The Worst DiGiorno Frozen Pizza Missed The Mark On Its Crust

We recently tried 11 DiGiorno frozen pizzas, and during that journey, one was inevitably going to be take last place. In this case, the crust was the key flaw. While this pizza's crust advertises a specific type of pastry, in execution, it comes off like a totally different baked good. That's why the DiGiorno Croissant Crust Pizza just missed the mark for us.

It felt like false advertising. The picture on the box looked flaky and light, but the actual pie was anything but. Our taster described it as, "A dense, buttery biscuit, maybe." During our research, we also found that Reddit commenters were torn on this one — that's because people either loved or hated that crust, and divisiveness can all but guarantee that a product's ranking will be shaky at best. That, and it didn't last the test of time, because as it sat and cooled, the crust's consistency only grew tougher to chew. A few things did end up in its favor; the sauce, cheese, and toppings (in this case, pepperoni), were high-quality, and at $6, we found it fairly priced as a novelty item.

So this then begs the question, at least in my mind: Would croissant dough ever work as a pizza crust? In my former professional pizza-making opinion, this would be extraordinarily difficult to do for many reasons. First of all, croissants are coveted for their light and airy texture, which is achieved through many thin layers of dough that have pockets of butter between them. As the raw dough bakes, the moisture in the butter releases steam, thereby creating that lovely flaky structure.

If you top raw croissant dough with sauce and cheese and bake it, the weight of those toppings will almost certainly prevent some, if not all, of that puffiness from happening. The moisture would also turn the dough into a pale, flabby mess. You could possibly parbake a flat sheet of croissant dough, then top and bake it until the cheese is melted. But this might burn the croissant crust. That being said, flattened and crisped croissants once caused a TikTok frenzy, and who knows? One of those things might make an okay base for a miniature pizza. 

I have also discovered a South Korean concept called FunBeerKing (with a location near Chicago, where I'm located), whose signature dish is a pizza with a pastry crust and powdered sugar finish. But I haven't been there yet, so I can't say if that works. The Home Run Inn frozen pizzas have a crust that is somewhat pastry-like, but it resembles more of a pie crust than a croissant. That's probably a better bet. Sorry, DiGiorno Croissant Crust, you just couldn't hoof it, but we still think a better version might be possible.