Pizza Hut's new Hand-Tossed Pizza promises a "lighter, airier crust topped with real cheese made from mozzarella and brushed with a garlic buttery flavor." They're so sure people will like it that they're offering a limited-time, free pizza guarantee, where your next pizza is free if you don't "love it" (
details here).
I picked up
a large Super Supreme Hand-Tossed Pizza for $10 (under the popular $10 "any size, any toppings" deal).
The Super Supreme (Pizza Hut also offers a regular Supreme) is pretty much a pizza with "everything on it." Specifically, it's topped with pepperoni, ham, beef, pork sausage, Italian sausage, red onions, mushrooms, green peppers, and black olives.
When I last
wrote about Pizza Hut's Hand-Tossed (i.e. the previous version), I had this to say, "The crust is too dense with no sizable air pockets and is a bit dry. Additionally, it's fairly bland with a slight bit of sweetness. It's crusty but not the right crusty."
So how does the new crust compare?
Well, it does seem less dense than the previous version, but still no air pockets. It was pretty uniform all around and still just a tad dry.
The end crust was much smaller than in the promo pictures, but that's actually a good thing since less end crust means more toppings for me!
There was a nice crispness to the bottom as well as the end crust; it was the good kind of crusty. The crumb was a bit gummy where the toppings were placed and the crust was much thinner than before. As I picked up a slice, it actually drooped under the weight of the toppings. I could actually fold the slice! The old crust was more bread-like and didn't bend much at all.
Tastewise, it was pretty much the same. There's that same bit of sweetness that's nice enough but doesn't seem very pizza-like. The odd shredded pieces of burnt cheese on the end crust added a little bit of crispness but added zero flavor. The buttery garlic spread was pretty tasty and ideal for those who like a garlic breadstick. You can request it without if you're not into that.
When it's cold, the crust stiffens up and the droop is all gone and it becomes noticeably drier.
Overall, Pizza Hut's new Hand-Tossed Pizza is a marked improvement over the previous version, especially on the texture front, where it feels more like a pizza and less like a giant breadstick. I especially like the thin crispy layer on the crust. The taste is mostly the same, but the overall experience is improved and I enjoyed it.
