BAKED Pizza - Morepork product reviews

I was so happy when I was offered this pizza for review, as we are a family of pork and bacon lovers and so this flavour really appealed. We don't buy a lot of takeaway pizza, but I occasionally buy frozen pizzas from the supermarket which would be my main comparison to this one. And I'll note here that supermarket pizzas normally look so nice in the picture on the box, but when you open them up and it eat, it never lives up to what is promised, so it wouldn't take much to improve on our usual fare.

The first thing I noticed was the appealing packaging - it feels like a good quality pizza and if you have time to read everything all over the box, it gives the impression of a fun product too. And you can actually see what you are getting through the hole in the box. The instructions were mighty easy to follow... with the emphasis on not defrosting the pizza first - not a problem when you want a quick work night dinner. I preheated the oven (with the oven tray in it as it says to put the pizza on a hot tray) and then slid the pizza onto the tray and cooked it as per the instructions ... starting with 10 minutes and adding 3 minutes more which was perfect. The base was turning golden and the cheese bubbling and browning.

The box says it serves 2 people, so with our family of 2 adults and 1 child, I decided to pad it out with some chips and coleslaw and we found it was a great sized meal. Miss 8 immediately commented on it being spicy and I thought it was going to be a fail... but she kept eating and finished her piece and was asking for more. I could see what she meant about the spice - I think it was one of the meats - probably the salami, but I thought it was delicious, and it wasn't a hot spice - more of a peppery flavour.

Hubby and I both loved the whole pizza and particularly enjoyed the BBQ sauce which seemed to have a nice smokey flavour and was very generous over the base. There wasn't much plain edge crust and the crust wasn't too thick, so all the pizza was eaten. It really was rather delicious, and wins out over other supermarket pizzas for sure, and that's even before you realise it's made of such good quality ingredients with free range meats. And when I say meats... I mean lots of meat - ham, salami, cabanossi, AND bacon - yum!

And on top of all that, when I came to write this review, I realised I can buy this for under $10 which is pretty comparable to other frozen pizzas. So with this in mind, I can't see any reason why I wouldn't go straight for this brand again! After the rave reviews from my family tonight, I can't see them letting me go back to those sparse bland excuses for pizza that I usually buy.

Who doesn't love a meat loaded pizza? My partner definitely does and so was happy to see that such a pizza was included in my review goods. We love Hells pizza and were excited to try this new cook at home range by there pizza creators, especially this one which reminded us so much of a meaty pizza we usually order from there takeout which is full of meat and a bbq sauce just like this pizza said it would be.... how was this going to compare I was interested to see.

Like the rest of the BAKED pizza range it is very important to note that this pizza should never be defrosted, so going by these guidelines I preheated my oven before removing the pizza from the freezer and placing it on my oven tray to cook. I could smell the pizza cooking from all rooms of the house, and it smelt mighty good, so after the recommended cooking time was up I quickly checked it in order to assure it didn't burn, however it still needed a few more minutes cooking time as wasn't quite crisp enough. After almost 20minutes it was perfect golden and crisp with lots of yummy melted cheese.

The taste was amazing, just like store brought but at a fraction of the price. There was a delicious (and plentiful) bbq sauce on the base which was covered in high quality (not processed) ham, salami and chorizo it was sooooo good. Everyone who tried it could hardly believe it was a frozen pizza. My partner deemed it the best frozen pizza ever, I had to agree, the only problem we had was that it dissapeared to quick.

Delicious pizza which I will buy again and keep on hand in the freezer for those times when I need something quick to prepare. Can't wait to see if any other flavours are added to the awesome baked range!

Where could you go wrong on a pizza with meat, meat and well barbeque sauce! This pizza was truly delicious and other than the fact I put it in the oven myself I could not tell that it was a bake at home variety as it tasted just like a take out pizza! The meats used were very tasty and of good quality and the smoky barbeque sauce was perfect. There were so many great quality toppings and plenty of mozzarella cheese to create the perfect balance between all the flavours.

I had cooked this pizza for a family pizza night along with the pineapple express and make and bake variety and this was the one that went down the fastest. All people at the table were keen to go back for a second slice and commented on how nice the morepork pizza was. With this one I very much likened it to a take out pizza from Hells pizza and could recognise some of my favourite flavours from their meaty pizzas. Definitely a quality pizza and the taste is worth every cent of the money to buy one.

I know a take out pizza would only be in the $10- $15 category but for me to have these ready to go in the freezer is just as convenient as without having to pay for delivery or actually go out on those nights you decide you really can't be bothered cooking these are absolutely ideal. They look and taste just as good and are easy enough to cook without having to put in a lot of effort at all. I would happily pay the price tag and have some ready to go in the freezer and certainly choose them over other frozen pizzas I have tried in the past.

Like with the pineapple express pizza it did take about 20 minutes to cook to make sure the base had that golden brown texture and crunch, I had taken this one out of the freezer to soon as I was waiting for the other to cook before I added this so I didn't achieve the same turned up crust as I did with the pineapple express but it was still tasty and crunchy. For this reason I would recommend to others not to allow the pizza to start defrosting before cooking as I found it cooks better straight from the freezer.

I am really enjoying these pizzas. Learning from the previous pizza, I read the directions and placed it back in the freezer until I was sure the oven was properly preheated. In my last attempt with the Pineapple Express variety, I had trouble getting the crust to properly crisp underneath, so this time I lowered the heat considerably to give the base longer to cook compared to the top. Unfortunately it still made little difference. I ended up with a well cooked pizza on the top, but the base still wasn't as crisp as I was wanting (still cooked, but not as firm as i'd like).

