Matt Frampton connects the worlds of pizza and BBQ
Matt Frampton Connects the Worlds of Pizza and BBQ
When Omaha-based pitmaster Matt Frampton added a pizza recipe to his popular BBQ Revolution website several years ago, he never would have guessed it would change his life forever. The uptick in traffic was noticeable. “People just kept asking about it,” Frampton said.
Frampton is friendly and always eager to help other cooks out by answering emails and comments on social media. Questions and comments about pizza always seemed to come up the most. “It was always something people would ask questions about,” Frampton said. After a while, he became known as the “pizza guy” and he and his wife Starr realized that maybe they were on to something.
Omaha-based pitmaster Matt Frampton has increasingly turned his attention from barbecue to pizza but still uses his Green Mountain Grills pellet cookers to get the job done. (Photo by Wai Chan)
Despite being the “pizza guy,” Frampton has serious barbecue pedigree. Frampton started competing in barbecue with his team “Hot Grill On Grill Action” 15 years ago and appeared on Season 2 of the popular TV show BBQ Pitmasters. He is also an ambassador for Green Mountain Grills, a company that makes pellet grills and cooking accessories.
Frampton has won multiple awards competing in barbecue competitions, Steak Cookoff Association contests, and at the World Food Championships. He also regularly teaches classes and though he started out focusing on barbecue, he is renowned for his classes teaching people how to make delicious pizza.
Despite being a “backyard barbecue guy through and through,” Matt Frampton is a graduate of the International School of Pizza and a certified Pizzaiolo. (Photo by Wai Chan)
After years of applying, Frampton was accepted into the International School of Pizza early in 2020. He traveled to San Francisco and attended seminars with an elite cadre of fellow students, mostly restaurateurs who hope to open pizzerias. “Here I was this barbecue guy,” he said. During his time in San Francisco, he helped run the largest pizzeria in the country with every kind of oven and style imaginable. After graduating, Frampton is now a certified “Pizzaiolo” from Italy, Sicily, and America.
Urban Slicer Pizza Worx launched three new pizza dough products this year. (Photo by Wai Chan)
Most recently, Frampton launched Urban Slicer Pizza Worx, a project three years in the making. He wanted to develop a high-quality pizza dough that was simple and easy to make, so he asked for advice from his friends including those at the Rufus Teague barbecue sauce company. He then spent the past 15 months testing flavors. Wanting the best possible product, Frampton first looked at ingredients sourced from Italy, but they proved to be cost-prohibitive. He was able to find good ingredients made in the U.S. instead.
According to Frampton, “the biggest challenge of all was in the packaging.” A lot of work goes into making sure all of the nutritional information and UPC codes that allow products to be sold in stores nationwide are correct. Frampton also faced another daunting problem with the packaging: the fact that yeast in the package, if next to salt, will die. Frampton worked with experts to develop a coating around the yeast that keeps in the package for up to 18 months without killing the yeast. The coating easily dissolves in water when making the dough from the package.
Detroit style pizzas have become popular nationwide over the last few years and form a delicious crust along the edges referred to as the “crown” because of the distinctive look. (Photo by Wai Chan)
The COVID-19 pandemic gave Frampton an ideal opportunity to launch the Urban Slicer brand and get his products to a captive market that was stuck at home. Last month, he released three new pizza dough products: Neapolitan, Outdoor Grilling, and Detroit Deep Dish style doughs. The Neapolitan dough is a traditional pizza dough best cooked at higher temperatures. The Outdoor Grilling dough is intended to go directly on your grill grate and makes a thinner and crispier crust. The Detroit Deep Dish style dough is a thicker dough made in a pan that forms an amazing crust around the edges, which Frampton referred to as the “crown.”
Each of the Urban Slicer Pizza dough products takes only a couple of hours to make and will be best served the same day. (Photo by Wai Chan)
Each package of Urban Slicer Pizza dough requires one cup of water, takes two hours to rise, and makes two pizzas best made the same day. The original pizza dough recipe that he put on his website takes several days to prepare, so the new dough simplifies the process. Lindsey Raikes, who we interviewed last month for our story on Raikes Beef Co. carries the Urban Slicer Pizza products in her retail store in Ashland, Nebraska. She told us she made the original dough recipe and the Urban Slicer dough right out of the package side by side and could not tell the difference.
I was lucky enough to try a variety of pizzas from each of the Urban Slicer Pizza dough products. (Photo by Wai Chan)
Frampton sells the products on his website and in 27 stores across the country. He still maintains strong ties with the barbecue community and many of his friends carry the Urban Worx products in their barbecue supply stores. So far, the doughs have proven to be a huge hit. Frampton and the company that manufactures his products produced what they estimated would be a more-than-reasonable amount of products that would last through the end of the year with steady sales. Sales, however, have been so strong that the Neapolitan and Outdoor Grilling dough products are currently sold out and the Detroit style dough is selling fast.
Frampton anticipates products will be available again in the coming weeks. He is also currently working on additional products, including a pizza sauce that I was fortunate enough to taste test. The future looks incredibly promising for Frampton and Urban Slicer Pizza Worx. Be sure to give him a follow on his Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube accounts and keep an eye out for more Urban Slicer Pizza Worx products.
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Special thanks to Winnipeg native and current Omaha resident Wai Chan of waieatthat for shooting the photos for this feature. Be sure to stay tuned for a future article from Wai on the Winnipeg BBQ scene in an upcoming issue of The Smoke Sheet.
Ryan Cooper (BBQ Tourist)
Co-Founder, The Smoke Sheet
—We can happily attest to the quality of Goldee’s Barbecue, which launched this year and carries on despite the pandemic.—
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—Check out this video to learn more about the Grilling Dough from Urban Slicer Pizza Worx.—
Urban Slicer Grilling Dough
by Pitmaster Matt Frampton
For this week’s Recipe of the Week, we chose a video from Matt Frampton on creating a pizza using the Urban Slicer Grilling Dough from start to finish. With this recipe, you can use your grill to create a thin, crispy pizza that resembles a flatbread. You can even top this pizza with your favorite smoked meats and barbecue sauce.
—Many of the largest barbecue events of 2020 have been canceled or postponed.—
In light of the constantly changing coronavirus crisis, we are leaving our events section blank for some time. Many events in 2020 have been canceled or postponed thus far. We’ll be updating our events section on our website with the most up-to-date information as we have it.
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