf.” The in-store price point typically ranges from $14.99 to $16.99, where many frozen pies are in the $8 to $13 range. Shipped, the pies are three for $100, and five for $150 (they come packed with dry ice and gel packs to stay frozen).
“It was not designed for a price point, it was designed for quality,” McKenney said. “The only thing in our food is food. There’s no preservatives. It’s quality, clean ingredients, handcrafted, the way great pizza shops have always made good pizza. Parents tell us all the time how they love that they can serve a great quality product that their kids love for dinner at under $20. It’s plenty of food for four people.”