Next time I will place the pizza low in the oven to prevent the toppings from cooking too quickly from proximity to the element. But that really tells you enough doesn't it? Next time. I didn't manage to cook it properly, and yet I'm already thinking about buying it again. I don't even really eat pizza. In my experience pizza joints have given me overly greasy products full of things I don't like (olives, anchovies, capsicums...) and the pizzas end up 95% base, 5% toppings. But here I am enjoying these pizzas enough to want to add it to my list of regular meals.

The simplicity is one of the greatest appeals. Take it out of the freezer, remove the packaging and place straight into the preheated oven. Allow to cook, and then serve. Very simple, and for someone who is not home often, it is a quick and easy meal that I can store in the freezer. No ingredients expiring, no food wastage, no having to pull out meat to defrost hours in advance. Simplicity.

As fat as flavour goes, I love meat, and Morepork is the equivalent of meatlovers, so it isn't to impress me. Ham chorizo, and salami, in good sized chunks that are large enough to stay on the pizza but not so large that when you bite into it, you can't sever the pieces completely (ever bitten into a pizza and had a piece of piping hot pepperoni slap you in the face as you pull away?). The BBQ sauce compliments the meat well, and isn't overpowering.

Even the size is perfect. In between a snack or full size pizza, it's great for providing a meal without overdoing it and ending up with leftovers or still being hungry. An easy choice for when entertaining guests, or just need a quick and easy meal after a hard day.

The box bore the message "Never defrost". This is repeated several times. You would think the message was pretty clear, wouldn't you? Well, although I transported it in a chilly bin and faithfully stored it in a freezer until the time came to cook it, I could not have anticipated a sudden emergency that meant I had to leave the house for several hours. And when I got back - it had defrosted!!!

Well, I was not going to miss a chance to experiment, so you know what I did - I cooked it anyway! And it tasted just as good as I had expected, and there seemed to be no discernible impact on the quality of the product. It was seriously good. The only problem was during the preparation. I was meant to remove it from the packet and slide it on to an oven tray, but the defrosting process had caused it to stick.

Luckily, I had the answer as this has happened to me in the past. When dough sticks to a surface, you very carefully roll a thin double ended knitting needle under it, and slide the greased oven tray immediately behind it. With a bit of jiggling, I managed to get the pizza safely on to the tray and into the oven. The moral? Yes, much easier to keep the product frozen till you need to use it BUT there are ways round it so don't let that stop you!

Once cooked, the pizza was presented to the family who were thrilled with the sight. It had lots of cheese on top (essential for a proper pizza, but underneath that cheese was lurking a generous portion of bacon, salami and ham - enough meat for the biggest carnivore among us). The package is meant to serve two, but we cut it into four and had it as an entree. It was so good I could have eaten the entire pizza myself.

We all commented on the packaging. It appears that the BAKED crew have some imaginative people on their staff. Having included information about the reason for the name "MOREPORK", all of which is kind of logical, there is the added humorous touch at the end of the ingredients list where the consumer is assured that the product "does not contain small native NZ owl". That made all of us laugh, and would make me choose the product above another one simply because it amused me. And I like owls.

All in all, a nice product - this was our favourite out of several varieties that we sampled. The BBQ flavour was just right, the proportion of ingredients was perfect, and it is something I would buy again. And it is great to have it fresh cooked rather than reheated. There were some preservatives in it so it would not be an everyday dish for me, but would be great as an occasional treat.

I'm a bad food reviewer... I like to experiment and adjust food. I try to leave at least some untouched, so I can assess it on it's own merits, but I just love to see what else can be done with various food products I get for review.

The "Morepork" meat-lovers' pizza got some added "4 Pepper Pepperoni" salami, home-grown spring onions and chives, with a generous grind of "Natural Manuka-Smoked Garlic Salt & Pepper" to give it a bit of extra kick, and then went into the oven for cooking. As you can see from the photo I left one quarter relatively untweaked - just some spring onions added - to act as a control. The end result was delectable indeed, more than sufficient to satisfy the carnivore cravings in me with that one extra portion of meat added.

The base was amazing, and tasted so fresh. There was none of the doughy, chewiness that I find so common in all other frozen pizzas I have tried, and I am sad to say, also in a number of fresh pizzas from certain big-chain stores, thanks to their habit of producing the bases en-mass and leaving them for hours on end in the chiller - not frozen, so they are still reacting, just very slowly. The pizzas as-it-comes was quite good, and I would still find it very satisfying to eat if I didn't have any extra meats to add on top, so that's definitely a thumbs-up on that front!

One thing I was really pleased about was the level of cheese. Some (ahem, most) frozen pizzas seem to be lactose-intolerant, because they have such measly portions of cheese upon them. Yes, cheese is far from cheap, so that's another factor contributing to the price tag on these, but IMHO it is worth it to have a good portion of cheese, yet still not going overboard. Good portions of great quality cheese... it can make or break a pizza. It makes this one for sure.

Overall, this has got to be my favourite of the range. It was so simple to cook, gave great results, lent itself to modification easily (as most pizzas do) and the only thing left afterwards was a couple of bits of crust that had gotten a little charred by me putting it a bit too high in the oven. No fault of the product, that's for sure. I fully plan to stock the freezer with more of these for "yummy meals in a hurry" as the budget allows!