Shropshire chef Ian's a big cheese in world of pizza

Ian, who works at the Amazing Woodfired Pizza Company in Shrewsbury, beat off stiff opposition to scoop the Pizza Chef of the Year title at an awards ceremony held in London last week.

The Papa (Pizza, Pasta and Italian Food Association) awards attracted entrants from all over the UK and Ian, who grew up in and lives in Shrewsbury, won the final cook-off against the winners of four other regional heats from all over the country.

He received his award during a ceremony at the Lancaster Hotel in London, hosted by award-winning celebrity chef and restaurateur, Aldo Zilli, who is well-known for making his own connoisseur pizzas.

Ian said: "I am absolutely over the moon and tremendously proud to have put Shrewsbury on the UK pizza map in this way. The competition was really strong and many of the chefs and the outlets they work for are bigger and much more established than we are.

"But it just goes to show that if you are dedicated to delivering the highest quality, using the best ingredients and not being afraid to try something new, you can compete and win against the big players.

"We like to think that we bring something different and original and give our customers a really tasty, special experience they won't forget. We don't do ordinary – we try to make every pizza we prepare genuinely amazing."

The chefs were required to create recipes using specific ingredients. Ian's winning effort, soon to be on the Amazing Woodfired Pizza Company menu, included a garlic base, freshly-made pesto, mushrooms, caramelised onion, fresh basil and balsamic syrup and soft cheese.

He won his place in the final by beating seven rivals during the Midlands' heat of the contest and in the Soft Cheese Pizza Chef of the Year category of the awards.

Manager Kim Ford said Ian joined the Amazing Woodfired Pizza Company earlier his year and has quickly built up a reputation with customers.

"Ian has his own particular style and our customers just love his pizzas." she said. "He's a brilliant chef and in my view a worthy winner of the award. It is great news for us as a business too; having an award-winning chef can only help to attract more customers."

The Amazing Woodfired Pizza Company is on Smithfield Road.

Top five pizzas:

• Hot beef and pepper – a mix of beef, peppers, garlic, tomato sauce, onions, mozzarella cheese, smoked cheese and chillies for an extra taste

• Fig and goats cheese – fresh figs, caramelised onion, garlic, goats cheese, parma ham and a sprinkle of fresh basil

• Pepperoni – tomato sauce with mozzarella pepperoni and chillies to your taste

• Quattro stagioni (Four Seasons) – tomato sauce, black olives, mozzarella, 1 ¼ ham, 1 ¼ artichoke hearts, 1 ¼ mushrooms & 1 ¼ pepperoni

• Vegetarian – tomato sauce, mozzarella, mushrooms, black olives, red onions, spinach, peppers, sweetcorn

To make the perfect dough:

• Use the finest flour available. Ian uses 00 flour as it is the best for pizza dough

• Use fresh yeast as this helps to create a light dough with a crispy base

• Don’t let the dough rise too much as this will make it difficult to work with

• When kneading, make the dough into ball shapes as this make it easier to make a round shape when creating your pizza

• Make sure your oven is hot when cooking to the keep the dough light and crispy