Happy Pizza Day all!

A day devoted to one of our favourite foods, what could be better? To celebrate one of our favourite dishes, we wanted to share some of the secrets you knead-to-know (sorry, we couldn’t resist) to creating the perfect dough to help you achieve the perfect pizza. #ItsAllAboutTheBase

1) 00 Flour (double zero flour)

The best pizza starts with the best flour. Here at Pizzeria Villaggio, we use Mugnai di Napoli flour which is a certified traditional Neapolitan pizza flour and has been used by Neapolitans for over 110 years. Double zero flour is perfect for creating pizza dough because of its gluten content, and because of how finely the flour is milled – which helps create a light, crispy base with thick crusts.

2) Cold proofing

Good things come to those who wait, and pizza dough is no exception. Our team prepares all our pizza dough 24 hours before in the fridge. This is called “Cold-proofing”. It slows down the fermentation, allowing the yeast to work on the sugars in the flour. A 24-hour proof time helps the dough to develop a complex structure, creating a deeper flavour and added texture. Shaping the dough into balls whilst they’re cold also prevents excess air from escaping, resulting in beautifully bubbly crusts and a crispy pizza base when cooked.

3) Fresh Yeast

This is essential for getting those bubbly crusts and crispy pizza bases mentioned above. Not only is yeast essential for the dough to rise and for creating those air pockets which result in the perfect texture, but fresh yeast adds an extra flavour that dried yeast doesn’t – this subtle, but distinct flavour can take your pizza base to the next level, so don’t forget to add fresh yeast to your shopping list.

Fancy pizza for dinner?

We’ve got you covered. You can enjoy a tasty vegan or vegetarian pizza from Pizzeria Villaggio – choose from Margherita, Vegetarania, the Palladino pizza, or design your own, and we’ll sort out the rest. Our pizza dough is vegan-friendly, plus we can use vegan cheese to build your perfect pizza.

We also offer meat-free, plant-based alternatives for many of our dishes (not just our pizzas). With everything made fresh, we are happy to create your veggie, vegan, or gluten-free friendly takeaway, just call us on the day you wish to order from 4 pm (telephone number: 029 2061 3110) and we’ll get your meal ready.

“We don’t like cricket – we love it!”

We’re very proud to announce that we have sponsored Whitchurch Heath Cricket Club. The club was first established in 1927, and have their first friendly match against Kilve CC on Sunday 18th April. We look forward to supporting them and to being able to see the sport resume again after what has been a difficult year for many. We wish everyone involved good luck for the season ahead and shall be hoping that the British weather doesn’t interrupt play!

To find out more about Whitchurch Heath Cricket Club, head to their website at https://whitchurch-heath.play-cricket.com/home

We hope you are all safe and well? It’s been a very tough couple of months for a small family business like ourselves. Since 1986 we have been serving customers using our grandparent’s secret recipes and adopting their love of authentic food combined with the Italian values of creating a great family atmosphere, due to the COVID-19 pandemic we made the difficult decision to close our doors to protect the safety of our families, staff, and customers.

We have some exciting news for the future though. In order to improve your Pizzeria Villaggio experience, we are midway through the refurbishment of our kitchen and restaurant area. After planning the refurbishment for quite some time, we thought now would be the ideal time to get ready for when we can one day meet inside and enjoy catching up with our loved ones over food and a glass of wine. Until then, we are already planning to re-open very soon for contactless collection and delivery, so keep an eye out for all our latest updates on our social media channels and watch this space!